February 29, 2004
Seattle's famed Kingdome- home of the Seahawks, Mariners, and even at times the SuperSonics, was destroyed on March 26, 2000.
Maryland based Controlled Demolition Inc (CDI) was hired to do the job of imploding the 25,000 ton structure (second in fame only to the Space Needle) that had marked Seattle's skyline for almost 25 years.
One of the most noteworthy things about this event was the unusual measures taken to ensure no one was hurt. CDI had experience with over 7,000 demolitions and knew how to protect people. Engineers checked and rechecked the structure. Several blocks around the Kingdome were evacuated. Safety measures were in place to allow the countdown to stop at any time if there was concern about safety. All workers were individually accounted for by radio before the explosives were detonated. A large public address system was used to announce the final countdown.
In short, CDI took every reasonable measure and more to warn people of the impending danger. And the good news is it worked.
The Bible teaches of a final judgement and destruction for this sinful world. Like the engineers who blew up the Kingdome, our Heavenly Father has spared no expense to make sure everybody can "get out" safely. He warns us through our consciences, through the prophets, through the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit, through the Church, and through His Son. And to show us how serious He is, God will occasionally do something in a public and awful way to wake us up.
Acts 12:18-ff
There were several Herods mentioned in the New Testament. This one is Herod Agrippa I. He is the grandson of Herod the Great (who killed the babies of Bethlehem and killed this Herod's father). Agrippa was the nephew of Herod Antipas who killed John the Baptist and tortured Jesus. Agrippa grew up in Rome in the lap of luxury, living a playboy lifestyle, until debtors chased him back to a hideout in the Middle East.
While he lived in Rome he became close friends with Caligula and Claudius, future Emperors. When they came into power they brought their old friend out of hiding and established him on a throne and expanded his territory.
Herod Agrippa was the best loved of all the Herods. His grandfather the Great was an Edomite with a hint of a Jewish uncle. Edom helped Nebucanezer defeat Judea. Clearly he was not Jewish enough to be a Jewish king. However, Herod the Great married, among others, a princess of the Macabee family. From this princess came Agrippa's father. So, Agrippa had a Jewish pedigree, and when in Israel, he acted Kosher.
This made him popular and he tried to refine his popularity by attacking the followers of Jesus. His execution of James was so effective that he arrested Peter intending to kill him after the eight day holy day festival.
It is here that he meets his ugly death, worms and all. A Jewish historian, Josephus, has an account of Herod's death very similar to Luke's. He tells how Herod came into the stadium wearing a robe woven of pure silver. The crowds called out, "We used to fear and respect you as a great man. But now we revere you as immortal." Josephus, without knowledge of Luke and vice versa, tells how he immediately was struck with abdominal pains and carried out of the theater. Soon thereafter he died in terrible agony.
Luke makes it clear that God had a hand in Herod's death. It was a judgement for his ego-mania or pride that left no room for reverence for anyone but himself.
The New Testament records two important confessions. The first is found in Matthew 16:16 where Peter told Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." With Peter we must all stand before Jesus and acknowledge or confess that He is Lord. This is part of our Christianizing experience.
The second confession is found in Acts 14. Paul and Barnabus had just prayed for a miracle and God had healed a man who had been crippled from birth. The crowds went crazy dancing and singing and worshiping Paul and Barnabus as Greek gods. But when Paul realized what they were doing he tore his cloths in an act of extreme grief and ran into the crowd yelling, "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you (Acts 14:15)."
The very first lesson of faith is simple- but it gets to the core of everything: God is God and I am not. If you want proof- think of it this way- you had nothing to do with your birth; you could not take care of yourself in the smallest way for several years, and even now you can not make your own groceries or refine your own petroleum or manufacture your own medicine or build your own car from raw materials out of the Earth.
You are pretty much dependent on a whole lot of people just to stay alive. Say it with me: God is God and I am not.
Herod like many men in powerful positions had reached a place where his ego was king. He bowed to no one. His pride-filled state of mind was driving his destiny. Who knows what horrifying wickedness was just around the corner. God put a stop to Herod's self worship in a dramatic way.
Today a high degree of self regard is not thought to be a problem. Usually, it's valued. Korean high school students may average 200 points higher on a standardized math test, but American students are far superior in self-esteem. Today, that's what matters.
God wants to greatly enrich our lives by filling us with His Spirit, but when we are full of ourselves, there is no room for His Spirit. The danger is that we can reach a point of being permanently full of ourselves. All that is left is to guide that imperial ego through life, until we set it down before the judgement throne.
