This is from the pastors.com website:
When they finally caught up with him, the fearsome Butcher of Baghdad looked more like a bedraggled bum.
Pulled from the 6-by-8-foot "spider hole" where U.S. forces found him huddling in the dark, Saddam Hussein seemed bewildered, blinking in the light as if waking from a strange dream.
It was, in fact, a quarter-century nightmare for his countless victims -- Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs, Kurds, Iraqis, Iranians, Kuwaitis. Iraq's hundreds of killing fields and torture chambers will be excavated for years to come. The shroud of terror and despair Saddam cast over whole peoples will take much longer to remove from hearts and minds.
The reign of tyrants often ends pathetically. Some are dragged through the streets or torn to pieces by vengeful subjects. Others face quick execution by victorious military foes. Hitler and Stalin, two of Saddam's heroes and role models, died while hunkered down in their compounds. Hitler committed suicide. Stalin, increasingly paranoid and in failing health, was allowed to die in bed -- untreated and unmourned -- by his own henchmen. He might have been poisoned.
Whether or not they admit it to themselves or others, tyrants know deep down that justice is coming. Like Macbeth and his scheming wife, they find that the blood on their hands will not wash away. Even grand Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Saddam's ultimate hero, was tormented by dreams which only Daniel the prophet of God could interpret.
The king knew no peace, and had no kingdom, until he glorified God rather than himself: "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride," he declared in the end (Daniel 4:37).
Whether Saddam will ever make such a declaration in this life remains to be seen. He reportedly expressed no remorse for his crimes in his first encounter with current Iraqi leaders. Like Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, he may turn his day in court into a TV showcase of self-justification. But if not in this life, he will acknowledge God's sovereignty in the next, when all knees will bow -- even Saddam's.
Regardless of Saddam's attitude in the days ahead, this is a moment for the victors to display humility -- and not just for PR purposes in the Arab world.
Many love America and the democratic ideals it stands for. Many others hate the United States or question its motives. In a confused post-Cold War world, even some grudging allies see a benevolent American empire/police force as the only real hope for global freedom -- or at least for the prevention of general chaos. Manifest Destiny, updated and politically corrected.
It's far from clear if Americans themselves -- always reluctant to embark on foreign adventures, always eager to come home -- have the stomach for such a global project. Either way, it's important to remember that all empires come to an end, even benevolent ones. Only God's Kingdom is permanent. He uses kings and rulers, benevolent or cruel, for his purposes.
In a much earlier time, when God's people were exiled in what is now Iraq, the prophet Isaiah said: "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you, and nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60:1-3).
In the midst of the Israelites' grim sojourn in imperial Babylon, God told Isaiah that a suffering servant -- a humble King of Kings -- was coming. The prophecy would be fulfilled centuries later when Christ was born in Bethlehem -- even as another great empire ruled from Rome.
The world, and all its kings and kingdoms, await his return.
Friday, December 26, 2003
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Luke's Picture of Jesus:
The Savior of the World
The Blackhawk Down Story
The Somalis called it Ma-allinti Rangers-"The Day of the Rangers"; the US Army Rangers stationed in Somalia called it, "The Battle of the Black Sea"-referring to the part of the city of Mogadishu that they fought in. No matter what you call it, it was one bloody day.
The objective was to capture a slippery warlord named Mohammed Farrah Aidid. Word came down on a Sunday afternoon, the 3rd of October 1993, that two of Aidid's aids were meeting in the Olympic Hotel, right in the heart of the city, on Halwadig Road.
Mogadishu is not like most cities; most streets are not paved, and don't be impressed by a name like the Olympic Hotel. It's a crumbling old three-story building-about as high as any building in the city-that was built when the Italians ruled Somalia, back when Mussolini ruled Italy.
Mike Durant was on one of the first Black Hawk helicopters that went out. He and the other Americans-both Army Rangers and Delta Force-were itching to hit at Aidid, who had in effect declared war on them, while they were there, at first at least, just to make sure food supplies actually got to the common people. Back in June, Aidid's men hit and killed some American and Pakistani forces; since then, US forces had nabbed dozens of Aidid's men in raids just like this one.
That mission would turn from a 30-minute drop and snatch operation into a 24-hour nightmare. First one then a second Black Hawk-the one piloted by Durant-went down. An attack turned into a rescue operation-small groups of America soldiers pinned down in the middle of a hostile city, where women and even children carried dreaded RPGs-rocket propelled grenades-to strike at US forces.
One of the pilots, Bill Cleveland, died soon after his Black Hawk crashed. With everyone on his craft either dead or scattered for safety, angry Somalis converged on the craft and dragged his corpse through the streets of the city-a sight that soon showed up on CNN for a world audience to see.
Again and again, in that bloody two-day nightmare, men put their lives on the retrieve the bodies of fallen comrades. The code of the Rangers-Leave No Man Behind-was tested to the extreme. In the end, every man, living and dead, was extracted from Mogadishu-including that of Bill Cleveland.
As for Mike Durant, he was captured and held for 11 days, released after the US government announced that US forces would be leaving Somalia.
The War on Terrorism has reminded us that heroism is real, and that common people are capable of uncommon valor. The last few years have seen a spate of war movies depicting real events and real courage: Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers and yes, a movie version of the Battle of the Black Sea: Black Hawk Down.
All told, 18 Americans would die. 74 would be wounded-out of a total contingent of 750.
It is remarkable the number of men killed and wounded in the effort to extract the men on the fallen Black Hawks. Nearly as many died in the relief operation than in the initial crashes. Men like Sgt. Cornell Houston, Spec. James Cavaco, Pfc. Richard Kowaleski, Sgt. Lorenzo Ruiz, Master Sgt. Tim Martin, Sgt. Dominic Pilla, Sgt. Casey Joyce and Pfc. James Martin. All died to rescue the fallen, to extract the survivors, to leave no man behind.
Which brings me to an odd word.
There is a word that you'll only ever hear in church. That to me makes it a suspect word-if the only place we hear it is in a church, do people really understand it? Do I understand it?
It's a word you'll no doubt recognize from the Christmas story (Luke 2:10-11):
10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
The suspect word is "Savior." It's a church word. People give their story, their testimony, and speak of when they "accepted
Jesus as my Lord and Savior."
The Black Hawk Down story reminds me of the teeth of the term. The cost of being a savior. The blood shed to save. Savior is not a term for wimps.
The Slippery title: "Savior"
Savior is kind of a slippery word.
I heard Lee Stroebel use the term Forgiver in the place of Savior. I like that-it's nice and clear. But we rarely think of forgiving as being a costly operation. Savior is more than that…
Another term I've heard to define Savior is Deliverer. That's closer-it gives some sense of the danger involved in the act of saving, and of the danger that the saved were facing. But "Deliverer" is still an uncommon, unclear term. And Savior means more than that…
Another term: Rescuer. That's even better-as you get the sense of mutual danger. The men who were shot down in Mogadishu were in danger, and rescuing them was dangerous. But Savior is even more than that…
In the language of the New Testament, Greek, the word for Savior is Soter. That term was often given to national Heroes, especially conquerors or those who defeated a great enemy. Rescuer! But there is no idea of personal danger in the way that the Greeks used the term.
So I am forced, by the witness of Scripture, to change just one thing-something very much in line with the pain of the Battle of the Black Sea. I think of the Savior as the bloodied rescuer. Like the men of the Rangers and Delta Force, this Savior rescues-but at a bloody price.
This Peculiar Man, Simeon
In these four weeks leading up to Christmas, we've seen that each of the four gospels have four distinct images or pictures of Jesus:
Matthew: the King
Mark: the Servant
Luke: the Savior (this week)
John: the Word made flesh (next week)
There is a peculiar story about a peculiar man that opens up the theme of Jesus as Savior in Luke. It's recorded right after the story of Jesus' birth.
Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary, even though they were from Nazareth way up north in Galilee, stayed on in Bethlehem for quite a while-perhaps as long as two years. Following Jewish law and custom, Jesus was circumcised and formally named on the eighth day after His birth. The law goes on to require that an offering be made at the temple 40 days after the birth of a son. The offering required was a lamb and a dove, or two pigeon doves if you were too poor. They offered the poor folks' offering. Joseph and Mary walk the short six miles to Jerusalem to carry out the law.
The man (Luke 2:25-27a)
While they were "minding their business," doing their duty under the law of Israel, Luke tell us about a peculiar man named Simeon:
25Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.
We know absolutely nothing about Simeon apart for what Luke says here. Picture this man, evidently an old man, who lived a life focused on God and His ways. God had whispered to Him that He would live to see the dawn of the age of the Messiah, the Christ. One day, led by the Spirit, he is within the temple courts. The place is as busy as it always was, filled with all kinds of people from places far and near. But Simeon spies one little family, a couple and a baby, and zeros in on them. The Spirit of God cries out in His heart: There He is-the Messiah! Go speak to them!
The boy and the prayer (2:27b-32)
I imagine that Simeon sees them, and with glistening eyes, he asks if he could hold the baby. See what happens next, vs. 27b-32:
When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
"My eyes have seen your salvation…prepared in the sight of all people…a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
That's a mouthful. What God had showed old Simeon was that This Child was God's salvation-the Redeemer-the Savior. That this was not a secret, then or in the future. That this message would go out to the nations, the Gentiles and that this child would be the chief glory of the people of Israel.
Now, says, Simeon, now I can die happy, because I've seen the Messiah, just as God promised.
There's a couple of striking things in what Simeon says. He doesn't say, "I've seen the one who's going to save"; instead, it's even stronger: looking at the baby Jesus, he says, "My eyes have seen your salvation." The other is that Simeon realized that Jesus' mission wouldn't just be for Israel; as a good student of the Old Testament, he knows that God's plan has always been worldwide in scope.
The parents and a prophecy (2:33-35)
Now that's all pretty good, but remember what I said about the Biblical idea of Savior always having a bloody edge to it? Listen then to the words he says next (vs. 33-35):
33The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
There's a shadow over the glory now. The Savior's coming causes some to fall-and others to rise. He'll be spoken against-the thoughts of human hearts will be revealed, and it won't all be pretty. And one last word, just to Mary: "And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
Mary was Luke's own source. She vividly remembered these words over 60 years later when Luke interviewed her for his gospel. The ministry of Jesus had split society in Israel in two: some for Him, some against. The evil the hearts of the religious and secular authorities that sought His death was revealed. And Mary's soul had indeed been pierced, as she had watched the hands and feet of her Son pierced by the nails of the cross.
That's Why They Call Him Savior
But by that death, His mission was secured. The human race had crashed and burned in a sea of sin and rebellion. Jesus entered the battle to save us, and in the process He perished as well. But in His death, He won life for anyone who'll believe.
The Savior theme is the main image of Jesus in Luke.
In Luke 1:69, Jesus' uncle Zecharias' sings a song of praise after becoming the father of John. Speaking of Jesus, he calls Him "horn of salvation." That may sound weird to us, but to a 1st century BC Jew, the horn was a symbol-like the horn of an animal is used to attack and defend. Imagine two angry rams fighting! See, I told you that "savior" is a battle word!
One of the most interesting uses of the term "salvation" is found in Luke 19. It's the story of Zacchaeus-the height-challenged, feisty, Napoleonic-complex head tax collector. (Just think Danny DeVito). Jesus, on his way into Jericho sees this comic figure of a short man in a sycamore-fig tree, up there so he could see over the heads of the other people in the crowd. Jesus spots him, and I'm sure had a chuckle and said, "Hey you, Zacchaeus, get down here. I'm staying at your house today!"
And so he does, and Zacchaeus says to Jesus, "Lord look, I know I've been a real rat. So I want you to know that I'm changing my ways. Right now, I'm cutting a check for half of all my assets and it's going to the Jericho Rescue Mission. I have an accountant downstairs right now, and we're looking up all the people I've ripped off over the years, and we're sending them rebates worth four times what we ripped off."
And do you know what Jesus said?
Luke 19:9:
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
In other words, mission accomplished. Zacchaeus had been a downed man. His life had been all about power and greed. He was a tough little guy, part Jimmy Cagne, part Don Corleone, part Tony Soprano, but now life had changed because of the successful rescue mission of Jesus, the Savior.
Zacchaeus had been a physical descendant of Abraham, but that day became a faith-descendant of Abraham, and that's what counts-not pedigree but faith.
Why the "Son of Man" came: another take (19:10)
Then Jesus said something that should sound familiar if you were here last week (vs. 10):
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Last week, looking in Mark, we came across Jesus' words in Mark 10:45:
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Here we have Jesus again calling Himself the Son of Man, and in slightly different words tell us why He came. In Mark, He comes to serve, and give His life. In Luke, He comes to seek and save the lost. Again, Mark pictures Jesus as servant; Luke as Savior (bloody rescuer, remember!).
I'm glad that Jesus came to "seek and save what was lost." That means I can be on the list.
Many of you here were raised in the church, and so your experience of being lost isn't perhaps as strong as many others. Your knowledge of sin is pretty tame. But others here are more from the Zacchaeus mold. I know, I've spoken to you. You did drugs and slept around and broke the law so much that the police all knew you by name.
And you know better than a lot of other people that Jesus came into a real hellhole for you. You were being shot to pieces, and a little while longer you may not have even lived. But Jesus came in and when He did, He took a bullet for you. His blood flowed down the cross and into the street and became a stream of clear water, cleansing water, and by the grace of God, you jumped in and were washed clean, and brand new, Zacchaeus kind of start.
That rescue mission is what the word Savior is all about. That rescue mission is what Christmas is all about.
Who's Lost? And How do You get Found?
And you can be rescued too. No matter what, He will leave no man, no woman, no boy or girl behind. Just ask Him to rescue you. You can pray like this,
Lord Jesus, I need you. I'm trapped in my own sin. I've broken God's law. Please rescue me; forgive me! Thank You for dying on the cross for me. Thank You for loving me that much. Thank you for rising from the dead. I accept you as My Master and my Rescuer, and I will follow You with all my hearts as long as I live. Thank You, Jesus! Amen.
© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org
Luke's Picture of Jesus:
The Savior of the World
The Blackhawk Down Story
The Somalis called it Ma-allinti Rangers-"The Day of the Rangers"; the US Army Rangers stationed in Somalia called it, "The Battle of the Black Sea"-referring to the part of the city of Mogadishu that they fought in. No matter what you call it, it was one bloody day.
The objective was to capture a slippery warlord named Mohammed Farrah Aidid. Word came down on a Sunday afternoon, the 3rd of October 1993, that two of Aidid's aids were meeting in the Olympic Hotel, right in the heart of the city, on Halwadig Road.
Mogadishu is not like most cities; most streets are not paved, and don't be impressed by a name like the Olympic Hotel. It's a crumbling old three-story building-about as high as any building in the city-that was built when the Italians ruled Somalia, back when Mussolini ruled Italy.
Mike Durant was on one of the first Black Hawk helicopters that went out. He and the other Americans-both Army Rangers and Delta Force-were itching to hit at Aidid, who had in effect declared war on them, while they were there, at first at least, just to make sure food supplies actually got to the common people. Back in June, Aidid's men hit and killed some American and Pakistani forces; since then, US forces had nabbed dozens of Aidid's men in raids just like this one.
That mission would turn from a 30-minute drop and snatch operation into a 24-hour nightmare. First one then a second Black Hawk-the one piloted by Durant-went down. An attack turned into a rescue operation-small groups of America soldiers pinned down in the middle of a hostile city, where women and even children carried dreaded RPGs-rocket propelled grenades-to strike at US forces.
One of the pilots, Bill Cleveland, died soon after his Black Hawk crashed. With everyone on his craft either dead or scattered for safety, angry Somalis converged on the craft and dragged his corpse through the streets of the city-a sight that soon showed up on CNN for a world audience to see.
Again and again, in that bloody two-day nightmare, men put their lives on the retrieve the bodies of fallen comrades. The code of the Rangers-Leave No Man Behind-was tested to the extreme. In the end, every man, living and dead, was extracted from Mogadishu-including that of Bill Cleveland.
As for Mike Durant, he was captured and held for 11 days, released after the US government announced that US forces would be leaving Somalia.
The War on Terrorism has reminded us that heroism is real, and that common people are capable of uncommon valor. The last few years have seen a spate of war movies depicting real events and real courage: Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers and yes, a movie version of the Battle of the Black Sea: Black Hawk Down.
All told, 18 Americans would die. 74 would be wounded-out of a total contingent of 750.
It is remarkable the number of men killed and wounded in the effort to extract the men on the fallen Black Hawks. Nearly as many died in the relief operation than in the initial crashes. Men like Sgt. Cornell Houston, Spec. James Cavaco, Pfc. Richard Kowaleski, Sgt. Lorenzo Ruiz, Master Sgt. Tim Martin, Sgt. Dominic Pilla, Sgt. Casey Joyce and Pfc. James Martin. All died to rescue the fallen, to extract the survivors, to leave no man behind.
Which brings me to an odd word.
There is a word that you'll only ever hear in church. That to me makes it a suspect word-if the only place we hear it is in a church, do people really understand it? Do I understand it?
It's a word you'll no doubt recognize from the Christmas story (Luke 2:10-11):
10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
The suspect word is "Savior." It's a church word. People give their story, their testimony, and speak of when they "accepted
Jesus as my Lord and Savior."