Do you believe in a Judgement day? Many do not. They believe God has one task: to help, console, encourage, and be friendly. Suggest He is going to weigh justice and punish short coming- that will cause deep frowns and shaking heads. The general mood of our culture lives for pleasure and amusement, ridiculing the Christian idea that after death comes judgement.
However, the Bible lays fairly heavy emphasis on judgement. Remember the times God acted as Judge. It started when He expelled Adam and Eve from Paradise. Then Genesis records God's judgement on the corrupt world in the flood. Genesis 18-19 relate the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18: 25 Abraham said, "Shall not the judge of all the Earth do right." And of course He did.
Exodus 32 reports the account of the slaying of all the Israelites who got involved in the Golden Calf incident. In the New Testament the deceitfulness of Ananaias and Sapphira lead to their deaths in public condemnation by God. Paul reminded the church of Corinth that many in their church had died because of the irreverent way they were receiving the Lord's Supper. And here, we have this incident with Herod Agrippa.
Each of these incidents involving death serves to illustrate a taste of Judgement Day. In regard to that day Paul told the philosophers at Athens, "God has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31)."
The Father has appointed Jesus, the Son to weigh the issues of right and wrong and hand out justice on That Day. Does this make God harsh, mean, abusive? Most of the gods of pagans cared nothing for justice. They were concerned only about their own appetites and whims. Think about Zeus or Baal. A Holy God is a unique concept! What does it mean to have a God who is very concerned about balancing the scale between right and wrong?
One thing it means is that God is good and worth respecting. Parents who know their children have committed acts of purposeful harm- and remain indifferent have tarnished their own souls. A parental duty is to instill a sense of right and wrong. To prioritize family loyalty above all else corrupts a culture. Moral indifference is a flaw and a character weakness. To not judge a world engulfed in wickedness, to be morally indifferent to crime, sin, evil, and viciousness would be a sign of malignancy.
Jesus as judge stands at the end of life's road for every individual. Paul told the Corinthians, "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (II Corinthians 5:10)."
If we know ourselves at all, we know that we are not fit to meet Jesus as Judge. The goodness of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is what we desperately need and what he freely offers! We can fall on the mercy of the Judge today, and with full surrender, find healing and hope and life...
Or we can avoid him, we can run from Jesus (and what we think are His uncomfortable demands), but we will meet Him later as Judge. Today is another opportunity to find life in Jesus. The Bible says, "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)."
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Lazarus
Editor's Note: I decided to run this sermon out of context in honor of my dad this week. Sunday will mark five years since we've been without him. From the time we first heard his diagnosis until the night before he died we prayed for healing and knew our God was big enough. Unfortunately for us, God's plan was different than ours and even though I don't understand why things happen the way they do, I know I serve a God with resurrection power. To quote my dad, " the ultimate issue of the sickness was not the death of the friend, but the glory of God." John was his favorite book and he wrote the body of this Lazarus sermon during seminary (it seems the opening illustration was added later). The professor, who was the district superintendent at the time, was so impressed that he asked permission to use it for an Easter weekend series he was guest speaking at.
circa early 1980s
Franklin and Beatrice Forest spent the first two weeks of December, 1987 getting ready for their daughter, Page, to come home from college. Page was a freshman and their only child. Shawnee, Oklahoma seemed like a very long way from Pomona, California. They prayed for her daily, and they spoke often with her by phone. She wrote to them just about every week, but the thought of having her home for the holidays made every moment special with anticipation. Their little house sparkled as they prepared for her visit.
Frank and Bet, as they were called, tended to some last minute details, and then headed for the Ontario airport. They couldn’t help but laugh when they entered the terminal and realized they were a full hour early. They were so excited they could hardly keep from giggling as they waited for her plane.
About thirty minutes before her plane was due to arrive, a voice announced, “Will persons waiting to meet flight...” the rest of the announcement was a blur. They made their way to a special conference room fearing the worst. A visibly shaken representative from the airline began, “We are sorry to have to tell you, but there has been an accident...” Their daughter’s plane had crashed on takeoff from the Denver airport.
For almost an hour they listened to sketchy details, and then official statements. Then finally, they received the news that all passengers were believed killed in the crash. News cameras and noisy crowds were everywhere. Frank said to Bet, “Let’s go home.” They made their way out to their car and drove away. They said little all the way home. Standing in their living room, they didn’t know what to do next, so they just stood there hugging and crying. They had been in the house only a few minutes when the phone rang. Franklin slowly picked it up. “Hello,” he said.