The Black Hawk Down story reminds me of the teeth of the term. The cost of being a savior. The blood shed to save. Savior is not a term for wimps.
The Slippery title: "Savior"
Savior is kind of a slippery word.
I heard Lee Stroebel use the term Forgiver in the place of Savior. I like that-it's nice and clear. But we rarely think of forgiving as being a costly operation. Savior is more than that…
Another term I've heard to define Savior is Deliverer. That's closer-it gives some sense of the danger involved in the act of saving, and of the danger that the saved were facing. But "Deliverer" is still an uncommon, unclear term. And Savior means more than that…
Another term: Rescuer. That's even better-as you get the sense of mutual danger. The men who were shot down in Mogadishu were in danger, and rescuing them was dangerous. But Savior is even more than that…
In the language of the New Testament, Greek, the word for Savior is Soter. That term was often given to national Heroes, especially conquerors or those who defeated a great enemy. Rescuer! But there is no idea of personal danger in the way that the Greeks used the term.
So I am forced, by the witness of Scripture, to change just one thing-something very much in line with the pain of the Battle of the Black Sea. I think of the Savior as the bloodied rescuer. Like the men of the Rangers and Delta Force, this Savior rescues-but at a bloody price.
This Peculiar Man, Simeon
In these four weeks leading up to Christmas, we've seen that each of the four gospels have four distinct images or pictures of Jesus:
Matthew: the King
Mark: the Servant
Luke: the Savior (this week)
John: the Word made flesh (next week)
There is a peculiar story about a peculiar man that opens up the theme of Jesus as Savior in Luke. It's recorded right after the story of Jesus' birth.
Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary, even though they were from Nazareth way up north in Galilee, stayed on in Bethlehem for quite a while-perhaps as long as two years. Following Jewish law and custom, Jesus was circumcised and formally named on the eighth day after His birth. The law goes on to require that an offering be made at the temple 40 days after the birth of a son. The offering required was a lamb and a dove, or two pigeon doves if you were too poor. They offered the poor folks' offering. Joseph and Mary walk the short six miles to Jerusalem to carry out the law.
The man (Luke 2:25-27a)
While they were "minding their business," doing their duty under the law of Israel, Luke tell us about a peculiar man named Simeon:
25Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.
We know absolutely nothing about Simeon apart for what Luke says here. Picture this man, evidently an old man, who lived a life focused on God and His ways. God had whispered to Him that He would live to see the dawn of the age of the Messiah, the Christ. One day, led by the Spirit, he is within the temple courts. The place is as busy as it always was, filled with all kinds of people from places far and near. But Simeon spies one little family, a couple and a baby, and zeros in on them. The Spirit of God cries out in His heart: There He is-the Messiah! Go speak to them!
The boy and the prayer (2:27b-32)
I imagine that Simeon sees them, and with glistening eyes, he asks if he could hold the baby. See what happens next, vs. 27b-32:
When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
"My eyes have seen your salvation…prepared in the sight of all people…a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
That's a mouthful. What God had showed old Simeon was that This Child was God's salvation-the Redeemer-the Savior. That this was not a secret, then or in the future. That this message would go out to the nations, the Gentiles and that this child would be the chief glory of the people of Israel.
Now, says, Simeon, now I can die happy, because I've seen the Messiah, just as God promised.
There's a couple of striking things in what Simeon says. He doesn't say, "I've seen the one who's going to save"; instead, it's even stronger: looking at the baby Jesus, he says, "My eyes have seen your salvation." The other is that Simeon realized that Jesus' mission wouldn't just be for Israel; as a good student of the Old Testament, he knows that God's plan has always been worldwide in scope.
The parents and a prophecy (2:33-35)
Now that's all pretty good, but remember what I said about the Biblical idea of Savior always having a bloody edge to it? Listen then to the words he says next (vs. 33-35):
33The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
There's a shadow over the glory now. The Savior's coming causes some to fall-and others to rise. He'll be spoken against-the thoughts of human hearts will be revealed, and it won't all be pretty. And one last word, just to Mary: "And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
Mary was Luke's own source. She vividly remembered these words over 60 years later when Luke interviewed her for his gospel. The ministry of Jesus had split society in Israel in two: some for Him, some against. The evil the hearts of the religious and secular authorities that sought His death was revealed. And Mary's soul had indeed been pierced, as she had watched the hands and feet of her Son pierced by the nails of the cross.
That's Why They Call Him Savior
But by that death, His mission was secured. The human race had crashed and burned in a sea of sin and rebellion. Jesus entered the battle to save us, and in the process He perished as well. But in His death, He won life for anyone who'll believe.
The Savior theme is the main image of Jesus in Luke.
In Luke 1:69, Jesus' uncle Zecharias' sings a song of praise after becoming the father of John. Speaking of Jesus, he calls Him "horn of salvation." That may sound weird to us, but to a 1st century BC Jew, the horn was a symbol-like the horn of an animal is used to attack and defend. Imagine two angry rams fighting! See, I told you that "savior" is a battle word!
One of the most interesting uses of the term "salvation" is found in Luke 19. It's the story of Zacchaeus-the height-challenged, feisty, Napoleonic-complex head tax collector. (Just think Danny DeVito). Jesus, on his way into Jericho sees this comic figure of a short man in a sycamore-fig tree, up there so he could see over the heads of the other people in the crowd. Jesus spots him, and I'm sure had a chuckle and said, "Hey you, Zacchaeus, get down here. I'm staying at your house today!"
And so he does, and Zacchaeus says to Jesus, "Lord look, I know I've been a real rat. So I want you to know that I'm changing my ways. Right now, I'm cutting a check for half of all my assets and it's going to the Jericho Rescue Mission. I have an accountant downstairs right now, and we're looking up all the people I've ripped off over the years, and we're sending them rebates worth four times what we ripped off."
And do you know what Jesus said?
Luke 19:9:
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
In other words, mission accomplished. Zacchaeus had been a downed man. His life had been all about power and greed. He was a tough little guy, part Jimmy Cagne, part Don Corleone, part Tony Soprano, but now life had changed because of the successful rescue mission of Jesus, the Savior.
Zacchaeus had been a physical descendant of Abraham, but that day became a faith-descendant of Abraham, and that's what counts-not pedigree but faith.
Why the "Son of Man" came: another take (19:10)
Then Jesus said something that should sound familiar if you were here last week (vs. 10):
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Last week, looking in Mark, we came across Jesus' words in Mark 10:45:
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Here we have Jesus again calling Himself the Son of Man, and in slightly different words tell us why He came. In Mark, He comes to serve, and give His life. In Luke, He comes to seek and save the lost. Again, Mark pictures Jesus as servant; Luke as Savior (bloody rescuer, remember!).
I'm glad that Jesus came to "seek and save what was lost." That means I can be on the list.
Many of you here were raised in the church, and so your experience of being lost isn't perhaps as strong as many others. Your knowledge of sin is pretty tame. But others here are more from the Zacchaeus mold. I know, I've spoken to you. You did drugs and slept around and broke the law so much that the police all knew you by name.
And you know better than a lot of other people that Jesus came into a real hellhole for you. You were being shot to pieces, and a little while longer you may not have even lived. But Jesus came in and when He did, He took a bullet for you. His blood flowed down the cross and into the street and became a stream of clear water, cleansing water, and by the grace of God, you jumped in and were washed clean, and brand new, Zacchaeus kind of start.
That rescue mission is what the word Savior is all about. That rescue mission is what Christmas is all about.
Who's Lost? And How do You get Found?
And you can be rescued too. No matter what, He will leave no man, no woman, no boy or girl behind. Just ask Him to rescue you. You can pray like this,
Lord Jesus, I need you. I'm trapped in my own sin. I've broken God's law. Please rescue me; forgive me! Thank You for dying on the cross for me. Thank You for loving me that much. Thank you for rising from the dead. I accept you as My Master and my Rescuer, and I will follow You with all my hearts as long as I live. Thank You, Jesus! Amen.
© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org
December 8, 2002
(Mark 10:45)
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark's Picture of Jesus:
The Servant
Perhaps I remember the boy by the road the best. For eight days we worked and sweated our way across the Dominican Republic, from Puerto Plata in the north to Santo Domingo in the south. Ironically, although we would see just about 1000 patients in the four medical clinic days we conducted, the most disturbing medical sight was on our "day off": the day we traveled from Santiago, our home base in the interior of the country, down to the capital city, Santo Domingo.
He obviously had been set out to beg, here at the only semi-modern rest stop along the way. A boy, maybe 13 years old, immobile, his legs grotesquely swollen by elephantiasis. The disease is like it sounds: in his case, both legs were swollen up thick and round like an elephant's. I only got a glimpse of him, but in that glimpse I knew that I didn't want to look long.
In that moment, I saw something frightening and humbling. It was frightening to know that such a wretched disease existed. It was humbling to know that at that moment, I didn't have the compassion to overcome my fear and my revulsion-something that this boy's family had had to do every day.
It was also humbling. And it made me think of another place on the far side of the world.
It smells there. So I'm told; I've never been there. It is a great smoky city, a churning pot of smoke and heat and human and animal waste. It is one of the most crowded cities in the world, and yet the poor continue to come. Whole families live in the space between floors of buildings.
By Hindu custom, cattle roam freely in the cities, while the poor are trapped. In the heart of this darkness, you will find some old buildings that have become unlikely places of pilgrimage: the compound of the Sisters of Mercy. For years an old Albanian woman whom the world called Mother Teresa oversaw the work.
Calcutta was the worst place on earth, and that's where she and the sisters planted themselves. Caring for the dying of Calcutta can only be thought of us the most thankless task on the face of the earth, and that's what she set about doing.
In the summer of 1996, she as well came under the care of the sisters. She, world-renown, a guest of Presidents and parliaments, received exactly the same kind of care that all the dying of Calcutta received from the Sisters of Mercy. Ironically, she died the same week as Princess Diana. Even in death, celebrity overshadowed servanthood.
Why set out to minister in this miserable place? Why not leave it to the Indians-to the Hindus? It was because of the servant nature of her master, Jesus Christ. She could not imagine a place on the face of the earth more needy of the reality of Jesus.
Four Pictures of Jesus
Last week, we mentioned that the four gospels give us four distinct and interlocking portraits of Jesus.
Matthew: King: the Lord of all, the master, for whom there is ample proof of His Lordship
Mark: Servant-the one who give all
Luke: Savior-of the whole world
John: The Word made Flesh-God becoming one of us.
Mark's Picture
The curious thing about Mark it has no account of Jesus' birth. Only Matthew and Luke have complete birth stories. John at least discusses Jesus' coming from an eternal, heavenly point of view.
There is nothing like that in Mark.
Jesus' "coming" in Mark:
Mark 1:1
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. A rather stark opening! More like a title…with shades of Genesis 1:1's "In the beginning…"
Mark 2:17
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Here's what's going on: the religious people are complaining that Jesus is spending all His time with big-time sinners. Jesus answers that He's come just for the big-time sinners, not the have-it-all-together crowd.
Mark 10:45
Here's the high peak in this range:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Here Jesus uses His favorite term for Himself-Son of Man-to tell why He came. He didn't come to be the Big Kahuna; He came to serve. And in His serving, to give His own life away-a "ransom" He calls it-for many.
Mark 11:1-11
One other place talks about His "coming" in Mark: that's when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, on the day we celebrate on Palm Sunday. We're told that some people cried out, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
So while Mark has no story of His birth, the idea that His coming is from God and that in a sense, He's come from someplace else is all throughout Mark's gospel.
The interesting thing is that every place in Mark that refers to Jesus' coming, His coming is described as a kind of surprise development:
He doesn't come for the religious people, but for the skuzzy people.
He doesn't come to be served
He doesn't come to be honored, but to give His life away
He doesn't come to live a long life, but to die
He doesn't come on a conquering stallion, but rides into Jerusalem on a pathetic little donkey
This is a different kind of coming.
If Jesus is a King (and Matthew's gospel makes sure we know that He is), then He sure is a different kind of King.
What Child is This?
An old Christmas carol asks the question, "What child is this, on Mary's lap is sleeping?" The Refrain answers, "This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing." But what a strange King!
Jesus remains a baffling figure. What kind of Messiah gets Himself crucified? What kind of King has not only has no palace, but often has no place to sleep at night? What kind of Lord views service as mandatory-and survival as optional?
If He's King, then He has an upside down kingdom. Pharaoh and Caesar and Hitler and bin Ladin sent they underlings to die on their behalf; this King dies for His people. What kind of kingdom is that?
Better yet, we have an upside down King here. Unlike medieval fairy tales of Kings dressing like commoners to get a flavor of life for the little people, He becomes a little person.
John tells the story. It was the night of the Passover, the night before Jesus' death. Jesus took off His robe and got down on His knees to wash the feet of His disciples. No one else would do this lowly job, so He did. It was not beneath Him. (John 13:2-5).
And Paul tells us that He came from the eternal circle of the Triune God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-and became one of us. Downward He stepped, from the glory of heaven and the endless adoration of the angels, to being planted in the womb of a Jewish woman, to birth, to mere human appearance. But that was not enough. He could have spent His earthly years in majestic glory: instead, He spent them as a common laborer in a backward land occupied by a foreign power. He could have ruled-He had every right. But He spent His years serving, giving, loving, caring, and tenderly gathering in the lost sheep, the lost people of Israel. He could have lived a long life, but it was cut short by an unjust death with Him still in His 30s. He could have died peacefully in His sleep, but instead He died by the cruelest technique of its day, the long lingering shameful death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5-11)
There is nothing but surprise in this Jesus. He seems to have it all backwards. The famed early 20th century British author Dorothy Sayers wrote,
For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is-limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death-He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine. Whatever games He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He Himself has gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.
The Unexpected God
This King, this Jesus, this servant, this God in the flesh is a surprise all-around.
Theologians talk about the transcendence and the immanence of God. Transcendence has to do with how high God is: Almighty, holy, eternal, all-powerful, all knowing and so forth.
The immanence of God has to do with how low God can reach: that He is loving, gracious, compassionate, merciful, and so on.
The great surprise of Jesus is like doing the limbo: how low can He go?
He is a King and yet also a Servant. In Isaiah, He is foreseen as the Servant, the Servant of the Lord, the Servant who is disfigured and even put to death because in the hidden will of God, this was the way to set a whole people free. (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)
And so we make the discovery: at the core of all the universe is not a God unmoved and unmoving, a cold throne of fate and power, but instead a God of love and grace. Frankly, this simple truth is one I never cease to be amazed by. The universe looks cold and uncaring. If you go mountain climbing and fall off, the mountain does not mourn you. But there is a God who does.
In this one little verse, Mark 10:45, Jesus uses the term "The Son of Man": "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The term has a curious history among the Jews. Many places in the Old Testament, the term means, "mere man." God spoke to Ezekiel, calling him "son of man" to emphasis his weakness in the face of the divine. It means that you are thoroughly human. Yet Daniel uses it as a title for the Messiah. The Son of Man remains one human-but exalted nonetheless. (Daniel 7:13-14). No wonder Jesus liked the term so much. Rather than blow His horn as the Son of God, He again and again identified with us mere weak human beings.
And He says that the Son of Man has a mission: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." He comes to serve, and has one particular act of service as the target of His mission: to give His life as a ransom. The ransom here is a payment to set the captives free.
I find myself in a conversation with Jesus:
Q: Why did You come Jesus?
J: I came to serve. I came to give Myself away-even to the point of death.
Q: But why?
J: It was necessary. Because of love. Because I could not abandon the people of the earth in their sin. I came to show the way-in my character, in my healing, in setting people from the demonic powers. But just that wasn't enough. Only a human can bear human sin; only God has the power to take it away. So I came, fully a human being, fully God, and took it to the cross. When I died there, I killed that sin too.
Q: So You died for me then, didn't You?
J: Yes, child. I died for you.
Q: I can't understand that kind of love…
J: We never understand love! That's why it's freely given. You don't dissect it-you accept it.
He is the King…but the Upside Down King. He is the Lord of Glory-and the Servant who gives His life as a ransom for many…as a ransom for you.
© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org
(Mark 10:45)
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark's Picture of Jesus:
The Servant
Perhaps I remember the boy by the road the best. For eight days we worked and sweated our way across the Dominican Republic, from Puerto Plata in the north to Santo Domingo in the south. Ironically, although we would see just about 1000 patients in the four medical clinic days we conducted, the most disturbing medical sight was on our "day off": the day we traveled from Santiago, our home base in the interior of the country, down to the capital city, Santo Domingo.
He obviously had been set out to beg, here at the only semi-modern rest stop along the way. A boy, maybe 13 years old, immobile, his legs grotesquely swollen by elephantiasis. The disease is like it sounds: in his case, both legs were swollen up thick and round like an elephant's. I only got a glimpse of him, but in that glimpse I knew that I didn't want to look long.
In that moment, I saw something frightening and humbling. It was frightening to know that such a wretched disease existed. It was humbling to know that at that moment, I didn't have the compassion to overcome my fear and my revulsion-something that this boy's family had had to do every day.
It was also humbling. And it made me think of another place on the far side of the world.