“Mr. Forest,” the voice said, “this is Mrs. Hastings with the airline. Your daughter missed the plane. She’s all right.”
This is a true story. One family could celebrate life because of a missed connecting flight. But there is another true story that is even better. It is too long to tell you all of it this morning. In fact, it is still going on and you have an opportunity to be one of the characters in its very happy ending. Of course you also could end up as one of the other characters. Perhaps one of the people who were proud of themselves for pushing their way onto that crowded connecting flight out of Denver. Their part in the story is true, too.
It is because of them that the story- remember it is a true story- that I am about to tell you could be the most important story you’ve ever heard.
Jesus, the rabbi, was teaching in the middle of a crowded Jerusalem street. The main point of the lesson was that His miracles were evidence of His divine relationship to God. He told them, “Actions speak louder than words.”
The Jewish leaders were standing around the man waving their arms, throwing dust in the air and shouting, “Blasphemer! Blasphemer!” The teacher quietly went on proving His direct relationship with God. His calm, self-confident manner only added fuel to the fiery temper of the Pharisees. Something He said about them “not recognizing His voice coming from God” caused their anger to reach the boiling point, which they demonstrated by picking up rocks and challenging the crowd to join them in stoning this heretic.
Before they could organize a proper lynch mob, Jesus and His disciples slipped through the swarm of rioters and made their way outside the city. The Master, with His followers, then crossed the Jordan River and walked a single day’s journey north to the wilderness where John the Baptist started his baptizing ministry.
A few days later, as the sun was settling in for the night, a couple of dusty and exhausted travelers arrived from Bethany, a small village just two miles northeast of Jerusalem. The group was preparing the evening meal as the travelers arrived with a message for Jesus. The distress on their faces was enough to send a couple of disciples off to interrupt the Rabbi’s meditation and inform Him of an urgent message from the Jerusalem area!
When He and His disciples returned to the camp, one of the travelers ran up to the Teacher and cried, “Lord, the one you love so very much is sick.” He could say no more, not wanting to be responsible for bringing the Rabbi back into the extreme danger of Judea and yet, believing this man could bring his friend back to health.
The messenger had no way of knowing his friend had died just a few short hours after he left on this journey.
The Master knew this, but He gave a comforting reply just the same. He told the travelers, “This sickness is not fatal. However, it will be an occasion to show God’s glory.” Only later would they discover the deeper meaning of what He said. He was really saying the ultimate issue of the sickness was not the death of the friend, but the glory of God. But for the time, they were satisfied with His comforting remarks. After a shared meal around the campfire, and with the anxiety for their friend relieved, they all slept peacefully under the stars.
The next morning the messengers returned to Bethany. The Teacher and His disciples continued to teach in that historic spot where the Baptist was first used by God as a herald for the coming Messiah. Many of the people in Jerusalem who had witnessed the Master’s miracles followed Him here and joined the country people in giving their allegiance to this Rabbi. The followers of the Rabbi were finally beginning to relax after what they considered a very close call in Jerusalem.
It was on the second morning after the messengers had returned to Bethany that the Teacher stunned His followers with an announcement. He told them the time had come to return to Judea. His followers all began to talk and shout at the same time. “Rabbi,” one said, “It was only late last week the Pharisee's tried to stone You. Their anger hasn’t lost any of it’s fire.” Another asked, “Do you think it wise to give up what we’ve worked so hard to achieve for almost certain death?”
To see the contrast between the panic and pandemonium of the disciples with the confidence of their Teacher was an extraordinary thing. He began to ease their fear by explaining there were opportunities that had to be taken advantage of while they were available or they would be lost. For the Master, danger never prevented Him from seizing the moment.
He went on to explain, the friend in Bethany had died and He was glad He hadn’t been there to prevent the death, because it was a part of the opportunity that awaited them. This kind of talk, far from calming the followers, created an atmosphere of anxiety and fear. Some still wanted to argue against the trip. Others felt at a loss, but since their normal spokesman was away on a a short assignment, they didn’t know what to say. At that point the follower named Thomas stood among them and with a kind of quiet despair said, “Let’s all go. We might as well die with Him.”
And so they came to the outskirts of Bethany. By the time they had traveled this far, the friend had been in the grave four days. For the Jews, the fourth day was the climax of their period of mourning. Most believed that for the first three days the soul of the dead person remained close to the body, hoping to find a way to return. They believed it was early on the fourth day when the soul saw decay setting in, and as a result gave up any prospect of returning.
The dead man’s older sister heard that the Rabbi was near town and so went out to meet Him. Her first words to Him had the effect of a drink of warm salt water on a 120 degree day. She said, “If You had been here my brother would not have died.” Seeing the effect of her harsh words on the Teacher caused her to soften her tone and confess she still believed God listened and responded to whatever the Teacher said.
At this point, the Rabbi looked right at the woman and said, “Your brother will be raised up.” She acknowledged her hope of the future resurrection but the Jews and the disciples standing nearby could see that her present grief was totally blocking out the light of any future happiness. however, the Rabbi continued by saying to this sorrow filled woman, “ I AM the One who raises the dead and grants life. The man or woman who gives their will to my authority- even though he dies- he will live again. And everyone who lives, giving allegiance to Me will ultimately not die at all.”
For one brief but powerful moment a beacon of hope lit up the heart of this woman as she said, “Yes, Master, all along I have believed You are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Some of the Jews who had come to mourn with the woman could hardly believe their ears. This man was again claiming equality with God and leading lonely women astray. Their hatred for this man was at that very moment turning their hearts to stone.
Before their hardened hearts could turn to malicious action, the one the Rabbi was talking to, went to tell her sister that the Teacher was asking for her. In part, the contempt these Jews held toward this man was for His treatment of women. Women were allowed to learn from Him on the same basis as men. No respectable rabbi ever taught women, but this Man had a whole following of women.
The younger sister, one of these female followers, rushed to her Teacher and fell at His feet as a loyal disciple. Full of despair and sadness, she said, “Master, if only You had been here my brother would not have died.”
The Jews who had followed this woman to the Teacher began mingling with those who had been there already. Now in hushed voices they shared the previous conversation between the Rabbi and the older sister. A kind of sinister, throbbing malice filled the atmosphere, covered only by the loud wailing of the sisters and their many friends as they recklessly abandoned all forms of dignity in the eastern style of mourning.
The Rabbi could fee the evil contents of the atmosphere beneath the mourning wails. If one would have looked closely, he would have seen the Rabbi’s nostrils flare slightly, His eyes dilate, His facial skin tighten and His breath become a bit more rapid. Suddenly He said in a loud voice, “Where did you put him?”
As they walked to the tomb, The Teacher carried Himself much like a soldier going into combat, with on tiny exception- His eyes were spilling over with tears. To the Jews this confirmed the man’s incompetence and unfitness to be called a rabbi.
Meanwhile, the procession of howling men and women arrived at the grave. The tomb was a cave with a flat round stone rolled across the opening. As the crowd came near the tomb, the wailing and the loud groaning increased. The Teacher still carried Himself with the dignity of a veteran solider, now knowing the enemy was standing within striking distance.
When the Rabbi reached the tomb, He commanded the stone to be rolled away. People instinctively put their hands over their faces and groaned- no! NO! The dead man’s sister began to plead with the Teacher, reminding Him her brother had been in the tomb four days and by now the stench would be unbearable.
A spasm of anger gripped the Rabbi and He said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” There had been a few in the group who were eye witnesses of the Rabbi’s anger in the Temple courtyard. The red hot wrath of the man was still etched deeply on their minds. They jumped immediately to action, believing the stench of the grave could not be as bad as this man’s angry passion.
When this was done the Teacher turned His face upward and said, “Father, I am grateful that You have listened to Me. I know that You always listen to Me, but I have said this for the benefit of the people standing here, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
When He had finished praying, He paused for a moment and in a loud voice that echoes across the valley, loud enough so that even His enemies in Jerusalem could hear, He said, “Lazarus, come out!”
For just a second the wailing and groaning of the mourners was replaced by silence- then whispered mocking, and just as the whispering was growing into laughter, the air turned into ice. Lazarus, the cadaver, stood in the opening of the tomb!
Jesus said, “Take off his grave clothes and set him free!” Now that is real power!
If you know the rest of the story you know the enemies of Christ went on to do their worst to Him. But His death was the main part of God’s plan to rescue you and me from our sin. Jesus died as a sacrifice acceptable to God and beneficial to everyone who would make Jesus their master. The Bible calls Jesus death an atonement for sin.
But even that is not the rest of the story! If Jesus was who He said He was, He would have to be resurrected. The Bible account tells us Jesus Himself entered into the realm of the dead, removed the poison of death, and returned to life, validating both His prophecy and His power! His sacrifice will never lose its power to set you free of your grave clothes.
What Jesus accomplished with Lazarus is a minor example of His great power. What Satan tried to do to Jesus on the cross, really exposed the whole world to God’s love and His resurrection power. The cross reveals the love of God and Sunday morning reveals His power. God knows that every one of us had managed to get tangled up in grave clothes and death as we’ve tried to be masters of our own lives.