It smells there. So I'm told; I've never been there. It is a great smoky city, a churning pot of smoke and heat and human and animal waste. It is one of the most crowded cities in the world, and yet the poor continue to come. Whole families live in the space between floors of buildings.
By Hindu custom, cattle roam freely in the cities, while the poor are trapped. In the heart of this darkness, you will find some old buildings that have become unlikely places of pilgrimage: the compound of the Sisters of Mercy. For years an old Albanian woman whom the world called Mother Teresa oversaw the work.
Calcutta was the worst place on earth, and that's where she and the sisters planted themselves. Caring for the dying of Calcutta can only be thought of us the most thankless task on the face of the earth, and that's what she set about doing.
In the summer of 1996, she as well came under the care of the sisters. She, world-renown, a guest of Presidents and parliaments, received exactly the same kind of care that all the dying of Calcutta received from the Sisters of Mercy. Ironically, she died the same week as Princess Diana. Even in death, celebrity overshadowed servanthood.
Why set out to minister in this miserable place? Why not leave it to the Indians-to the Hindus? It was because of the servant nature of her master, Jesus Christ. She could not imagine a place on the face of the earth more needy of the reality of Jesus.
Four Pictures of Jesus
Last week, we mentioned that the four gospels give us four distinct and interlocking portraits of Jesus.
Matthew: King: the Lord of all, the master, for whom there is ample proof of His Lordship
Mark: Servant-the one who give all
Luke: Savior-of the whole world
John: The Word made Flesh-God becoming one of us.
Mark's Picture
The curious thing about Mark it has no account of Jesus' birth. Only Matthew and Luke have complete birth stories. John at least discusses Jesus' coming from an eternal, heavenly point of view.
There is nothing like that in Mark.
Jesus' "coming" in Mark:
Mark 1:1
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. A rather stark opening! More like a title…with shades of Genesis 1:1's "In the beginning…"
Mark 2:17
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Here's what's going on: the religious people are complaining that Jesus is spending all His time with big-time sinners. Jesus answers that He's come just for the big-time sinners, not the have-it-all-together crowd.
Mark 10:45
Here's the high peak in this range:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Here Jesus uses His favorite term for Himself-Son of Man-to tell why He came. He didn't come to be the Big Kahuna; He came to serve. And in His serving, to give His own life away-a "ransom" He calls it-for many.
Mark 11:1-11
One other place talks about His "coming" in Mark: that's when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, on the day we celebrate on Palm Sunday. We're told that some people cried out, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
So while Mark has no story of His birth, the idea that His coming is from God and that in a sense, He's come from someplace else is all throughout Mark's gospel.
The interesting thing is that every place in Mark that refers to Jesus' coming, His coming is described as a kind of surprise development:
He doesn't come for the religious people, but for the skuzzy people.
He doesn't come to be served
He doesn't come to be honored, but to give His life away
He doesn't come to live a long life, but to die
He doesn't come on a conquering stallion, but rides into Jerusalem on a pathetic little donkey
This is a different kind of coming.
If Jesus is a King (and Matthew's gospel makes sure we know that He is), then He sure is a different kind of King.
What Child is This?
An old Christmas carol asks the question, "What child is this, on Mary's lap is sleeping?" The Refrain answers, "This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing." But what a strange King!
Jesus remains a baffling figure. What kind of Messiah gets Himself crucified? What kind of King has not only has no palace, but often has no place to sleep at night? What kind of Lord views service as mandatory-and survival as optional?
If He's King, then He has an upside down kingdom. Pharaoh and Caesar and Hitler and bin Ladin sent they underlings to die on their behalf; this King dies for His people. What kind of kingdom is that?
Better yet, we have an upside down King here. Unlike medieval fairy tales of Kings dressing like commoners to get a flavor of life for the little people, He becomes a little person.
John tells the story. It was the night of the Passover, the night before Jesus' death. Jesus took off His robe and got down on His knees to wash the feet of His disciples. No one else would do this lowly job, so He did. It was not beneath Him. (John 13:2-5).
And Paul tells us that He came from the eternal circle of the Triune God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-and became one of us. Downward He stepped, from the glory of heaven and the endless adoration of the angels, to being planted in the womb of a Jewish woman, to birth, to mere human appearance. But that was not enough. He could have spent His earthly years in majestic glory: instead, He spent them as a common laborer in a backward land occupied by a foreign power. He could have ruled-He had every right. But He spent His years serving, giving, loving, caring, and tenderly gathering in the lost sheep, the lost people of Israel. He could have lived a long life, but it was cut short by an unjust death with Him still in His 30s. He could have died peacefully in His sleep, but instead He died by the cruelest technique of its day, the long lingering shameful death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5-11)
There is nothing but surprise in this Jesus. He seems to have it all backwards. The famed early 20th century British author Dorothy Sayers wrote,
For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is-limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death-He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine. Whatever games He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He Himself has gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.
The Unexpected God
This King, this Jesus, this servant, this God in the flesh is a surprise all-around.
Theologians talk about the transcendence and the immanence of God. Transcendence has to do with how high God is: Almighty, holy, eternal, all-powerful, all knowing and so forth.
The immanence of God has to do with how low God can reach: that He is loving, gracious, compassionate, merciful, and so on.
The great surprise of Jesus is like doing the limbo: how low can He go?
He is a King and yet also a Servant. In Isaiah, He is foreseen as the Servant, the Servant of the Lord, the Servant who is disfigured and even put to death because in the hidden will of God, this was the way to set a whole people free. (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)
And so we make the discovery: at the core of all the universe is not a God unmoved and unmoving, a cold throne of fate and power, but instead a God of love and grace. Frankly, this simple truth is one I never cease to be amazed by. The universe looks cold and uncaring. If you go mountain climbing and fall off, the mountain does not mourn you. But there is a God who does.
In this one little verse, Mark 10:45, Jesus uses the term "The Son of Man": "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The term has a curious history among the Jews. Many places in the Old Testament, the term means, "mere man." God spoke to Ezekiel, calling him "son of man" to emphasis his weakness in the face of the divine. It means that you are thoroughly human. Yet Daniel uses it as a title for the Messiah. The Son of Man remains one human-but exalted nonetheless. (Daniel 7:13-14). No wonder Jesus liked the term so much. Rather than blow His horn as the Son of God, He again and again identified with us mere weak human beings.
And He says that the Son of Man has a mission: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." He comes to serve, and has one particular act of service as the target of His mission: to give His life as a ransom. The ransom here is a payment to set the captives free.
I find myself in a conversation with Jesus:
Q: Why did You come Jesus?
J: I came to serve. I came to give Myself away-even to the point of death.
Q: But why?
J: It was necessary. Because of love. Because I could not abandon the people of the earth in their sin. I came to show the way-in my character, in my healing, in setting people from the demonic powers. But just that wasn't enough. Only a human can bear human sin; only God has the power to take it away. So I came, fully a human being, fully God, and took it to the cross. When I died there, I killed that sin too.
Q: So You died for me then, didn't You?
J: Yes, child. I died for you.
Q: I can't understand that kind of love…
J: We never understand love! That's why it's freely given. You don't dissect it-you accept it.
He is the King…but the Upside Down King. He is the Lord of Glory-and the Servant who gives His life as a ransom for many…as a ransom for you.
© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org
December 1, 2002
(Matthew 2:1-2)
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.
Matthew's Picture of Jesus:
The King of Israel
In a suburb of Baltimore, a 69-year-old man is in physical therapy. The day is September 11, 2002. It's late afternoon when he arrives, after 4:30, after a typically busy day of managing his several businesses. The TV in the therapy room is broadcasting news on the one-year commemoration of the attack on America. Ever since his triple bypass, back in 1996, physical therapy has been a way of life. His body is amazingly fit, but it is matched to a faltering heart. Still, it was a shock when in the midst of the therapy, he let out a low moan and lapsed into unconsciousness. Emergency help arrived and they did their best on him, but after a 45-minute battle against the inevitable, he was pronounced dead.
And a small news story is mixed with the day's news: "Johnny Unitas, the greatest quarterback in football history, died this evening of a massive heart attack."
Writing in The Sporting News a week later, one of his old teammates recalled what made Johnny U so special: "he ate, drank, slept football. It's all he cared about…nothing else mattered to Johnny. He was absolutely obsessed."
Although a gentleman and a pro, his football-focused life had its cost. Not long after retiring, he divorced his first wife. Under his kindly demeanor was a tough and driven man. He started and personally managed not one but four businesses in his post NFL career. He demanded the same kind of loyalty in his work as he had on the field.
That drivenness plus a history of heart disease in his family was a bad match. Problems began showing in the early 80s, when he was still in his early 50s. His type-A personality made him put off proper treatment. His triple-bypass in 1996 was an emergency procedure after Johnny showed up at his doctor's office looking like a ghost. Every moment from that time on, Johnny was really living on borrowed time…living dangerously.
The same evening, in Bloomington, Indiana, Mike Davis does what he does every night: before going to bed, he got down on his knees and prayed.
Mike Davis has one of the best-and one of the worst-jobs in the world. Mike is the head basketball coach of the Indiana University Hoosiers. That means the he followed the controversial Bobby Knight, the highly effective, but highly volatile, long-time coach of the team.
Mike Davis is a minor miracle. He was a star B-ball player for the University of Alabama in the early 80s and seemed headed for a pro career. But then everything seemed to fall apart. The Milwaukee Bucks drafted him, but then cut him after training camp. Mike ended up playing in Europe and minor league basketball. But far worse was the death of his 17-month-old daughter in a car accident that also severely injured his 5-year-old son Mike, Jr.
His marriage was falling apart under the strain. Mike took a coaching job at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama, and was paid $200-for the whole season. He cobbled together other jobs: selling T-shirts out of the back of his car, coaching in the off-season in Venezuela. It didn't matter; his wife left him, and also left him with Mike, Jr. to raise.
The crisis of being broke and a single father turned Mike back to his spiritual roots growing up in Alabama. He dad left when he was six, and his mother also had to raise him alone. The anchor of his young life had been the church pastored by grandfather, Rev. J.H. Thompson. Mike and Mike Jr. started going back to church. Mike reconnected to Jesus Christ. His presence in Mike's life gave him a new lease on life.
His professional turnaround was in 1997. Somehow he'd gotten Bobby Knight's attention, and he hired him as an assistant coach. Mike's easy-going manner was a 180-degree difference from Bobby Knight's.
When Knight was fired for misconduct in the fall of 2000, Mike Davis was named interim coach-the school's first black coach in a major sport.
The Hoosiers were now being led by a completely different kind of man. He does not allow practices on Sundays. He has prayer before ever game-not praying for winning, but for all players, on both teams, not to suffer injury and to play with integrity. After leading the Hoosiers through a 21-13 season, and to a berth in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, Mike was named the permanent coach. On Sundays now, you'll find Mike Davis at Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis with his son and second wife Tamilya and their three-year-old Atoine.
What difference does the presence-or absence-of Jesus Christ in a person's life make? Being a Christian sure doesn't make you perfect. Mike Davis has made his mistakes-did I mention that lipping off to referees got him five technical fouls in the 2000-2001 season?
And it doesn't guarantee success. Johnny Unitas, never a professing Christian, was a tremendous success without Christ, and for every happy-ending story like Mike Davis, there are a thousand struggling, poor, hardscrabble followers of Christ out there.
I think it's something utterly different-that difference. I think it's an encounter with Jesus that changes a person so that their goals are different. Success is less important that serving Him. Life becomes about serving Him because He is Lord.
Four Pictures of Jesus
The Lordship of Jesus is one of the four prime pictures of Jesus given to us in the four Biblical biographies of Jesus, the four gospels. Each of these four gospels has a prime image of Jesus, a picture of Jesus, and that's what we'll be examining over the next four weeks:
In Matthew, Jesus is King.
In Mark, He's pictured as a Servant.
In Luke, He's Savior (Forgiver, Rescuer) of all humankind.
And in John, He's the eternal Word made Flesh-God becoming a human being.
We need all these to begin to get a view of the real Jesus.
Matthew's Picture
The image of "King" seems for a moment out of date. We haven't had a king in the country since King George the III in 1776, and we threw him out!
But the idea of "King" is a timeless image. Elvis was "the King." ("Thank you very much.") For example, when was the last time you had lunch at "Burger President"?
And so we read right away about Jesus as the King in Matthew's gospel:
21After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
By the way, this was not the first time nor would it be the last time Jesus is described this way by Matthew. It's Matthew that details the descent of Jesus from David. It's Matthew that tells us that when He was crucified, the words, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" was posted over His head.
Now the Magi were philosopher/astrologer/scientists (in those days, there wasn't a lot of difference between these!) living in what's today Iraq. They had some reasons (we'll take about that in a minute) to believe that a new King of Israel had been born. This was an immediate challenge to the current King, a bloodthirsty old half-crazy man called Herod the Great. In his long life, Herod has fought off a dozen challenges to his throne, and had shown no remorse in killing even his own sons-and even one of his wives.
So the arrival of these foreigners asking about a newborn King pits old King Herod vs. the new King Jesus. And that's always the way it is. Jesus is always upsetting the status quo. Even as a toddler, His very presence was rightly seen as revolutionary. There's nothing tender and tame about Him.
Herod reacted according to character. This is the chapter that tells the story of how he tried to use the Magi to get to Jesus to kill Him. They don't cooperate, so Herod just whacks all the little boys in Bethlehem under age 2.
And throughout history, the Herods story has been repeated a thousand times. There have always been those who thing that they were on the verge of eliminating Jesus from the scene. Marx thought that Christianity would wither and perish with the coming of the revolution. Instead the revolution came and went and the name of Jesus is still adored. (And I believe what happened in Europe will happen in China and Cuba as well. The clock is ticking for Fidel Castro!)
Whether or not Jesus is really the King of all ages remains the ultimate personal challenge for people today.
Dealing with the King
You as well must deal with the King. I have observed four basic tactics people use to deal with Jesus. I myself used tactic number one for a time in my life.
The first is to…
Deny Him as legend, lunatic, or liar
CS Lewis pointed out that Jesus is either Lord, a Liar or a lunatic. Well, there's another possible out-maybe He's a legend.
But facts are stubborn things, and Jesus doesn't fit as a legend, a lunatic or a liar. For example, here's the most recent issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. The cover story made national news: an ossuary (a bone box) inscribed with the words, "James, the son of Joseph, the brother of Jesus"-datable to about 63 AD-the very time Christian history says James died.
This simple box is the earliest physical historical evidence for a real Jesus to yet come to light. It's far from the only. There are literally dozens of examples of references to Jesus found in ancient Roman, Greek and Jewish sources. These are not Christian sources, but non-believing sources confirming the historical reality of Jesus.
Another response to Jesus has been to…
Destroy Him as threat. That was what the religious authorities tried to do 2000 years ago. That's what they tried to do with Him under communism. The French philosopher Voltaire, writing in the 18th century, said that one hundreds years in his future, the Bible would be a neglected book sitting on a back shelf in a library-that no one would believe it, or in the Jesus it speaks of. Not only was he wrong, but one hundred years from the time he said that, his personal printing press was the property of the Geneva Bible Society! Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor!
Yet another response to King Jesus has been to…
Delay Him as long as possible
The book of Acts tells how Paul would tell the gospel to a Roman governor named Felix and his wife Drusilla. Felix would listen so long and then tell Paul to go away.
I suspect that Felix came to the point of believing Paul's message intellectually but that he was resisting the implications of Jesus as King. If Jesus was really the King, he'd have to make a choice between Jesus and Caesar-and that was a choice he just didn't want to make. He'd have to make a choice between the honor of being a Roman governor and the dishonor of being a Christ-follower. His head pulled toward Jesus, but his heart-his will-his desires-pulled him away. We have no record that Felix ever reconsidered Jesus. Denying Jesus is a shortsighted loser.
The last strategy is to…
Desist from resisting Him
That was the point I came to on May 12, 1971. I ran away from God as fast as I could, but He caught up to me. I was something like the Magi in the story here. I prided myself on being a thinker-and I just didn't think there was any proof for the whole God thing.
The Magi and the King
But consider those Magi. One thing they almost certainly had in their possession was the Old Testament book of Daniel. Daniel 9 is unique in that it contains a prophecy with a timeline. It says that 483 years would pass from the time the Persian ruler Cyrus would order that Jerusalem be rebuilt to the coming of the Messiah. That order was given about 456 BC. That would make the year we call 27 AD the time of the coming of the Messiah-the very year that Jesus began His public ministry. The Magi would have worked out that date as well, and around 6 BC, they saw celestial signs that they interpreted as the signs of His birth.
In other words, they didn't just get a strange idea in their heads that made them cross hundreds of miles of desert. They came based on solid evidence.
The asked good questions. No one should put their trust in Christ blindly. How could what is potentially the most important thing in the world have no proof for it?
It was the proof that got me. I still have my 30 plus year old copy of Science Speaks by Peter Stoner-the book a friend put into my hands in an effort to reach me for Christ. Stoner was a professor of mathematics at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. He took just a handful of prophecies fulfilled in history and demonstrated that the chance of them being fulfilled just by random chance was, well, statistically impossible.