But that first real Sunday unleashed on the world the greatest power in the universe- resurrection power!
Some of you may still be wearing your grave clothes (decaying relationships, imprisoning killer addictions, self destructive attitudes). Jesus has the power to “take them off so you can be free!”
Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “I keep asking that God may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better... and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.”
If we had eyes to see the truth about Jesus and integrity enough to agree with the truth, we’d all admit resurrection power is our only hope!!! Jesus is the only one with that power. What have you done with Jesus?
Franklin and Beatrice Forest spent the first two weeks of December, 1987 getting ready for their daughter, Page, to come home from college. Page was a freshman and their only child. Shawnee, Oklahoma seemed like a very long way from Pomona, California. They prayed for her daily, and they spoke often with her by phone. She wrote to them just about every week, but the thought of having her home for the holidays made every moment special with anticipation. Their little house sparkled as they prepared for her visit.
Frank and Bet, as they were called, tended to some last minute details, and then headed for the Ontario airport. They couldn’t help but laugh when they entered the terminal and realized they were a full hour early. They were so excited they could hardly keep from giggling as they waited for her plane.
About thirty minutes before her plane was due to arrive, a voice announced, “Will persons waiting to meet flight...” the rest of the announcement was a blur. They made their way to a special conference room fearing the worst. A visibly shaken representative from the airline began, “We are sorry to have to tell you, but there has been an accident...” Their daughter’s plane had crashed on takeoff from the Denver airport.
For almost an hour they listened to sketchy details, and then official statements. Then finally, they received the news that all passengers were believed killed in the crash. News cameras and noisy crowds were everywhere. Frank said to Bet, “Let’s go home.” They made their way out to their car and drove away. They said little all the way home. Standing in their living room, they didn’t know what to do next, so they just stood there hugging and crying. They had been in the house only a few minutes when the phone rang. Franklin slowly picked it up. “Hello,” he said.
“Mr. Forest,” the voice said, “this is Mrs. Hastings with the airline. Your daughter missed the plane. She’s all right.”
This is a true story. One family could celebrate life because of a missed connecting flight. But there is another true story that is even better. It is too long to tell you all of it this morning. In fact, it is still going on and you have an opportunity to be one of the characters in its very happy ending. Of course you also could end up as one of the other characters. Perhaps one of the people who were proud of themselves for pushing their way onto that crowded connecting flight out of Denver. Their part in the story is true, too.
It is because of them that the story- remember it is a true story- that I am about to tell you could be the most important story you’ve ever heard.
Jesus, the rabbi, was teaching in the middle of a crowded Jerusalem street. The main point of the lesson was that His miracles were evidence of His divine relationship to God. He told them, “Actions speak louder than words.”
The Jewish leaders were standing around the man waving their arms, throwing dust in the air and shouting, “Blasphemer! Blasphemer!” The teacher quietly went on proving His direct relationship with God. His calm, self-confident manner only added fuel to the fiery temper of the Pharisees. Something He said about them “not recognizing His voice coming from God” caused their anger to reach the boiling point, which they demonstrated by picking up rocks and challenging the crowd to join them in stoning this heretic.
Before they could organize a proper lynch mob, Jesus and His disciples slipped through the swarm of rioters and made their way outside the city. The Master, with His followers, then crossed the Jordan River and walked a single day’s journey north to the wilderness where John the Baptist started his baptizing ministry.
A few days later, as the sun was settling in for the night, a couple of dusty and exhausted travelers arrived from Bethany, a small village just two miles northeast of Jerusalem. The group was preparing the evening meal as the travelers arrived with a message for Jesus. The distress on their faces was enough to send a couple of disciples off to interrupt the Rabbi’s meditation and inform Him of an urgent message from the Jerusalem area!
When He and His disciples returned to the camp, one of the travelers ran up to the Teacher and cried, “Lord, the one you love so very much is sick.” He could say no more, not wanting to be responsible for bringing the Rabbi back into the extreme danger of Judea and yet, believing this man could bring his friend back to health.
The messenger had no way of knowing his friend had died just a few short hours after he left on this journey.
The Master knew this, but He gave a comforting reply just the same. He told the travelers, “This sickness is not fatal. However, it will be an occasion to show God’s glory.” Only later would they discover the deeper meaning of what He said. He was really saying the ultimate issue of the sickness was not the death of the friend, but the glory of God. But for the time, they were satisfied with His comforting remarks. After a shared meal around the campfire, and with the anxiety for their friend relieved, they all slept peacefully under the stars.
The next morning the messengers returned to Bethany. The Teacher and His disciples continued to teach in that historic spot where the Baptist was first used by God as a herald for the coming Messiah. Many of the people in Jerusalem who had witnessed the Master’s miracles followed Him here and joined the country people in giving their allegiance to this Rabbi. The followers of the Rabbi were finally beginning to relax after what they considered a very close call in Jerusalem.
It was on the second morning after the messengers had returned to Bethany that the Teacher stunned His followers with an announcement. He told them the time had come to return to Judea. His followers all began to talk and shout at the same time. “Rabbi,” one said, “It was only late last week the Pharisee's tried to stone You. Their anger hasn’t lost any of it’s fire.” Another asked, “Do you think it wise to give up what we’ve worked so hard to achieve for almost certain death?”
To see the contrast between the panic and pandemonium of the disciples with the confidence of their Teacher was an extraordinary thing. He began to ease their fear by explaining there were opportunities that had to be taken advantage of while they were available or they would be lost. For the Master, danger never prevented Him from seizing the moment.
He went on to explain, the friend in Bethany had died and He was glad He hadn’t been there to prevent the death, because it was a part of the opportunity that awaited them. This kind of talk, far from calming the followers, created an atmosphere of anxiety and fear. Some still wanted to argue against the trip. Others felt at a loss, but since their normal spokesman was away on a a short assignment, they didn’t know what to say. At that point the follower named Thomas stood among them and with a kind of quiet despair said, “Let’s all go. We might as well die with Him.”
And so they came to the outskirts of Bethany. By the time they had traveled this far, the friend had been in the grave four days. For the Jews, the fourth day was the climax of their period of mourning. Most believed that for the first three days the soul of the dead person remained close to the body, hoping to find a way to return. They believed it was early on the fourth day when the soul saw decay setting in, and as a result gave up any prospect of returning.
The dead man’s older sister heard that the Rabbi was near town and so went out to meet Him. Her first words to Him had the effect of a drink of warm salt water on a 120 degree day. She said, “If You had been here my brother would not have died.” Seeing the effect of her harsh words on the Teacher caused her to soften her tone and confess she still believed God listened and responded to whatever the Teacher said.
At this point, the Rabbi looked right at the woman and said, “Your brother will be raised up.” She acknowledged her hope of the future resurrection but the Jews and the disciples standing nearby could see that her present grief was totally blocking out the light of any future happiness. however, the Rabbi continued by saying to this sorrow filled woman, “ I AM the One who raises the dead and grants life. The man or woman who gives their will to my authority- even though he dies- he will live again. And everyone who lives, giving allegiance to Me will ultimately not die at all.”
For one brief but powerful moment a beacon of hope lit up the heart of this woman as she said, “Yes, Master, all along I have believed You are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Some of the Jews who had come to mourn with the woman could hardly believe their ears. This man was again claiming equality with God and leading lonely women astray. Their hatred for this man was at that very moment turning their hearts to stone.
Before their hardened hearts could turn to malicious action, the one the Rabbi was talking to, went to tell her sister that the Teacher was asking for her. In part, the contempt these Jews held toward this man was for His treatment of women. Women were allowed to learn from Him on the same basis as men. No respectable rabbi ever taught women, but this Man had a whole following of women.
The younger sister, one of these female followers, rushed to her Teacher and fell at His feet as a loyal disciple. Full of despair and sadness, she said, “Master, if only You had been here my brother would not have died.”
The Jews who had followed this woman to the Teacher began mingling with those who had been there already. Now in hushed voices they shared the previous conversation between the Rabbi and the older sister. A kind of sinister, throbbing malice filled the atmosphere, covered only by the loud wailing of the sisters and their many friends as they recklessly abandoned all forms of dignity in the eastern style of mourning.
The Rabbi could fee the evil contents of the atmosphere beneath the mourning wails. If one would have looked closely, he would have seen the Rabbi’s nostrils flare slightly, His eyes dilate, His facial skin tighten and His breath become a bit more rapid. Suddenly He said in a loud voice, “Where did you put him?”
As they walked to the tomb, The Teacher carried Himself much like a soldier going into combat, with on tiny exception- His eyes were spilling over with tears. To the Jews this confirmed the man’s incompetence and unfitness to be called a rabbi.
Meanwhile, the procession of howling men and women arrived at the grave. The tomb was a cave with a flat round stone rolled across the opening. As the crowd came near the tomb, the wailing and the loud groaning increased. The Teacher still carried Himself with the dignity of a veteran solider, now knowing the enemy was standing within striking distance.