His analogy, first put to paper back in 1958, remains compelling. Take just eight Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. Work up the probability of all eight being fulfilled by chance. It comes out to 1 in 10 to the 17th power. To visualize that, take the whole state of Texas, and cover it with silver dollars two feet deep. Paint one silver dollar red, and mix thoroughly. The chance that you will reach in and pick the one red silver dollar is now the chance that Jesus is not the King of the whole world! And you know as well as I do, that if anyone told you about an investment that has only a 1 to 10 to the 17th power of failing you would call that a sure thing. Statistically, that's the same as a zero: a zero % chance that Jesus is not Eternal King!
That's when I came to the same conclusion that many before and after have come to: it would take way more faith to be a non-believer in Jesus as to be a believer. And that's when I sent up the white flag and surrendered to Him.
I came to the same point as the Magi:
They came to worship Him as God-and so have I. I cannot think of Jesus as a tradition, as an option, as a mere figure of history. I worship Him as Almighty God in the flesh. I do so not because I was raised that way (neither were the Magi!) but because I've been convinced that His claims to be the King of the whole world are true.
Today's Magi
Today we live in a kind of Magi nation. In the United States, about 85% of the population answer that the are Christian. When you ask some closer questions, only about 33% have what the Bible would call a real relationship with God through Jesus as opposed to a mere tradition of being from a "Christian" background. Almost a tenth of the population-9.4%--describe themselves as "non-religious." They need to see the proof. I don't blame them. If I had to decide about Jesus just on the basis of the behavior of Christians, I would be a hard sell.
But I've seen the proof. The solid evidence remains. The same kind of evidence that got the attention of Magi 2000 plus years ago, and that got my attention 31 years ago. The same kind of evidence that overwhelmed a man like Lee Stroebel, Legal Editor of the Chicago Tribune when he looked into the evidence for Jesus in the 80s. The same kind of evidence that convinced Frank Morrison, a British attorney back in the 1920s-when has set out to write the definitive book disproving Christianity!
The bottom line is: Ask anything! The evidence for Jesus is there, and it's overwhelming.
The Magi asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
They were right: Jesus was the King. And He is still the King.
Can I introduce you to Jesus?
© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org
(Matthew 2:1-2)
1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.
Matthew's Picture of Jesus:
The King of Israel
In a suburb of Baltimore, a 69-year-old man is in physical therapy. The day is September 11, 2002. It's late afternoon when he arrives, after 4:30, after a typically busy day of managing his several businesses. The TV in the therapy room is broadcasting news on the one-year commemoration of the attack on America. Ever since his triple bypass, back in 1996, physical therapy has been a way of life. His body is amazingly fit, but it is matched to a faltering heart. Still, it was a shock when in the midst of the therapy, he let out a low moan and lapsed into unconsciousness. Emergency help arrived and they did their best on him, but after a 45-minute battle against the inevitable, he was pronounced dead.
And a small news story is mixed with the day's news: "Johnny Unitas, the greatest quarterback in football history, died this evening of a massive heart attack."
Writing in The Sporting News a week later, one of his old teammates recalled what made Johnny U so special: "he ate, drank, slept football. It's all he cared about…nothing else mattered to Johnny. He was absolutely obsessed."
Although a gentleman and a pro, his football-focused life had its cost. Not long after retiring, he divorced his first wife. Under his kindly demeanor was a tough and driven man. He started and personally managed not one but four businesses in his post NFL career. He demanded the same kind of loyalty in his work as he had on the field.
That drivenness plus a history of heart disease in his family was a bad match. Problems began showing in the early 80s, when he was still in his early 50s. His type-A personality made him put off proper treatment. His triple-bypass in 1996 was an emergency procedure after Johnny showed up at his doctor's office looking like a ghost. Every moment from that time on, Johnny was really living on borrowed time…living dangerously.
The same evening, in Bloomington, Indiana, Mike Davis does what he does every night: before going to bed, he got down on his knees and prayed.
Mike Davis has one of the best-and one of the worst-jobs in the world. Mike is the head basketball coach of the Indiana University Hoosiers. That means the he followed the controversial Bobby Knight, the highly effective, but highly volatile, long-time coach of the team.
Mike Davis is a minor miracle. He was a star B-ball player for the University of Alabama in the early 80s and seemed headed for a pro career. But then everything seemed to fall apart. The Milwaukee Bucks drafted him, but then cut him after training camp. Mike ended up playing in Europe and minor league basketball. But far worse was the death of his 17-month-old daughter in a car accident that also severely injured his 5-year-old son Mike, Jr.
His marriage was falling apart under the strain. Mike took a coaching job at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama, and was paid $200-for the whole season. He cobbled together other jobs: selling T-shirts out of the back of his car, coaching in the off-season in Venezuela. It didn't matter; his wife left him, and also left him with Mike, Jr. to raise.
The crisis of being broke and a single father turned Mike back to his spiritual roots growing up in Alabama. He dad left when he was six, and his mother also had to raise him alone. The anchor of his young life had been the church pastored by grandfather, Rev. J.H. Thompson. Mike and Mike Jr. started going back to church. Mike reconnected to Jesus Christ. His presence in Mike's life gave him a new lease on life.
His professional turnaround was in 1997. Somehow he'd gotten Bobby Knight's attention, and he hired him as an assistant coach. Mike's easy-going manner was a 180-degree difference from Bobby Knight's.
When Knight was fired for misconduct in the fall of 2000, Mike Davis was named interim coach-the school's first black coach in a major sport.
The Hoosiers were now being led by a completely different kind of man. He does not allow practices on Sundays. He has prayer before ever game-not praying for winning, but for all players, on both teams, not to suffer injury and to play with integrity. After leading the Hoosiers through a 21-13 season, and to a berth in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, Mike was named the permanent coach. On Sundays now, you'll find Mike Davis at Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis with his son and second wife Tamilya and their three-year-old Atoine.
What difference does the presence-or absence-of Jesus Christ in a person's life make? Being a Christian sure doesn't make you perfect. Mike Davis has made his mistakes-did I mention that lipping off to referees got him five technical fouls in the 2000-2001 season?
And it doesn't guarantee success. Johnny Unitas, never a professing Christian, was a tremendous success without Christ, and for every happy-ending story like Mike Davis, there are a thousand struggling, poor, hardscrabble followers of Christ out there.
I think it's something utterly different-that difference. I think it's an encounter with Jesus that changes a person so that their goals are different. Success is less important that serving Him. Life becomes about serving Him because He is Lord.
Four Pictures of Jesus
The Lordship of Jesus is one of the four prime pictures of Jesus given to us in the four Biblical biographies of Jesus, the four gospels. Each of these four gospels has a prime image of Jesus, a picture of Jesus, and that's what we'll be examining over the next four weeks:
In Matthew, Jesus is King.
In Mark, He's pictured as a Servant.
In Luke, He's Savior (Forgiver, Rescuer) of all humankind.
And in John, He's the eternal Word made Flesh-God becoming a human being.
We need all these to begin to get a view of the real Jesus.
Matthew's Picture
The image of "King" seems for a moment out of date. We haven't had a king in the country since King George the III in 1776, and we threw him out!
But the idea of "King" is a timeless image. Elvis was "the King." ("Thank you very much.") For example, when was the last time you had lunch at "Burger President"?
And so we read right away about Jesus as the King in Matthew's gospel:
21After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
By the way, this was not the first time nor would it be the last time Jesus is described this way by Matthew. It's Matthew that details the descent of Jesus from David. It's Matthew that tells us that when He was crucified, the words, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" was posted over His head.
Now the Magi were philosopher/astrologer/scientists (in those days, there wasn't a lot of difference between these!) living in what's today Iraq. They had some reasons (we'll take about that in a minute) to believe that a new King of Israel had been born. This was an immediate challenge to the current King, a bloodthirsty old half-crazy man called Herod the Great. In his long life, Herod has fought off a dozen challenges to his throne, and had shown no remorse in killing even his own sons-and even one of his wives.
So the arrival of these foreigners asking about a newborn King pits old King Herod vs. the new King Jesus. And that's always the way it is. Jesus is always upsetting the status quo. Even as a toddler, His very presence was rightly seen as revolutionary. There's nothing tender and tame about Him.
Herod reacted according to character. This is the chapter that tells the story of how he tried to use the Magi to get to Jesus to kill Him. They don't cooperate, so Herod just whacks all the little boys in Bethlehem under age 2.
And throughout history, the Herods story has been repeated a thousand times. There have always been those who thing that they were on the verge of eliminating Jesus from the scene. Marx thought that Christianity would wither and perish with the coming of the revolution. Instead the revolution came and went and the name of Jesus is still adored. (And I believe what happened in Europe will happen in China and Cuba as well. The clock is ticking for Fidel Castro!)
Whether or not Jesus is really the King of all ages remains the ultimate personal challenge for people today.
Dealing with the King
You as well must deal with the King. I have observed four basic tactics people use to deal with Jesus. I myself used tactic number one for a time in my life.
The first is to…
Deny Him as legend, lunatic, or liar
CS Lewis pointed out that Jesus is either Lord, a Liar or a lunatic. Well, there's another possible out-maybe He's a legend.
But facts are stubborn things, and Jesus doesn't fit as a legend, a lunatic or a liar. For example, here's the most recent issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. The cover story made national news: an ossuary (a bone box) inscribed with the words, "James, the son of Joseph, the brother of Jesus"-datable to about 63 AD-the very time Christian history says James died.
This simple box is the earliest physical historical evidence for a real Jesus to yet come to light. It's far from the only. There are literally dozens of examples of references to Jesus found in ancient Roman, Greek and Jewish sources. These are not Christian sources, but non-believing sources confirming the historical reality of Jesus.
Another response to Jesus has been to…
Destroy Him as threat. That was what the religious authorities tried to do 2000 years ago. That's what they tried to do with Him under communism. The French philosopher Voltaire, writing in the 18th century, said that one hundreds years in his future, the Bible would be a neglected book sitting on a back shelf in a library-that no one would believe it, or in the Jesus it speaks of. Not only was he wrong, but one hundred years from the time he said that, his personal printing press was the property of the Geneva Bible Society! Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor!
Yet another response to King Jesus has been to…
Delay Him as long as possible
The book of Acts tells how Paul would tell the gospel to a Roman governor named Felix and his wife Drusilla. Felix would listen so long and then tell Paul to go away.
I suspect that Felix came to the point of believing Paul's message intellectually but that he was resisting the implications of Jesus as King. If Jesus was really the King, he'd have to make a choice between Jesus and Caesar-and that was a choice he just didn't want to make. He'd have to make a choice between the honor of being a Roman governor and the dishonor of being a Christ-follower. His head pulled toward Jesus, but his heart-his will-his desires-pulled him away. We have no record that Felix ever reconsidered Jesus. Denying Jesus is a shortsighted loser.
The last strategy is to…
Desist from resisting Him
That was the point I came to on May 12, 1971. I ran away from God as fast as I could, but He caught up to me. I was something like the Magi in the story here. I prided myself on being a thinker-and I just didn't think there was any proof for the whole God thing.
The Magi and the King
But consider those Magi. One thing they almost certainly had in their possession was the Old Testament book of Daniel. Daniel 9 is unique in that it contains a prophecy with a timeline. It says that 483 years would pass from the time the Persian ruler Cyrus would order that Jerusalem be rebuilt to the coming of the Messiah. That order was given about 456 BC. That would make the year we call 27 AD the time of the coming of the Messiah-the very year that Jesus began His public ministry. The Magi would have worked out that date as well, and around 6 BC, they saw celestial signs that they interpreted as the signs of His birth.
In other words, they didn't just get a strange idea in their heads that made them cross hundreds of miles of desert. They came based on solid evidence.
The asked good questions. No one should put their trust in Christ blindly. How could what is potentially the most important thing in the world have no proof for it?
It was the proof that got me. I still have my 30 plus year old copy of Science Speaks by Peter Stoner-the book a friend put into my hands in an effort to reach me for Christ. Stoner was a professor of mathematics at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. He took just a handful of prophecies fulfilled in history and demonstrated that the chance of them being fulfilled just by random chance was, well, statistically impossible.
His analogy, first put to paper back in 1958, remains compelling. Take just eight Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. Work up the probability of all eight being fulfilled by chance. It comes out to 1 in 10 to the 17th power. To visualize that, take the whole state of Texas, and cover it with silver dollars two feet deep. Paint one silver dollar red, and mix thoroughly. The chance that you will reach in and pick the one red silver dollar is now the chance that Jesus is not the King of the whole world! And you know as well as I do, that if anyone told you about an investment that has only a 1 to 10 to the 17th power of failing you would call that a sure thing. Statistically, that's the same as a zero: a zero % chance that Jesus is not Eternal King!
That's when I came to the same conclusion that many before and after have come to: it would take way more faith to be a non-believer in Jesus as to be a believer. And that's when I sent up the white flag and surrendered to Him.
I came to the same point as the Magi:
They came to worship Him as God-and so have I. I cannot think of Jesus as a tradition, as an option, as a mere figure of history. I worship Him as Almighty God in the flesh. I do so not because I was raised that way (neither were the Magi!) but because I've been convinced that His claims to be the King of the whole world are true.
Today's Magi
Today we live in a kind of Magi nation. In the United States, about 85% of the population answer that the are Christian. When you ask some closer questions, only about 33% have what the Bible would call a real relationship with God through Jesus as opposed to a mere tradition of being from a "Christian" background. Almost a tenth of the population-9.4%--describe themselves as "non-religious." They need to see the proof. I don't blame them. If I had to decide about Jesus just on the basis of the behavior of Christians, I would be a hard sell.
But I've seen the proof. The solid evidence remains. The same kind of evidence that got the attention of Magi 2000 plus years ago, and that got my attention 31 years ago. The same kind of evidence that overwhelmed a man like Lee Stroebel, Legal Editor of the Chicago Tribune when he looked into the evidence for Jesus in the 80s. The same kind of evidence that convinced Frank Morrison, a British attorney back in the 1920s-when has set out to write the definitive book disproving Christianity!
The bottom line is: Ask anything! The evidence for Jesus is there, and it's overwhelming.
The Magi asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
They were right: Jesus was the King. And He is still the King.
Can I introduce you to Jesus?
© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org
And this one is a Christmas message, from 2002:
John's Picture of Jesus:
The Word Becomes Flesh
When I was a Junior in college, I had the privilege of studying for a term in Europe (based in Salzburg, Austria). We were a group of 33 student from our college; in the group was the future Mrs. Layne. On long weekends (Friday through Sunday) we would travel to places like Vienna, Paris, and Switzerland. The Paris trip was two weeks before Christmas, 1977. The Eiffel Tower was done up in Christmas light, with the words, Joyeux Noel shining vertically down its length.
Of course, a must see location in Paris is the world-famous Louvre art museum. (I never saw so many museums in my life as I did in those three months in Europe.) Every wall and nook holds some world-famous piece of art, the Mona Lisa being the very most famous.
The world over, religious art is the single largest category of art. Go up to the Norton Simon Museum and check it out. The European collection must be 60% religious art. Then go downstairs to the Asia art-which must be 80% religious art.
Over the last four weeks, I've asked you to see the four portraits of Jesus in the four gospels.
Matthew: King. If this were a portrait, He would be seated on a throne.
Mark: Servant. If this were a portrait, He would be bending low to heal a blind man.
Luke: Savior. If this were a portrait, He would be embracing the prodigal son now returned home.
John: the Word made flesh.
Now this is a difficult painting to paint. John's story of Jesus coming into the world is the most philosophical and abstract. When I'm in an art museum, the abstract art can't keep my attention long. Some looks downright silly-like the so-called artist spilled his paint on the canvas.
The Difference in John
With Matthew and Luke, we have very carefully written, very concrete accounts of Jesus' birth. Mark, as we saw two weeks ago, almost entirely skips the manner of Jesus' coming. John doesn't tell the story of His birth. He does something even more ambitious. He tells us of His origin.
John takes on a perspective from eternity. Matthew and Luke look at the coming of Jesus from a human point of view. Matthew tells the story from the point of view of Joseph. Luke from Mary's perspective. But John tells it from God's perspective-a fact that takes your breath away!
John's style is to use little words to say big things. In just six short verses, John 1:1-5 and verse 14, he says some huge things. He answers some big questions about the unseen Jesus, the eternal Jesus, and the true Christmas miracle-God coming into our world.
"How long has Jesus Christ existed?"
With any one else, the answer would be simple: from the time your were conceived. The Bible does not teach, as Mormonism or most eastern religions, that you have an eternal soul. You were created in a moment in time, and before that, you did not exist except as an idea in God's mind. If you plan to build a table, that table does not exist anywhere except in your imagination. So were you 10 months before your were born-in God's mind!
But the origin of Jesus is entirely different.
The answer John give us is that He has existed since before the beginning (1:1, 3; Genesis 1:1).
John 1:1, 3:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
What we're talking about here is the absolute beginning of all things. Clearly, John has Genesis 1:1 in mind: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." But in Genesis 1:1, God created everything "up there" (the heavens) and everything "down here" (the earth). But John says that even at that moment the "Word" (who is identified in 1:14 as Jesus Christ) already "was". He was already there before any creating began. Before there was anything, there was Jesus.
Jews and Muslims find this statement to be nothing less than blasphemous. But this is the non-negotiable essence of our faith. And it begs the question, who is this eternal word?
Who is He?