When the Rabbi reached the tomb, He commanded the stone to be rolled away. People instinctively put their hands over their faces and groaned- no! NO! The dead man’s sister began to plead with the Teacher, reminding Him her brother had been in the tomb four days and by now the stench would be unbearable.
A spasm of anger gripped the Rabbi and He said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” There had been a few in the group who were eye witnesses of the Rabbi’s anger in the Temple courtyard. The red hot wrath of the man was still etched deeply on their minds. They jumped immediately to action, believing the stench of the grave could not be as bad as this man’s angry passion.
When this was done the Teacher turned His face upward and said, “Father, I am grateful that You have listened to Me. I know that You always listen to Me, but I have said this for the benefit of the people standing here, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
When He had finished praying, He paused for a moment and in a loud voice that echoes across the valley, loud enough so that even His enemies in Jerusalem could hear, He said, “Lazarus, come out!”
For just a second the wailing and groaning of the mourners was replaced by silence- then whispered mocking, and just as the whispering was growing into laughter, the air turned into ice. Lazarus, the cadaver, stood in the opening of the tomb!
Jesus said, “Take off his grave clothes and set him free!” Now that is real power!
If you know the rest of the story you know the enemies of Christ went on to do their worst to Him. But His death was the main part of God’s plan to rescue you and me from our sin. Jesus died as a sacrifice acceptable to God and beneficial to everyone who would make Jesus their master. The Bible calls Jesus death an atonement for sin.
But even that is not the rest of the story! If Jesus was who He said He was, He would have to be resurrected. The Bible account tells us Jesus Himself entered into the realm of the dead, removed the poison of death, and returned to life, validating both His prophecy and His power! His sacrifice will never lose its power to set you free of your grave clothes.
What Jesus accomplished with Lazarus is a minor example of His great power. What Satan tried to do to Jesus on the cross, really exposed the whole world to God’s love and His resurrection power. The cross reveals the love of God and Sunday morning reveals His power. God knows that every one of us had managed to get tangled up in grave clothes and death as we’ve tried to be masters of our own lives.
But that first real Sunday unleashed on the world the greatest power in the universe- resurrection power!
Some of you may still be wearing your grave clothes (decaying relationships, imprisoning killer addictions, self destructive attitudes). Jesus has the power to “take them off so you can be free!”
Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “I keep asking that God may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better... and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.”
If we had eyes to see the truth about Jesus and integrity enough to agree with the truth, we’d all admit resurrection power is our only hope!!! Jesus is the only one with that power. What have you done with Jesus?
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Peter
A young man named Sal applied for a job as a signalman on the railroad. He was asked a question by the inspector: "What would you do if you realized two trains were heading for each other on the same track?"
Sal answered, "I would switch the points for one of the trains."
"What if the electronic lever was broken?" asked the inspector.
"Then I'd run down from the tower and use the manual lever by the switch."
"What if that had been struck by lightning?" asked the inspector.
"Then I'd run back into the tower and phone the next tower."
"What if the phone was busy?"
"Well, in that case I'd run up the right of way to the emergency phone at the crossing."
"What if that phone had been vandalized?"
"Oh, well, in that case I would run into the village and get my uncle."
This finally slowed the inspector down a little, and he asked, "Your uncle? Why your uncle?"
Sal answered, "Because my uncle has never seen a train wreck."
How many of you have never seen a train wreck but would like to? It is sad to say, but for Sal, prayer was not even a last resort. I wonder what the inspector would have said if Sal had answered, "I'd call my church and ask them to pray"?
Pray is not magic. At times, the function of prayer is a mystery, but when God moves in response to a person pleading for action, the results are more dynamic than surgery or high rise demolition.
Acts 12
This is Peter's second to last appearance in the book of Acts (15). At this point, James, the half brother of Jesus, takes over the leadership of the Jerusalem church. And Luke, author of the book of Acts, begins to follow the ministry of Paul's mission trips as the focus of the book moves away from the city of Jerusalem to Antioch.
This episode begins with the execution of James - one of the sons of Zebedee. This is the James who came with his brother John to Jesus in order to claim the top two spots in Jesus' new kingdom. He was one of the "inner three." Jesus explained at the time that they had no idea what they were asking - that the Father was in charge of selecting the people for those honors - but that they certainly would go through a similar "baptism by fire" that Jesus was about to experience.
As it turned out James was the first of the Twelve Apostles to be martyred for his faith. Ironically, John was the last of the Twelve to experience martyrdom.