In John 1:1 and 1:14, John uses an interesting term to describe Him: the Word (the logos). Ha logos, "the word," is a Greek term indicating rational communication. When God reveals Himself, He does not mumble. His "word" is clear and distinct.
The term also has roots in the Old Testament.
For example take Psalm 33:6: "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth."
In these passages, the word goes forth in power-creative power-to do what God wants done. The word cannot be thwarted or defeated.
But you could easily interpret this just to be the spoken word of God. Both John and the Old Testament take this a step further.
We are told that the Word was "with God." (1:1b)
Proverbs 8:22-23 says,
"22"The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old;
23I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began."
The Proverbs 8 goes on to describe a mysterious partner present with God from all creation, a partner sometimes called Wisdom.
John 1:2 says, "He was with God in the beginning." A great scholar, F.F. Bruce points out that you can accurately translate 1:2 as, "This is the one who was 'with God in the beginning'." In other words, John is explaining the mystery figure of wisdom from Proverbs 8.
God Himself
And so He is the Word, the Wisdom of God, with God from the beginning. But even more: He is God!
John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
This is the stunner: Jesus, the Word, is present from the beginning, He is the wisdom at God's side at the creation-and at the same time, mysteriously, "the Word was God."
All the fullness of eternal, Almighty God, living in a Galilean carpenter? Yes, that's right.
Jesus Himself tells us that there is a third partner in the eternal God-the Holy Spirit. In John 14:15-17, He speaks of "another Counselor" who will take His place when He returns to the side of the Father. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 13:14 also makes reference to this mysterious Triune nature of God:
"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
While the Bible does not use the term, we have come to call this reality about God the Trinity: One God who eternally exists as three distinct persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
What is He?
Now we can see more clearly who and what Jesus is…
He is God in the flesh
Put John 1:1 and 1:14 together:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
What we have here is the literal-very literal-fulfillment of the promise of Isaiah 7:14, that the Messiah would be Immanuel-God with us. The eternal Word, God the Son, becomes flesh-a real human being, and lives among us and reveals His glory among us.
Flesh! Jesus did not float six inches off the ground and have a halo around His head. He was a real human being, a real man who ate and slept and got sweaty. And who bled when His hands and feet were pierced. He is God, but He really is God in the flesh.
He is also the Creator
John 1:3 says, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." We're told that Jesus was involved in the creation. Remember how Genesis puts it? God spoke a word, and it was so. And Jesus is that "Word"!
It's mind-boggling, but true: Jesus, the Creator, jumped into His creation. It's as if Michelangelo were able to become part of the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Where was He before He came to this world?
And before then, what? Unlike all of us, He existed before conception and birth.
He was "with God" we're told (1:1)
Think of the implications of that: Forever and ever, He had love and union and glory with the Father and the Spirit. Then, from creation, when the angels came into being, He lived in the midst of heavenly worship, of the kind described in Isaiah 6:3, with endless worship and the adoration of the angels crying out, "Holy, Holy, Holy!"
There is no way we can adequately wrap our minds around this reality. But imagine it this way: For endless years, you have been the favored Son of the Mightiest and most just King of all. You have lived in a palace and commanded millions of faithful attendants, who live to carry our your command. You have always obeyed your Father the king. Then one day, He says to you, "I have a special assignment for you. I'm going to send to live in a phone booth in the middle of the smelliest landfill I can find. Maybe in New Jersey. Or Pacoima. I know you're use to unlimited power and spotless purity, but you can forget that. You'll live in that phone booth for over thirty years and then be brutally murdered by people who hate me. What do you say?"
Amazing love; He said yes! If that's what's needed to redeem lost men and women and boys and girls, bring it on.
Why did He come?
Which leads right to something else these words answer: why did He come?
To bring life
John 1:4a says, "In Him was life." This is not just biological life as the Creator, but real life, a real reason for living.
In John 5:21, Jesus says, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it." When Jesus comes into a person, He comes with the gift of real life.
In John 14:3, Jesus is so bold as to say, "I am the way and the truth and the life." He takes people who are dead on the inside and makes them alive. He takes people who are just waiting for their heart to stop beating and He gives them a reason to live and to run with joy. We weren't designed to shuffle around on this planet like so many roaches; we were designed to know God and enjoy Him forever!
And he also brings light:
To bring light (1:4b, 8:12)
John 1:4 says, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men."
John 8:12 says, "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"
The essential nature of light is this: with light, you can see. And with Jesus, you see-and understand. You understand the nature of God: looking at Him, we see love and grace and patience and understanding. You can see what life is about: knowing Him. You understand both the big problem and the big solution for the human race: separation from God by not knowing Him and the result-sin-and the solution is again Jesus Himself, who on the cross bears that sin and bridges that separation.
No wonder we celebrate Christmas with lights. Every bulb, every candle, is a tiny little reflection of the Great Light, Jesus Himself. Every bough we bring into our homes-a living thing brought into our midst-is a small reminder of the One who brings real life into a person's being, His heart and mind.
How did we respond to His coming?
But how did we respond to His coming? The Bible depicts His coming as an invasion of light into the darkness of this world.
1:5: "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
John says that Jesus, the Light,shines {continuously} in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it. The Greek word there is katalambano, which means to seize, grasp, or overcome. In John 3:19, we're told that, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." Jesus, God's light, comes into a hostile environment. The concept is that God's light, the Word, Jesus Christ, is in non-negotiable conflict with sinful darkness, and even as darkness must yield to light in the physical world, so also it must yield in the realm of the spiritual.
Colossians 1:13 says "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves…"
In other words, the darkness puts up a stiff resistance. It was the darkness that crucified Christ. It is the darkness that enslaves Christian children in Sudan and hooks teens on drugs and breaks up marriages. The darkness will not go easily.
The Word: Human and Triumphant
But He will not be defeated.
He becomes flesh and pitches His tent among us-that's the literally meaning, in vs. 14, of "He made His dwelling among us." The first temple was a "tabernacle", a portable temple made of tent material. Jesus also pitches the tent-a temporary dwelling of God on earth.
And He reveals His glory (1:14b): "We have seen {as in a theater} his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John uses a special word for seen: the same word used to describe seeing a play. We went and saw the show: in Jesus, God's glory was on stage for all to see.
And He is the One and Only (14:c). Again a special word: monogenes, "the only one thus existing", the same word used in John 3:16-"the only begotten."
A Story of Glory
All in all, John's portrait is breath taking. He uses simple words, but communicates mysteries that are on the very far edge of human understanding.
Is there any way to do justice to the mystery of God in the flesh? Maybe a story will help.
Larry and Jennifer lived in the countryside in the mountains of Colorado. After forty years together, Jenny began attending a Bible study at the little church just over the hill and soon joined the church-something Larry, a hardheaded skeptic could not comprehend.
It was Christmas Eve, and Jenny asked Larry to go with her to the Christmas Eve service. "Now, we've been over this a hundred times," said Larry. "It's alright with me that you got religion-just don't expect me to get it too!" Jenny went on into the cold night to the service.
Larry sat by the fire. A large Christmas tree filled their front room, decorated with lights and ornaments. He had always enjoyed the view out the large picture window. The night was dark and clear but bitterly cold. He took a sip from his coffee when he heard a loud noise: clunk!
He turned just in time to see that a bird, seeing the lights on the tree, had crashed into the window, thinking it was a place of warmth on this cold Colorado night. The bird-in the darkness, he couldn't make out what kind of bird it was-was on the ground, a bit stunned but alive and well. He was relieved to see it fly away.
Then, a moment later, clunk!
He'd tried again. The bird just didn't understand the concept of plate glass windows.
Larry put on his coat and went outside. There was the bird-a duck it appeared-stunned and wobbly on the ground. Again he shook himself off and flew away.
But before Larry could get back into the house-you know it: clunk!
"Stupid duck!" said Larry out loud. "Keep this up, and you'll get killed!"
He went back inside and shut off all the lights, including the Christmas tree lights. But by this time the duck knew exactly where he wanted to be, and you guessed it: clunk!
Larry thought up a plan. He put he coat back on and went outside with some birdseed. He scattered some away from the window. Maybe this will…
Clunk!
Daffy Duck-that's what Larry was calling this persistent fowl-had done it again. This time the duck looked bad. He barely stirred as Larry bent over his cold quivering body.
If there was only some way, thought Larry to warn this dumb duck. Then Daffy stirred and squawked away, afraid of the man. If there was only a way to communicate to him! Silly as it sounded, Larry thought, the ideal way would be to become a duck himself and speak to Daffy in his own language.
That's when he heard the bells.
Over the hill, the Christmas Eve service was getting out, and the country church always rang its bell on Christmas Eve.
And that's when it hit Larry. The whole idea of Jesus-the whole idea of Christmas-made sense. Here I am in life battering my brains in, thought Larry, and He became one of us to show us the way.
And so He did.
And that's what Christmas is all about.
© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org
John's Picture of Jesus:
The Word Becomes Flesh
When I was a Junior in college, I had the privilege of studying for a term in Europe (based in Salzburg, Austria). We were a group of 33 student from our college; in the group was the future Mrs. Layne. On long weekends (Friday through Sunday) we would travel to places like Vienna, Paris, and Switzerland. The Paris trip was two weeks before Christmas, 1977. The Eiffel Tower was done up in Christmas light, with the words, Joyeux Noel shining vertically down its length.
Of course, a must see location in Paris is the world-famous Louvre art museum. (I never saw so many museums in my life as I did in those three months in Europe.) Every wall and nook holds some world-famous piece of art, the Mona Lisa being the very most famous.
The world over, religious art is the single largest category of art. Go up to the Norton Simon Museum and check it out. The European collection must be 60% religious art. Then go downstairs to the Asia art-which must be 80% religious art.
Over the last four weeks, I've asked you to see the four portraits of Jesus in the four gospels.
Matthew: King. If this were a portrait, He would be seated on a throne.
Mark: Servant. If this were a portrait, He would be bending low to heal a blind man.
Luke: Savior. If this were a portrait, He would be embracing the prodigal son now returned home.
John: the Word made flesh.
Now this is a difficult painting to paint. John's story of Jesus coming into the world is the most philosophical and abstract. When I'm in an art museum, the abstract art can't keep my attention long. Some looks downright silly-like the so-called artist spilled his paint on the canvas.
The Difference in John
With Matthew and Luke, we have very carefully written, very concrete accounts of Jesus' birth. Mark, as we saw two weeks ago, almost entirely skips the manner of Jesus' coming. John doesn't tell the story of His birth. He does something even more ambitious. He tells us of His origin.
John takes on a perspective from eternity. Matthew and Luke look at the coming of Jesus from a human point of view. Matthew tells the story from the point of view of Joseph. Luke from Mary's perspective. But John tells it from God's perspective-a fact that takes your breath away!
John's style is to use little words to say big things. In just six short verses, John 1:1-5 and verse 14, he says some huge things. He answers some big questions about the unseen Jesus, the eternal Jesus, and the true Christmas miracle-God coming into our world.
"How long has Jesus Christ existed?"
With any one else, the answer would be simple: from the time your were conceived. The Bible does not teach, as Mormonism or most eastern religions, that you have an eternal soul. You were created in a moment in time, and before that, you did not exist except as an idea in God's mind. If you plan to build a table, that table does not exist anywhere except in your imagination. So were you 10 months before your were born-in God's mind!
But the origin of Jesus is entirely different.
The answer John give us is that He has existed since before the beginning (1:1, 3; Genesis 1:1).
John 1:1, 3:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
What we're talking about here is the absolute beginning of all things. Clearly, John has Genesis 1:1 in mind: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." But in Genesis 1:1, God created everything "up there" (the heavens) and everything "down here" (the earth). But John says that even at that moment the "Word" (who is identified in 1:14 as Jesus Christ) already "was". He was already there before any creating began. Before there was anything, there was Jesus.
Jews and Muslims find this statement to be nothing less than blasphemous. But this is the non-negotiable essence of our faith. And it begs the question, who is this eternal word?
Who is He?
In John 1:1 and 1:14, John uses an interesting term to describe Him: the Word (the logos). Ha logos, "the word," is a Greek term indicating rational communication. When God reveals Himself, He does not mumble. His "word" is clear and distinct.
The term also has roots in the Old Testament.
For example take Psalm 33:6: "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth."
In these passages, the word goes forth in power-creative power-to do what God wants done. The word cannot be thwarted or defeated.
But you could easily interpret this just to be the spoken word of God. Both John and the Old Testament take this a step further.
We are told that the Word was "with God." (1:1b)
Proverbs 8:22-23 says,
"22"The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old;
23I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began."
The Proverbs 8 goes on to describe a mysterious partner present with God from all creation, a partner sometimes called Wisdom.
John 1:2 says, "He was with God in the beginning." A great scholar, F.F. Bruce points out that you can accurately translate 1:2 as, "This is the one who was 'with God in the beginning'." In other words, John is explaining the mystery figure of wisdom from Proverbs 8.
God Himself
And so He is the Word, the Wisdom of God, with God from the beginning. But even more: He is God!
John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
This is the stunner: Jesus, the Word, is present from the beginning, He is the wisdom at God's side at the creation-and at the same time, mysteriously, "the Word was God."
All the fullness of eternal, Almighty God, living in a Galilean carpenter? Yes, that's right.
Jesus Himself tells us that there is a third partner in the eternal God-the Holy Spirit. In John 14:15-17, He speaks of "another Counselor" who will take His place when He returns to the side of the Father. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 13:14 also makes reference to this mysterious Triune nature of God:
"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
While the Bible does not use the term, we have come to call this reality about God the Trinity: One God who eternally exists as three distinct persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
What is He?
Now we can see more clearly who and what Jesus is…
He is God in the flesh
Put John 1:1 and 1:14 together:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
What we have here is the literal-very literal-fulfillment of the promise of Isaiah 7:14, that the Messiah would be Immanuel-God with us. The eternal Word, God the Son, becomes flesh-a real human being, and lives among us and reveals His glory among us.
Flesh! Jesus did not float six inches off the ground and have a halo around His head. He was a real human being, a real man who ate and slept and got sweaty. And who bled when His hands and feet were pierced. He is God, but He really is God in the flesh.
He is also the Creator
John 1:3 says, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." We're told that Jesus was involved in the creation. Remember how Genesis puts it? God spoke a word, and it was so. And Jesus is that "Word"!
It's mind-boggling, but true: Jesus, the Creator, jumped into His creation. It's as if Michelangelo were able to become part of the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Where was He before He came to this world?
And before then, what? Unlike all of us, He existed before conception and birth.
He was "with God" we're told (1:1)
Think of the implications of that: Forever and ever, He had love and union and glory with the Father and the Spirit. Then, from creation, when the angels came into being, He lived in the midst of heavenly worship, of the kind described in Isaiah 6:3, with endless worship and the adoration of the angels crying out, "Holy, Holy, Holy!"
There is no way we can adequately wrap our minds around this reality. But imagine it this way: For endless years, you have been the favored Son of the Mightiest and most just King of all. You have lived in a palace and commanded millions of faithful attendants, who live to carry our your command. You have always obeyed your Father the king. Then one day, He says to you, "I have a special assignment for you. I'm going to send to live in a phone booth in the middle of the smelliest landfill I can find. Maybe in New Jersey. Or Pacoima. I know you're use to unlimited power and spotless purity, but you can forget that. You'll live in that phone booth for over thirty years and then be brutally murdered by people who hate me. What do you say?"
Amazing love; He said yes! If that's what's needed to redeem lost men and women and boys and girls, bring it on.
Why did He come?
Which leads right to something else these words answer: why did He come?
To bring life
John 1:4a says, "In Him was life." This is not just biological life as the Creator, but real life, a real reason for living.
In John 5:21, Jesus says, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it." When Jesus comes into a person, He comes with the gift of real life.
In John 14:3, Jesus is so bold as to say, "I am the way and the truth and the life." He takes people who are dead on the inside and makes them alive. He takes people who are just waiting for their heart to stop beating and He gives them a reason to live and to run with joy. We weren't designed to shuffle around on this planet like so many roaches; we were designed to know God and enjoy Him forever!
And he also brings light:
To bring light (1:4b, 8:12)
John 1:4 says, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men."
John 8:12 says, "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"
The essential nature of light is this: with light, you can see. And with Jesus, you see-and understand. You understand the nature of God: looking at Him, we see love and grace and patience and understanding. You can see what life is about: knowing Him. You understand both the big problem and the big solution for the human race: separation from God by not knowing Him and the result-sin-and the solution is again Jesus Himself, who on the cross bears that sin and bridges that separation.
No wonder we celebrate Christmas with lights. Every bulb, every candle, is a tiny little reflection of the Great Light, Jesus Himself. Every bough we bring into our homes-a living thing brought into our midst-is a small reminder of the One who brings real life into a person's being, His heart and mind.
How did we respond to His coming?
But how did we respond to His coming? The Bible depicts His coming as an invasion of light into the darkness of this world.
1:5: "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
John says that Jesus, the Light,shines {continuously} in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it. The Greek word there is katalambano, which means to seize, grasp, or overcome. In John 3:19, we're told that, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." Jesus, God's light, comes into a hostile environment. The concept is that God's light, the Word, Jesus Christ, is in non-negotiable conflict with sinful darkness, and even as darkness must yield to light in the physical world, so also it must yield in the realm of the spiritual.
Colossians 1:13 says "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves…"
In other words, the darkness puts up a stiff resistance. It was the darkness that crucified Christ. It is the darkness that enslaves Christian children in Sudan and hooks teens on drugs and breaks up marriages. The darkness will not go easily.
The Word: Human and Triumphant
But He will not be defeated.
He becomes flesh and pitches His tent among us-that's the literally meaning, in vs. 14, of "He made His dwelling among us." The first temple was a "tabernacle", a portable temple made of tent material. Jesus also pitches the tent-a temporary dwelling of God on earth.
And He reveals His glory (1:14b): "We have seen {as in a theater} his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John uses a special word for seen: the same word used to describe seeing a play. We went and saw the show: in Jesus, God's glory was on stage for all to see.
And He is the One and Only (14:c). Again a special word: monogenes, "the only one thus existing", the same word used in John 3:16-"the only begotten."
A Story of Glory
All in all, John's portrait is breath taking. He uses simple words, but communicates mysteries that are on the very far edge of human understanding.
Is there any way to do justice to the mystery of God in the flesh? Maybe a story will help.
Larry and Jennifer lived in the countryside in the mountains of Colorado. After forty years together, Jenny began attending a Bible study at the little church just over the hill and soon joined the church-something Larry, a hardheaded skeptic could not comprehend.
It was Christmas Eve, and Jenny asked Larry to go with her to the Christmas Eve service. "Now, we've been over this a hundred times," said Larry. "It's alright with me that you got religion-just don't expect me to get it too!" Jenny went on into the cold night to the service.
Larry sat by the fire. A large Christmas tree filled their front room, decorated with lights and ornaments. He had always enjoyed the view out the large picture window. The night was dark and clear but bitterly cold. He took a sip from his coffee when he heard a loud noise: clunk!
He turned just in time to see that a bird, seeing the lights on the tree, had crashed into the window, thinking it was a place of warmth on this cold Colorado night. The bird-in the darkness, he couldn't make out what kind of bird it was-was on the ground, a bit stunned but alive and well. He was relieved to see it fly away.
Then, a moment later, clunk!
He'd tried again. The bird just didn't understand the concept of plate glass windows.
Larry put on his coat and went outside. There was the bird-a duck it appeared-stunned and wobbly on the ground. Again he shook himself off and flew away.
But before Larry could get back into the house-you know it: clunk!
"Stupid duck!" said Larry out loud. "Keep this up, and you'll get killed!"
He went back inside and shut off all the lights, including the Christmas tree lights. But by this time the duck knew exactly where he wanted to be, and you guessed it: clunk!
Larry thought up a plan. He put he coat back on and went outside with some birdseed. He scattered some away from the window. Maybe this will…
Clunk!
Daffy Duck-that's what Larry was calling this persistent fowl-had done it again. This time the duck looked bad. He barely stirred as Larry bent over his cold quivering body.
If there was only some way, thought Larry to warn this dumb duck. Then Daffy stirred and squawked away, afraid of the man. If there was only a way to communicate to him! Silly as it sounded, Larry thought, the ideal way would be to become a duck himself and speak to Daffy in his own language.
That's when he heard the bells.
Over the hill, the Christmas Eve service was getting out, and the country church always rang its bell on Christmas Eve.
And that's when it hit Larry. The whole idea of Jesus-the whole idea of Christmas-made sense. Here I am in life battering my brains in, thought Larry, and He became one of us to show us the way.
And so He did.
And that's what Christmas is all about.
© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org
Well, this isn't Christmasy, but it's still a favorite.
October 27, 2002
This Week's Message:
Romans 1:16-17
Right with God: The Heart of the Reformation
I have been asked to explain to you here today what this "Reformation" is all about. It is true that many blame me. Some of course, greet me with nothing less than love and joy, but many curse the name Martin Luther. Did you know that Pope Leo once called me a wild boar-and a drunken German? Perhaps I have been a bit of both.
I never intended to start a Reformation. As a matter of fact, I never intended to be a clergyman. I wanted to me a lawyer. My father, Hans Luther, God rest his soul, he also wanted me to be a lawyer. I went off to school and in my last year I was traveling near the village of Stotterheim when a violent storm came up. At first just rain, a hot rain for a hot July day, but then a bolt of lightening so close I was knocked to the ground, my whole body tingling, and I cried out, "St. Anne, help me! Save me and I will become a monk!"
The storm stopped, so I guess St. Anne heard me. Now I see the hand of God in all of this, though I must say that I would never today call on St. Anne or any other saint to save me. Saving is God's work alone. But I digress.
I told my father of my vow. You must know that my father was a hard-working coal miner. The ideal of his son as a lawyer was exciting. Lawyers make money! Priests are well-educated paupers! He was so angry that I think I called out to St. Anne again!
But I was determined. I entered the monastery. I went to the Augustinian Monastery at Erfurt. After two years of study, I was ordained a priest. Father came to the ordination. It was a nightmare.
There I was, officiating at my very first mass. Things were going wonderfully. Father sat on the first row. He was actually proud of me, I could tell-"My son, the priest!" I knew the mass frontward and backward. But when I came to the Prayer of Consecration, I stopped. I faltered. I froze. I could feel beads of sweat on my forehead-worst, I could see the nervous look on the face of the people.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I tried to go on, but I couldn't. Instead, I slunk back to the pew where my father sat, and another priest finished the mass.
Father lectured me afterwards. "A priest? A priest? My dog is more fit to be a priest than you are! Martin, you have humiliated me, and your family." I reminded him of the lightening and my vow to St. Anne. He said that it wasn't God who had spoken to me that day-perhaps it was the devil!
I will never forget that day. Father thought that I was unfit. So did I. There I was doing my priestly duty, and as I prayed, I was stricken with terror. Who am I to address the majesty of heaven? Who am I to lift my eyes up to the Lord of all? Can it be that I, a little pygmy, can say to God, "I want this, I ask for that?" I am just dust and ashes and full of sin, and here I am speaking to the living, eternal, true God!
One person who understood was my Father Confessor. During training in the monastery all of us are assigned a Father Confessor. Mine was a good man, a good priest named Father Staupitz. I confessed everything to him. I really did want to be right with God, and I thought that confession was the right way. I told him everything; I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Do know that once, I spent six hours confessing my sins of the previous day? The other monks thought I was being lazy!
I rather think I was driving Father Staupitz as crazy as I was driving myself. Once he got so disgusted with me that he got quite angry and said. "Look here, Martin, if you want Christ to0 forgive you, come in with something worth forgiving. Tell me that you killed your father, or that you blasphemed God, or committed adultery-instead of all these little sins. Man, God is not angry with you! You are angry with God. Don't you know that God commands you to hope!"
He was right-to a degree. My heart told me that I should hope. But nothing I was learning told me why.
Did I love God? To tell you the truth, sometimes I hated Him. Sometimes Christ seemed to me nothing more than an angry judge with a sword in His hand. That's how it seemed to me.
Not long after my ordination-yes, I was ordained even after I botched the mass-I was transferred to Wittenburg where I studied theology. It seems that they wanted to make an academic out of me-less dangerous that way. And they said I had a skill for theology and Biblical studies, and in a few years I was a professor at Wittenburg.
I was to lecture on Romans one semester, so I began my preparation. I was only in the first chapter when I became stumped by the meaning of the text. It is Romans 1:16-17:
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
My problem was with the phrase "a righteousness from God." Now I understood that to mean "the justice of God"-His holy, true, justice. So here's how I understood Paul's words: in the gospel of Christ, God has revealed His holy justice.
God's holy justice. I thought of the lightening on that July day: God's holy justice. I thought of how I drove Father Staupitz mad with all my confessing. It was because of my fear of the holy justice of God. I recalled the day that the fear of God so struck me that I could not complete the mass. It was that holy justice that had kept me in fear all my life, and here it was again.
But there was something puzzling here. The passage goes on to say that the righteous shall live by faith. What is there in God's holy justice that enables a person to live by faith? It was a troubling puzzle. And it was my personal puzzle.
Then it dawned on me that I had misunderstood the word "righteousness." Yes, indeed God is holy and just, but that is not what Paul speaks about here.
Sometime later I wrote down my exact thoughts. Yes, here's my journal:
Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement, "the just shall live by faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open door into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on took on a new meaning. Before, the "justice of God" had filled me with fear and even hate; but now, it had become to me inexpressibly sweet and full of love.
If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God's heart and will, so that you can see His pure grace and His overflowing love. By faith, you can behold God and see His fatherly, friendly heart. If you only see anger, you have not seen Him as He is-only as if a curtain separates you from Him, or a dark cloud in the sky obscures the sun.
O what joy! The weight of my sin tumbled off my shoulders. I suppose I will always be a melancholy soul, but in heart I am a happy man.
Well, the whole Bible began to make so much more sense to me. And I shared my discoveries with my students. They and I both began to suspect that what I found in the word of God could not be reconciled with the teaching of the church in Rome. Perhaps I could have kept it at that but when this disgusting dog of a man named Johann Tetzel came through Wittenburg, it was too much.
Tetzel came through selling indulgences. In Rome, they have a whole theology of it, but the essence is this: contribute money, and have your sins forgiven. Or even your dead relatives' sins. It was all just a money-raising scheme to pay off the expense of building St. Peter's cathedral in Rome.
In one hand, I held the Bible. In the other, the doctrines of the church. I tried, I truly did, to reconcile the two, but I couldn't.
Now at the University, when you wanted to debate a subject, you posted the topic for debate on the chapel door. I wrote out my paper with 95 points of debate on the door of the chapel on October 31, 1517-All Saint's Eve.
Some of my students copied out by hand all 95 Theses. And then they took them to a printer. In two weeks, they-and I-were the talk of all Germany. I never planned that, and I never expected that.
The next few years were the most frightful time of my life. I was challenged to debate after debate. And quite frankly, I won all the debates. I even converted some of debate opponents to my point of view. (It has been my experience that most men of intelligence will ultimately agree with me!)
Then Pope Leo censured me. He ordered all my books burned. That's when he called me a "wild boar."
They knew I was popular in Germany, though. So they arranged for a special meeting-a Diet-to assemble in the city of Worms. Here I was amid all these men of learning and theology-the very soul of the church-and I had the audacity to say to them, "You are all wrong; I am right"?
It was April. April 17. All my books and pamphlets-the ones Leo had ordered burned-were stacked on a table to my side. A bishop asked me, "Are these books yours?"
I quietly answered, "Yes, the books are mine, and I have written more." The bishop asked again. "Do you recant these writings?"
If I had said yes, I would betray my own conscience. If I said no-well, who was I to stand up to the whole Christian world, to the whole church and say they were wrong?
It was my first mass all over again. I froze. So I asked if I could have until the next day to think it over.
I got no sleep that night. It was my personal Gethsemene. I prayed…I asked God why didn't He find someone else do this. I would be happy passing my days teaching in the University. But that was not God's will. I suspected that they would kill me. I asked God for strength. Sleepless, I went back to the meeting hall the next day.
I had a speech all ready, and tried to answer yesterday's question with the speech, when that same bishop interrupted me: "I ask you Martin, answer candidly without a speech-do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors they contain?"
I quietly answered, "Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will so answer. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason-I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they all contradict each other-my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen."
When the meeting was, God sent the Duke of Saxony as my Savior. He had me kidnapped-for my own protection! He hid me in one of his castles-and I used the time to begin translating the Bible into German, so any German could read the Word of God for himself.
I heard that priests and nuns all over Germany were leaving the religious orders-even marrying! I came out of hiding to try to restore some kind of order. And I, the Augustinian monk, ended up marrying my dear Catherine-a former nun! (I have found, dear friends, that changing diapers is a great aid in spiritual growth!)
And so that is how it all got started-this "Reformation." They curse me in Rome. Just because I called the Pope the vicar of the devil! What a temper!
This is not about me. It is about what God has said in His Word. We "Protestants" still protest the abuse of the word of God. And this abuse puts up a barrier between common people and the true knowledge of God. This is not a trivial matter. It was one that I was-and am-prepared to die for.
Recall the word of Paul in Romans 1:16-17:
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
With Paul, we brothers and sisters, should never be ashamed of the gospel-the real Biblical gospel. Never let it get overgrown with weed of tradition and human wisdom.
The gospel-the real Biblical gospel-is the very power of God to save everyone who believes. Not to terrify everyone who believes! In this gospel, God's way of making people right with Himself is revealed. This gospel is the good news of Jesus-crucified for us. Bearing all our sin on Himself, in His body and soul, so that we poor sinners don't have to confess six hours a day, but be free!
And the doorway in is faith. "The righteous will live by faith." Faith alone. Not faith plus works or plus the church or paying off that dog Johann Tetzel! Just faith. God's grace comes first-His grace in Christ-and faith is all the condition needed to receive that grace. O, praise God, the Giver of life!
Well, I must go now. I'm working on a hymn. I wrote one already: "Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head." This new one I heard the tune for at the tavern, and I like it: "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing…"
Well, God bless you, and remember, be faithful to God's word. He sets all who put their faith in Him free. I am proof of that. Farewell, my friends. Farewell.
October 27, 2002
This Week's Message:
Romans 1:16-17
Right with God: The Heart of the Reformation
I have been asked to explain to you here today what this "Reformation" is all about. It is true that many blame me. Some of course, greet me with nothing less than love and joy, but many curse the name Martin Luther. Did you know that Pope Leo once called me a wild boar-and a drunken German? Perhaps I have been a bit of both.
I never intended to start a Reformation. As a matter of fact, I never intended to be a clergyman. I wanted to me a lawyer. My father, Hans Luther, God rest his soul, he also wanted me to be a lawyer. I went off to school and in my last year I was traveling near the village of Stotterheim when a violent storm came up. At first just rain, a hot rain for a hot July day, but then a bolt of lightening so close I was knocked to the ground, my whole body tingling, and I cried out, "St. Anne, help me! Save me and I will become a monk!"
The storm stopped, so I guess St. Anne heard me. Now I see the hand of God in all of this, though I must say that I would never today call on St. Anne or any other saint to save me. Saving is God's work alone. But I digress.
I told my father of my vow. You must know that my father was a hard-working coal miner. The ideal of his son as a lawyer was exciting. Lawyers make money! Priests are well-educated paupers! He was so angry that I think I called out to St. Anne again!
But I was determined. I entered the monastery. I went to the Augustinian Monastery at Erfurt. After two years of study, I was ordained a priest. Father came to the ordination. It was a nightmare.
There I was, officiating at my very first mass. Things were going wonderfully. Father sat on the first row. He was actually proud of me, I could tell-"My son, the priest!" I knew the mass frontward and backward. But when I came to the Prayer of Consecration, I stopped. I faltered. I froze. I could feel beads of sweat on my forehead-worst, I could see the nervous look on the face of the people.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I tried to go on, but I couldn't. Instead, I slunk back to the pew where my father sat, and another priest finished the mass.
Father lectured me afterwards. "A priest? A priest? My dog is more fit to be a priest than you are! Martin, you have humiliated me, and your family." I reminded him of the lightening and my vow to St. Anne. He said that it wasn't God who had spoken to me that day-perhaps it was the devil!
I will never forget that day. Father thought that I was unfit. So did I. There I was doing my priestly duty, and as I prayed, I was stricken with terror. Who am I to address the majesty of heaven? Who am I to lift my eyes up to the Lord of all? Can it be that I, a little pygmy, can say to God, "I want this, I ask for that?" I am just dust and ashes and full of sin, and here I am speaking to the living, eternal, true God!
One person who understood was my Father Confessor. During training in the monastery all of us are assigned a Father Confessor. Mine was a good man, a good priest named Father Staupitz. I confessed everything to him. I really did want to be right with God, and I thought that confession was the right way. I told him everything; I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Do know that once, I spent six hours confessing my sins of the previous day? The other monks thought I was being lazy!
I rather think I was driving Father Staupitz as crazy as I was driving myself. Once he got so disgusted with me that he got quite angry and said. "Look here, Martin, if you want Christ to0 forgive you, come in with something worth forgiving. Tell me that you killed your father, or that you blasphemed God, or committed adultery-instead of all these little sins. Man, God is not angry with you! You are angry with God. Don't you know that God commands you to hope!"
He was right-to a degree. My heart told me that I should hope. But nothing I was learning told me why.
Did I love God? To tell you the truth, sometimes I hated Him. Sometimes Christ seemed to me nothing more than an angry judge with a sword in His hand. That's how it seemed to me.
Not long after my ordination-yes, I was ordained even after I botched the mass-I was transferred to Wittenburg where I studied theology. It seems that they wanted to make an academic out of me-less dangerous that way. And they said I had a skill for theology and Biblical studies, and in a few years I was a professor at Wittenburg.
I was to lecture on Romans one semester, so I began my preparation. I was only in the first chapter when I became stumped by the meaning of the text. It is Romans 1:16-17:
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
My problem was with the phrase "a righteousness from God." Now I understood that to mean "the justice of God"-His holy, true, justice. So here's how I understood Paul's words: in the gospel of Christ, God has revealed His holy justice.
God's holy justice. I thought of the lightening on that July day: God's holy justice. I thought of how I drove Father Staupitz mad with all my confessing. It was because of my fear of the holy justice of God. I recalled the day that the fear of God so struck me that I could not complete the mass. It was that holy justice that had kept me in fear all my life, and here it was again.
But there was something puzzling here. The passage goes on to say that the righteous shall live by faith. What is there in God's holy justice that enables a person to live by faith? It was a troubling puzzle. And it was my personal puzzle.
Then it dawned on me that I had misunderstood the word "righteousness." Yes, indeed God is holy and just, but that is not what Paul speaks about here.
Sometime later I wrote down my exact thoughts. Yes, here's my journal:
Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement, "the just shall live by faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open door into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on took on a new meaning. Before, the "justice of God" had filled me with fear and even hate; but now, it had become to me inexpressibly sweet and full of love.
If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God's heart and will, so that you can see His pure grace and His overflowing love. By faith, you can behold God and see His fatherly, friendly heart. If you only see anger, you have not seen Him as He is-only as if a curtain separates you from Him, or a dark cloud in the sky obscures the sun.
O what joy! The weight of my sin tumbled off my shoulders. I suppose I will always be a melancholy soul, but in heart I am a happy man.
Well, the whole Bible began to make so much more sense to me. And I shared my discoveries with my students. They and I both began to suspect that what I found in the word of God could not be reconciled with the teaching of the church in Rome. Perhaps I could have kept it at that but when this disgusting dog of a man named Johann Tetzel came through Wittenburg, it was too much.
Tetzel came through selling indulgences. In Rome, they have a whole theology of it, but the essence is this: contribute money, and have your sins forgiven. Or even your dead relatives' sins. It was all just a money-raising scheme to pay off the expense of building St. Peter's cathedral in Rome.
In one hand, I held the Bible. In the other, the doctrines of the church. I tried, I truly did, to reconcile the two, but I couldn't.
Now at the University, when you wanted to debate a subject, you posted the topic for debate on the chapel door. I wrote out my paper with 95 points of debate on the door of the chapel on October 31, 1517-All Saint's Eve.
Some of my students copied out by hand all 95 Theses. And then they took them to a printer. In two weeks, they-and I-were the talk of all Germany. I never planned that, and I never expected that.
The next few years were the most frightful time of my life. I was challenged to debate after debate. And quite frankly, I won all the debates. I even converted some of debate opponents to my point of view. (It has been my experience that most men of intelligence will ultimately agree with me!)
Then Pope Leo censured me. He ordered all my books burned. That's when he called me a "wild boar."
They knew I was popular in Germany, though. So they arranged for a special meeting-a Diet-to assemble in the city of Worms. Here I was amid all these men of learning and theology-the very soul of the church-and I had the audacity to say to them, "You are all wrong; I am right"?
It was April. April 17. All my books and pamphlets-the ones Leo had ordered burned-were stacked on a table to my side. A bishop asked me, "Are these books yours?"
I quietly answered, "Yes, the books are mine, and I have written more." The bishop asked again. "Do you recant these writings?"
If I had said yes, I would betray my own conscience. If I said no-well, who was I to stand up to the whole Christian world, to the whole church and say they were wrong?
It was my first mass all over again. I froze. So I asked if I could have until the next day to think it over.
I got no sleep that night. It was my personal Gethsemene. I prayed…I asked God why didn't He find someone else do this. I would be happy passing my days teaching in the University. But that was not God's will. I suspected that they would kill me. I asked God for strength. Sleepless, I went back to the meeting hall the next day.
I had a speech all ready, and tried to answer yesterday's question with the speech, when that same bishop interrupted me: "I ask you Martin, answer candidly without a speech-do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors they contain?"
I quietly answered, "Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will so answer. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason-I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they all contradict each other-my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen."
When the meeting was, God sent the Duke of Saxony as my Savior. He had me kidnapped-for my own protection! He hid me in one of his castles-and I used the time to begin translating the Bible into German, so any German could read the Word of God for himself.
I heard that priests and nuns all over Germany were leaving the religious orders-even marrying! I came out of hiding to try to restore some kind of order. And I, the Augustinian monk, ended up marrying my dear Catherine-a former nun! (I have found, dear friends, that changing diapers is a great aid in spiritual growth!)
And so that is how it all got started-this "Reformation." They curse me in Rome. Just because I called the Pope the vicar of the devil! What a temper!
This is not about me. It is about what God has said in His Word. We "Protestants" still protest the abuse of the word of God. And this abuse puts up a barrier between common people and the true knowledge of God. This is not a trivial matter. It was one that I was-and am-prepared to die for.
Recall the word of Paul in Romans 1:16-17:
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
With Paul, we brothers and sisters, should never be ashamed of the gospel-the real Biblical gospel. Never let it get overgrown with weed of tradition and human wisdom.
The gospel-the real Biblical gospel-is the very power of God to save everyone who believes. Not to terrify everyone who believes! In this gospel, God's way of making people right with Himself is revealed. This gospel is the good news of Jesus-crucified for us. Bearing all our sin on Himself, in His body and soul, so that we poor sinners don't have to confess six hours a day, but be free!
And the doorway in is faith. "The righteous will live by faith." Faith alone. Not faith plus works or plus the church or paying off that dog Johann Tetzel! Just faith. God's grace comes first-His grace in Christ-and faith is all the condition needed to receive that grace. O, praise God, the Giver of life!
Well, I must go now. I'm working on a hymn. I wrote one already: "Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head." This new one I heard the tune for at the tavern, and I like it: "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing…"
Well, God bless you, and remember, be faithful to God's word. He sets all who put their faith in Him free. I am proof of that. Farewell, my friends. Farewell.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
I get Bible Review, a magazine published by the same people who do BAR (Biblical Archaeology Review). Often the articles are interesting, but sometimes they are infused with academic stupidity. The December issue is a good example of the latter, and I just knew they wanted me to tell them. See below.
For some representative articles, see www.biblereview.org.
SCHOLARSHIP IN THE SERVICE OF A FLIGHT FROM GOD’S HOLINESS
To the editor:
OK, let me get this straight. According to the articles in the December 2003 BR, Pilate was a lout who was rehabilitated by the gospel writers to make the Jewish authorities look worse. Bad motives on the part of said authorities are inventions/fabrications. The reason for this re-rereading is not historical discovery, but a sordid history of Christian-Jewish relations. Since Christians were behind the pogroms and the Holocaust (not thuggish commissars and pagan Nazis), the statement “His blood be upon us and our children” (Matthew 27:24-25) must be excised as non-historical. It couldn’t have happened, because if it did, it would be, well, inconvenient for us today.
But what if the devastations of the Jewish War (66-70 CE) really was the just judgement of God upon a people whom He had spurned the incarnate Son of God? (Seems to me that’s exactly what Jesus taught.) What if both Pilate and the Jewish authorities share equally in the injustice of the death of Jesus? (Seems to me that the New Testament says that ultimately my sin killed Jesus.) If it were all true, it would mean that this world is superintended by of holy and just God. Shocking!
I think that a genuine fear of this holy God is what moves the kind of scholarship seen in that issue, and as well stands behind the knee-jerk attacks on Mel Gibson’s film. We don’t want a holy God—we want a designer God. A nice convenient tame little God. A kind of Labrador Retriever sort of God.
But—that God doesn’t exist!
Dr. Glenn Layne
Temple City, California
For some representative articles, see www.biblereview.org.
SCHOLARSHIP IN THE SERVICE OF A FLIGHT FROM GOD’S HOLINESS
To the editor:
OK, let me get this straight. According to the articles in the December 2003 BR, Pilate was a lout who was rehabilitated by the gospel writers to make the Jewish authorities look worse. Bad motives on the part of said authorities are inventions/fabrications. The reason for this re-rereading is not historical discovery, but a sordid history of Christian-Jewish relations. Since Christians were behind the pogroms and the Holocaust (not thuggish commissars and pagan Nazis), the statement “His blood be upon us and our children” (Matthew 27:24-25) must be excised as non-historical. It couldn’t have happened, because if it did, it would be, well, inconvenient for us today.
But what if the devastations of the Jewish War (66-70 CE) really was the just judgement of God upon a people whom He had spurned the incarnate Son of God? (Seems to me that’s exactly what Jesus taught.) What if both Pilate and the Jewish authorities share equally in the injustice of the death of Jesus? (Seems to me that the New Testament says that ultimately my sin killed Jesus.) If it were all true, it would mean that this world is superintended by of holy and just God. Shocking!
I think that a genuine fear of this holy God is what moves the kind of scholarship seen in that issue, and as well stands behind the knee-jerk attacks on Mel Gibson’s film. We don’t want a holy God—we want a designer God. A nice convenient tame little God. A kind of Labrador Retriever sort of God.
But—that God doesn’t exist!
Dr. Glenn Layne
Temple City, California
Sunday, December 14, 2003
The Naive Nine and their appointed nicknames:
1. Howard the Duck Dean
2. John Heinz Fword Kerry
3. Richard Dadwasamilktruckdriver Gephardt
4. Wesley George B. McClelland Clark
5. Joe Stilla Loserman
6. Carol Mostly Gone
7. Dennis Truly a Menace Kucinich
8. Al Jesse Wannabe Shapton
9. John Ambulancechaser Edwards
1. Howard the Duck Dean
2. John Heinz Fword Kerry
3. Richard Dadwasamilktruckdriver Gephardt
4. Wesley George B. McClelland Clark
5. Joe Stilla Loserman
6. Carol Mostly Gone
7. Dennis Truly a Menace Kucinich
8. Al Jesse Wannabe Shapton
9. John Ambulancechaser Edwards
Some thoughts:
"Terminator 3" and "The Matrix Revolutions" were both turkeys this year because of their downer endings. On the other hand, in a few days "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" will hit theaters with the biggest bang of the year. Having cheated by reading the book in 1977, I know it has a triumphant conclusion. LOTR3 will be a winner because we love to see a definitive victory. In the western world, we still have a eschatological heart--a Christian notion of the victory of good over evil.
"Terminator 3" and "The Matrix Revolutions" were both turkeys this year because of their downer endings. On the other hand, in a few days "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" will hit theaters with the biggest bang of the year. Having cheated by reading the book in 1977, I know it has a triumphant conclusion. LOTR3 will be a winner because we love to see a definitive victory. In the western world, we still have a eschatological heart--a Christian notion of the victory of good over evil.
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God: “Glory to God in the highest heaven,” they sang, “and peace on earth for all those pleasing him.” (Luke 2:13)
Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I hope this has been a good year for you and the ones that you love. We have had good times like going as a family to Hawaii (enclosed picture from the luau) and more challenging times with Lynann’s parents’ health issues.
Glenn continues as Pastor of First Baptist Temple City; we’ve been here four and one-half years. Much is going on at the church we have added approximately 40 new members this year. Our new sound and projection system has just been installed, ready for Christmas programs, and our church has been selected to be a key training location for mission/development projects for the denomination. Glenn also serves as moderator for the Foothill Association and on the Boards of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest and Atherton Baptist Homes.
Lynann continues to work in the field of nursing. Currently she is working at Huntington Hospital with the Utilization Management Department as a Care Coordinator, facilitating people leaving the hospital with proper on-going care, and does a fair amount of paperwork. She enjoys her job because it allows her to have work during the day and weekends off. Lynann starts this month with her first class toward a Master in Nursing with the University of Phoenix.
Colin continues on toward that trek to finish High School. He is a senior this year, just turned 18, and thinking about working and taking classes at the nearby Pasadena City College. This will assist him getting into the college and yet allow him to figure out which major to pursue. He enjoys drama, working at Sam Goody’s (a music/video store) and computer design.
Charis is now a sophomore in High School. She enjoys drama and just finished working the concession stand for the most recent production. She enjoys computer design, graphics, as well as Japanese and classical music.
All our Love,
Glenn, Lynann, Colin, and Charis Layne
God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love; the radiance of Christmas which is purity; the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice; the belief in Christmas, which is truth; the all of Christmas, which is Christ.
Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I hope this has been a good year for you and the ones that you love. We have had good times like going as a family to Hawaii (enclosed picture from the luau) and more challenging times with Lynann’s parents’ health issues.
Glenn continues as Pastor of First Baptist Temple City; we’ve been here four and one-half years. Much is going on at the church we have added approximately 40 new members this year. Our new sound and projection system has just been installed, ready for Christmas programs, and our church has been selected to be a key training location for mission/development projects for the denomination. Glenn also serves as moderator for the Foothill Association and on the Boards of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest and Atherton Baptist Homes.
Lynann continues to work in the field of nursing. Currently she is working at Huntington Hospital with the Utilization Management Department as a Care Coordinator, facilitating people leaving the hospital with proper on-going care, and does a fair amount of paperwork. She enjoys her job because it allows her to have work during the day and weekends off. Lynann starts this month with her first class toward a Master in Nursing with the University of Phoenix.
Colin continues on toward that trek to finish High School. He is a senior this year, just turned 18, and thinking about working and taking classes at the nearby Pasadena City College. This will assist him getting into the college and yet allow him to figure out which major to pursue. He enjoys drama, working at Sam Goody’s (a music/video store) and computer design.
Charis is now a sophomore in High School. She enjoys drama and just finished working the concession stand for the most recent production. She enjoys computer design, graphics, as well as Japanese and classical music.
All our Love,
Glenn, Lynann, Colin, and Charis Layne
God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love; the radiance of Christmas which is purity; the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice; the belief in Christmas, which is truth; the all of Christmas, which is Christ.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
So Al Gore has endorsed Howard the Duck Dean? Big deal. Let the dead bury the dead. Gore did it to tweek the Clintons. He's positioning himself to run to the left of Hilary in 2008. What a dork.
And what a cad. He dumped Joe Lieberman like leftover lox. Didn't even bother to call him. Joe is still a class act. He acted with class in a classless party. He has enough personal maturity to be a Republican!
Biggest fallout: expect 2-3 of the Naive Nine to drop out before New Hampshire.
And what a cad. He dumped Joe Lieberman like leftover lox. Didn't even bother to call him. Joe is still a class act. He acted with class in a classless party. He has enough personal maturity to be a Republican!
Biggest fallout: expect 2-3 of the Naive Nine to drop out before New Hampshire.
Thursday, December 04, 2003
This was first preached on the July 4 following 911.
God’s Hand on America—a Legitimate Claim?
On this Independence Day holiday, making 226 years of America as a sovereign nation, with this nation at war in the first war of the new century, it is right that we who follow Jesus Christ should pause and reflect, to celebrate and to commemorate, to pray for and seek God about this moment in time.
In the 90s, it seemed that endless peace and prosperity would be our happy lot. Business—and vice—both boomed. Private lives of national leaders were dismissed as irrelevant while others quietly found ways to funnel the riches of commerce into personal pockets setting the stage for the recession and scandals of the past few years.
A year ago, a tax cut and a missing Washington intern were the extent of the nation’s concerns. It was the last gasp of triviality before it happened.
And then the attacks came.
A nation stunned, shocked, saddened, but then resolved. Yellow ribbons—symbols of victimization—were retired in favor of red, white and blue—symbols of national defiance, will and unity. The eagle woke from its slumber and liberated a distance land from its oppressors—religious fanatics, servants of a false god, a god of fate and oppression, a god of blood and war.
And people prayed. They prayed in the National Cathedral in Washington the Friday after. They prayed in Temple City Park the Thursday after that, and all across the nation. They prayed for the victims and the survivors. They prayed for justice and not for vengeance. They prayed for young men would soon be in combat on the opposite side of the world. They prayed for victory in a just cause.
And God answered their prayers.
But this conflict is not over. It has just begun. We are at the same point we were in the Second World War after the Battle of Midway in the Pacific. We have demonstrated to the enemy and the world that we can win, but we have long to go to make the victory secure, to truly defeat and take down that enemy. The test of wills has only begun.
We Christians believe that God is sovereign over all nations. In that sense, there can be no doubt that God’s hand is upon America, even as God’s hand is upon Kenya or Korea or Kuwait. But millions of Americans believe that God has a special task for this nation that is unlike any other. Is that arrogant presumption or a secure reality?
How would we know if the Almighty has such a plan for the country? We could look at the unusual origin of the nation: colonies, largely populated by refugees from the tyrannies of Europe, many seeking freedom to worship without the interference or dictates of a king. We could look to the way the nation became a magnet to oppressed peoples everywhere. We would see stains on its record—slavery being the worst—but even that stain was one that that country itself corrected at the cost of rivers of blood.
We could look at the role this nation played in the 20th century. In that century, two great evil ideologies arose in an attempt to re-order and subjugate the globe: first fascism, then communism. It was American heroism that defeated the first, and American resolution that wore down the second. The first was based on race and power, the second on class and revolution, but they shared a hatred of the American ideal: that a free people can freely govern themselves; that birth is not destiny, but that instead free people can choose their path, and that all are equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
These great evils were defeated in the 20th century by American resolve, American values and American heroism. And who can deny that the Sovereign Lord who raised up America for this task of repelling these great evils?
As the 21st century dawns, a new world-scale threat against of that is good has arisen: Islamo-Fascism. I call it that because it has much in common with the fascism of the Nazis: hatred of the Jewish people; a desire to subjugate nations; hatred of the values of freedom—be that political, religious or personal freedom. These are the New Barbarians that we face. This is the challenge of the present hour.
For perspective, we Christians must look to the holy word of God.
A Psalm for the Whole World: Psalm 67
One place we can look is the 67th Psalm. It is a remarkable Psalm for its worldwide perspective, for its tight structure, and for its timeless application.
Understanding its structure is the key to understanding its meaning. It follows what Bible scholars call a “chiastic” structure, where the beginning and end are balanced, the second and the next to last section are balanced, and the middle stands on its own. You can think of it as an “ABCBA structure” (see your message outline). That is, the first and the fifth (the last) sections (vs. 1-2 and vs. 6-7) say almost the same thing. Sections two and four are word for word identical, and only the middle section, vs. 4, is completely unique:
q A: 1-2 Bless us so the nations may know (a hope)
1May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us,
2that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
This is expressed as a prayer of hope. May it be so—that God be gracious, bless us, so that that blessing may overflow to all the nations on earth.
q B: 3 May all peoples praise God!
3May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.
Notice that it’s peoples, plural: all the different peoples of the earth: whether it’s the people of Argentina or Armenia or Angola or America—all the varied peoples of the world are in view.
q C: 4 God rules the peoples and guides the nations
4May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth.
Even more so! May all the nations (Hebrew, goiim, the Gentiles) be glad and sing for joy—in worship. Why? Because God rules the peoples justly and guides the nations of the earth! God is over all, and wholly just! This is the vision of John in Revelation 4 and 5 in preview: of God enthroned, and worshipped by people from every tribe and language and nation and tongue and tribe.
q B: 5 May all peoples praise God!
5May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.
This is, as we said, identical to vs. 3.
q A: 6-7 Bless us so the nations may know (a promise)
6Then the land will yield its harvest,
and God, our God, will bless us.
7God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Now this is very similar to vs. 1-2, but not identical. 1-2 is expressed as a hope; here, at the end of this short Psalm, hope has turned into a future tense certainty. The land will yield is harvest…God, our God, will bless us…and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.
Psalm 67…on Three Levels
We have to interpret and apply this Psalm, I think, on three levels:
1. For Israel…the Abrahamic hope and the Aaronic blessing
First, the Psalm was written to and for ancient Israel, and we have to start with the meaning as it would have been understood by its first hearers. It is a Psalm of blessing that reaches back to the promise made to Abraham that his children, the people we call Israel, would be for the blessing of the whole earth (Genesis 12:1-3). It also reaches back to the language of the blessing of Aaron we find in Numbers 6:24-26:
24" ` "The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." '
What Psalm 67 does it combine the Abrahamic hope with the Aaronic blessing, to say, “We are blessed that the nations and peoples of earth might be blessed.” That was God’s mission for Israel.
2. For the church…the blessing for world is conveyed
But then we also see that the carrier of the blessing in the present is not the nation of Israel but the church. Israel was unfaithful to its call to bless all the nations. Jesus says to Israel in Matthew 21:43, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” That “people” is not a nation in the normal sense, but the international, inter-cultural people of God, the church. Psalm 67 is being fulfilled as the church proclaims the good news of Jesus to all the nations.
3. For any nation who makes the Lord their God
Finally, there is a third—a distant third way to read this Psalm. This is more an application that an interpretation.
Psalm 33:12 reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”—but even in context, that “nation” is Israel. Proverbs 14:34 however takes that international: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” What we can say is that in a way that is very unlike the covenant God made with Israel, God certainly does exercise sovereign power over all nations, and looks with favor upon any nation that acknowledges Him in their way of life—in the living by His laws and especially in their regard for the gospel of His Son.
What This Does NOT mean…
1. America is not Israel! There is no theological or Biblical ground is maintain that God and America have a “covenant” along the line of the ones made by God with Israel. That covenant was unique to Israel, and a unique part of God’s plan of salvation.
2. America is not the church! Hopefully, this goes without saying: God does have a covenant—the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood—with His church. And whatever blessings God may see fit to bestow upon America, America is not the church—God’s real covenant people, what Paul calls the true Israel of God.
What This DOES Mean
God’s hand has been upon America since its founding.
In a hundred ways—from the words of the Mayflower Compact, the motivations of its settlers, the invocation of God in the Declaration of Independence, to the words “under God” (not just in the Pledge of Allegiance—those words first appear prominently in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address), historically, America has been a God-blessed land.
God has used the United States as a spiritual powerhouse and resource
What I mean by that is this: The single largest missionary-sending nation in world history is the United States. American missionaries, and American mission money, has done more to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ than any other nation on earth. Looking the big picture, I think you can say that God has raised up America first and foremost to be the #1 engine of world evangelization. God has raised up—and we continue to pray for—a strong free America so that the gospel can continue to go around the world in power.
God has used this nation to save the world from 20th century barbarism
I made this point earlier: It was the USA that saved the world from the Nazis and the Marxists. If you ever needed an historical validation of God’s hand on America, I think that’s it!
But that also means this sober reminder:
If America abandons God, God will sorrowfully abandon America
That’s what was so offensive about that US Circuit Court ruling about the Pledge of Allegiance: it said, in effect, God, be gone! That’s what’s so destructive about the all-pervasive immorality of American society—whether that immorality is in the bedroom or the corporate boardroom. That’s what so dangerous about the callous disposal of the unwanted unborn children. That’s what’s so alarming about the lowered standards of decency in music, TV, and the movies. We are at the fork in the road, and the wheels are turned in the wrong direction. We are in grave danger, and it is not yet clear what the outcome will be.
This Present Crisis
Which brings us back to this present crisis. God’s hand—a hand of blessing, a hand of sovereign purposes, has been upon America. But His hand may be withdrawn. To change the analogy, our blessings hang by a narrow thread. What are we to do now—in this present world?
I think of Esther. Esther was not a sweet, pious, godly Jewish girl. She was willing to hide her Jewish ethnicity in order to get ahead in the court of Persia. She changed her name from the Hebrew name Hadassah to the Persia name Esther. She engaged in an immoral harem competition to become the Queen of Persia. We see no signs of faith or spirituality in her at all—until a crisis came, and the very existence of her people, the Jewish people, was threatened. Even then she hoped someone else would take action, but her cousin Mordecai urged her to take action. We read in Esther 4:12-16:
12When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, 13he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
15Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."
The crisis created an opportunity. I truly believe that these words mark the spiritual rebirth of Esther. And could it be that God has placed an “Esther opportunity” before the USA? For such a time as this, God has raised up the nation. For such a time as this, God has raised up leaders like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and Condolezza Rice. And for such a time as this, God has called His church in the US and around the world to be in prayer, fasting and intercession.
Where—with whom—does the fate of the nation lie? It lies in the hands of both national leaders and in the hands of the people of God. It lies with us—to have hearts fixed upon the Lord and His ways. It lies with us to cry out to God for personal revival, to be right and clear with Him, and to intercede for both the nation, our national leaders and the nations of the earth. Our enemies will not just be brought down with smart bombs and intelligence expertise; the Lord is the one who sets up or disposes.
Therefore, the call of the hour is clear. Seek the Lord. Pray. Work. Trust. Be determined and yes, even defiant. Fly the flag and wear your ribbons. And may our humble prayer ever be, Dear God, bless America. Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with a light from above. Amen.
God’s Hand on America—a Legitimate Claim?
On this Independence Day holiday, making 226 years of America as a sovereign nation, with this nation at war in the first war of the new century, it is right that we who follow Jesus Christ should pause and reflect, to celebrate and to commemorate, to pray for and seek God about this moment in time.
In the 90s, it seemed that endless peace and prosperity would be our happy lot. Business—and vice—both boomed. Private lives of national leaders were dismissed as irrelevant while others quietly found ways to funnel the riches of commerce into personal pockets setting the stage for the recession and scandals of the past few years.
A year ago, a tax cut and a missing Washington intern were the extent of the nation’s concerns. It was the last gasp of triviality before it happened.
And then the attacks came.
A nation stunned, shocked, saddened, but then resolved. Yellow ribbons—symbols of victimization—were retired in favor of red, white and blue—symbols of national defiance, will and unity. The eagle woke from its slumber and liberated a distance land from its oppressors—religious fanatics, servants of a false god, a god of fate and oppression, a god of blood and war.
And people prayed. They prayed in the National Cathedral in Washington the Friday after. They prayed in Temple City Park the Thursday after that, and all across the nation. They prayed for the victims and the survivors. They prayed for justice and not for vengeance. They prayed for young men would soon be in combat on the opposite side of the world. They prayed for victory in a just cause.
And God answered their prayers.
But this conflict is not over. It has just begun. We are at the same point we were in the Second World War after the Battle of Midway in the Pacific. We have demonstrated to the enemy and the world that we can win, but we have long to go to make the victory secure, to truly defeat and take down that enemy. The test of wills has only begun.
We Christians believe that God is sovereign over all nations. In that sense, there can be no doubt that God’s hand is upon America, even as God’s hand is upon Kenya or Korea or Kuwait. But millions of Americans believe that God has a special task for this nation that is unlike any other. Is that arrogant presumption or a secure reality?
How would we know if the Almighty has such a plan for the country? We could look at the unusual origin of the nation: colonies, largely populated by refugees from the tyrannies of Europe, many seeking freedom to worship without the interference or dictates of a king. We could look to the way the nation became a magnet to oppressed peoples everywhere. We would see stains on its record—slavery being the worst—but even that stain was one that that country itself corrected at the cost of rivers of blood.
We could look at the role this nation played in the 20th century. In that century, two great evil ideologies arose in an attempt to re-order and subjugate the globe: first fascism, then communism. It was American heroism that defeated the first, and American resolution that wore down the second. The first was based on race and power, the second on class and revolution, but they shared a hatred of the American ideal: that a free people can freely govern themselves; that birth is not destiny, but that instead free people can choose their path, and that all are equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
These great evils were defeated in the 20th century by American resolve, American values and American heroism. And who can deny that the Sovereign Lord who raised up America for this task of repelling these great evils?
As the 21st century dawns, a new world-scale threat against of that is good has arisen: Islamo-Fascism. I call it that because it has much in common with the fascism of the Nazis: hatred of the Jewish people; a desire to subjugate nations; hatred of the values of freedom—be that political, religious or personal freedom. These are the New Barbarians that we face. This is the challenge of the present hour.
For perspective, we Christians must look to the holy word of God.
A Psalm for the Whole World: Psalm 67
One place we can look is the 67th Psalm. It is a remarkable Psalm for its worldwide perspective, for its tight structure, and for its timeless application.
Understanding its structure is the key to understanding its meaning. It follows what Bible scholars call a “chiastic” structure, where the beginning and end are balanced, the second and the next to last section are balanced, and the middle stands on its own. You can think of it as an “ABCBA structure” (see your message outline). That is, the first and the fifth (the last) sections (vs. 1-2 and vs. 6-7) say almost the same thing. Sections two and four are word for word identical, and only the middle section, vs. 4, is completely unique:
q A: 1-2 Bless us so the nations may know (a hope)
1May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us,
2that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
This is expressed as a prayer of hope. May it be so—that God be gracious, bless us, so that that blessing may overflow to all the nations on earth.
q B: 3 May all peoples praise God!
3May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.
Notice that it’s peoples, plural: all the different peoples of the earth: whether it’s the people of Argentina or Armenia or Angola or America—all the varied peoples of the world are in view.
q C: 4 God rules the peoples and guides the nations
4May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth.
Even more so! May all the nations (Hebrew, goiim, the Gentiles) be glad and sing for joy—in worship. Why? Because God rules the peoples justly and guides the nations of the earth! God is over all, and wholly just! This is the vision of John in Revelation 4 and 5 in preview: of God enthroned, and worshipped by people from every tribe and language and nation and tongue and tribe.
q B: 5 May all peoples praise God!
5May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.
This is, as we said, identical to vs. 3.
q A: 6-7 Bless us so the nations may know (a promise)
6Then the land will yield its harvest,
and God, our God, will bless us.
7God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Now this is very similar to vs. 1-2, but not identical. 1-2 is expressed as a hope; here, at the end of this short Psalm, hope has turned into a future tense certainty. The land will yield is harvest…God, our God, will bless us…and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.
Psalm 67…on Three Levels
We have to interpret and apply this Psalm, I think, on three levels:
1. For Israel…the Abrahamic hope and the Aaronic blessing
First, the Psalm was written to and for ancient Israel, and we have to start with the meaning as it would have been understood by its first hearers. It is a Psalm of blessing that reaches back to the promise made to Abraham that his children, the people we call Israel, would be for the blessing of the whole earth (Genesis 12:1-3). It also reaches back to the language of the blessing of Aaron we find in Numbers 6:24-26:
24" ` "The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." '
What Psalm 67 does it combine the Abrahamic hope with the Aaronic blessing, to say, “We are blessed that the nations and peoples of earth might be blessed.” That was God’s mission for Israel.
2. For the church…the blessing for world is conveyed
But then we also see that the carrier of the blessing in the present is not the nation of Israel but the church. Israel was unfaithful to its call to bless all the nations. Jesus says to Israel in Matthew 21:43, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” That “people” is not a nation in the normal sense, but the international, inter-cultural people of God, the church. Psalm 67 is being fulfilled as the church proclaims the good news of Jesus to all the nations.
3. For any nation who makes the Lord their God
Finally, there is a third—a distant third way to read this Psalm. This is more an application that an interpretation.
Psalm 33:12 reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”—but even in context, that “nation” is Israel. Proverbs 14:34 however takes that international: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” What we can say is that in a way that is very unlike the covenant God made with Israel, God certainly does exercise sovereign power over all nations, and looks with favor upon any nation that acknowledges Him in their way of life—in the living by His laws and especially in their regard for the gospel of His Son.
What This Does NOT mean…
1. America is not Israel! There is no theological or Biblical ground is maintain that God and America have a “covenant” along the line of the ones made by God with Israel. That covenant was unique to Israel, and a unique part of God’s plan of salvation.
2. America is not the church! Hopefully, this goes without saying: God does have a covenant—the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood—with His church. And whatever blessings God may see fit to bestow upon America, America is not the church—God’s real covenant people, what Paul calls the true Israel of God.
What This DOES Mean
God’s hand has been upon America since its founding.
In a hundred ways—from the words of the Mayflower Compact, the motivations of its settlers, the invocation of God in the Declaration of Independence, to the words “under God” (not just in the Pledge of Allegiance—those words first appear prominently in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address), historically, America has been a God-blessed land.
God has used the United States as a spiritual powerhouse and resource
What I mean by that is this: The single largest missionary-sending nation in world history is the United States. American missionaries, and American mission money, has done more to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ than any other nation on earth. Looking the big picture, I think you can say that God has raised up America first and foremost to be the #1 engine of world evangelization. God has raised up—and we continue to pray for—a strong free America so that the gospel can continue to go around the world in power.
God has used this nation to save the world from 20th century barbarism
I made this point earlier: It was the USA that saved the world from the Nazis and the Marxists. If you ever needed an historical validation of God’s hand on America, I think that’s it!
But that also means this sober reminder:
If America abandons God, God will sorrowfully abandon America
That’s what was so offensive about that US Circuit Court ruling about the Pledge of Allegiance: it said, in effect, God, be gone! That’s what’s so destructive about the all-pervasive immorality of American society—whether that immorality is in the bedroom or the corporate boardroom. That’s what so dangerous about the callous disposal of the unwanted unborn children. That’s what’s so alarming about the lowered standards of decency in music, TV, and the movies. We are at the fork in the road, and the wheels are turned in the wrong direction. We are in grave danger, and it is not yet clear what the outcome will be.
This Present Crisis
Which brings us back to this present crisis. God’s hand—a hand of blessing, a hand of sovereign purposes, has been upon America. But His hand may be withdrawn. To change the analogy, our blessings hang by a narrow thread. What are we to do now—in this present world?
I think of Esther. Esther was not a sweet, pious, godly Jewish girl. She was willing to hide her Jewish ethnicity in order to get ahead in the court of Persia. She changed her name from the Hebrew name Hadassah to the Persia name Esther. She engaged in an immoral harem competition to become the Queen of Persia. We see no signs of faith or spirituality in her at all—until a crisis came, and the very existence of her people, the Jewish people, was threatened. Even then she hoped someone else would take action, but her cousin Mordecai urged her to take action. We read in Esther 4:12-16:
12When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, 13he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
15Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."
The crisis created an opportunity. I truly believe that these words mark the spiritual rebirth of Esther. And could it be that God has placed an “Esther opportunity” before the USA? For such a time as this, God has raised up the nation. For such a time as this, God has raised up leaders like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and Condolezza Rice. And for such a time as this, God has called His church in the US and around the world to be in prayer, fasting and intercession.
Where—with whom—does the fate of the nation lie? It lies in the hands of both national leaders and in the hands of the people of God. It lies with us—to have hearts fixed upon the Lord and His ways. It lies with us to cry out to God for personal revival, to be right and clear with Him, and to intercede for both the nation, our national leaders and the nations of the earth. Our enemies will not just be brought down with smart bombs and intelligence expertise; the Lord is the one who sets up or disposes.
Therefore, the call of the hour is clear. Seek the Lord. Pray. Work. Trust. Be determined and yes, even defiant. Fly the flag and wear your ribbons. And may our humble prayer ever be, Dear God, bless America. Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with a light from above. Amen.
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