The execution of James so dramatically raised Herod's popularity numbers that he arrested Peter. Unfortunately, the timing was such that he had to wait until the eight day holy period of Passover-Unleaven Bread was concluded. I suspect (hope) that the church prayed for James, but in Peter's case they had more time to organize the prayer meetings. Luke reports that their prayer fervency was especially high the night proceeding the day of execution.
In verse 5 the word for "earnestly" is the same word that describes the level of intensity of Jesus' prayer in the Garden. This word only appears three times in the New Testament. In Jesus' case, his original request to bypass the cross was changed to an uncontaminated willingness to be the sin bearer. The earnestness of His prayer was not a stubborn self will, but an intense desire to line up with the Father's will.
The prayer meeting crowd was praying earnestly for Peter. And Peter was sleeping -- pretty soundly it seems. Some folks suggest he should have been more like Paul and Silas -- singing hymns. However, that was their first night in the stockade. Peter had been in jail several nights. Paul and Silas had already received their punishment. The next day they were going to be escorted out of town. Peter was going to be executed, beheaded. The circumstances were quite different.
I'm impressed that he could sleep at all. Peter's convictions about the impotence of death to separate him from the love of God were real convictions! Peter was not under any illusion that the person who dies with the most toys wins anything. He was comfortable knowing that he was going to a reward -- not leaving anything of value behind that he would never see again!
If your whole life consists of things you've acquired here, and you have made no investments in eternity, then it is a pretty lonely journey through "the valley of the shadow of death." Those earthly assets offer no protection, Peter was sleeping because he had something to look forward to.
He was sleeping so well that when the angel woke him up, he thought he was still dreaming. Angels show up with some frequency in this chapter and the New Testament in general. Some of you may be disappointed to know that none of them looked like Roma Downey. Always they are described with a masculine pronoun although Jesus told us that sexual distinctions are not something angels have to deal with. This spoils nearly everything Hollywood has to say about angels.
The motion picture industry has produced several movies about angels and almost always the plot is some kind of idolizing of human desire. In The City of Angels, Nicolas Cage actually gave up immortality as an angel so that he could love Meg Ryan. In the movie, asked if the switch was worth it, he said, "I would rather have one breath of her hair, one kiss of her lips, one touch of her hand, than an eternity without it."
No disrespect to Meg Ryan, but Cage is an idiot - at least in the movie! Angels, the Bible tells us, have the experience of God's immediate and intimate presence. And he would give that up for a sniff of Meg Ryan's hair? That is the very definition of moral lunacy. Of course, what is really at work here is some producer's idea of how important human pleasure is. This movie turns the pleasures of being human into a rival with God. This is one reason "fasting" has always been a key discipline in heart transformation.
The Bible does not give much systematic teaching about angels. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that God did not share the essence of angels. Instead He took on flesh and blood; not to experience the wonders of humanity, but to rescue us from the horrors of being human. The incarnation never was focused on human pleasure though Jesus was filled with joy.
Angels . . . the Bible's attitude seems to be "oh, by the way angels are real, and on a rare occasion you might have to deal with that fact." The Bible tells us that the best of the angels are servants of God who love doing His will. The worst of them have been defeated by Jesus on the cross.
On the occasion when Peter tried to rescue Jesus from the cross, Jesus said if that was His goal He could've called ten legion of angels who were waiting with swords drawn to demolish Satan and all of creation. Jesus' mission was to overcome the powers of darkness as a man. Colossians tells us that Jesus "disarmed the (dark) powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them by the cross" (2:15). By defeating the rebellious dark powers - in a way humanly impossible to imagine - He was able to make salvation available to the whole world.
The presence of angels in this early history of the church reminds us that the invisible world is no less real than the visible. And at times the two worlds overlap. What we need to do is keep our spiritual bearings about us by reserving our praise for Jesus.
In Acts 12 an angel was sent to rescue Peter from jail. The account does not gloss over the angel's part but the praise goes to God. This is how, on this occasion, God chose to answer fervent prayer. One of the interesting parts of this story is the praying church's response. Clearly they were praying for the best -- and expecting the worst. I don't think this is the part we are supposed to apply, but I do identify with their astonishment. I would hope that they prayed for James. Although the circumstance may not have allowed much time to pray, time is not necessarily the critical problem in prayer. At any rate, they prayed for James but he died. They had seen James beheaded and they were watching Herod strut around bragging about what he was going to do to Peter. Most of the Christians were staying underground. It was not a good time.
But God is not boxed in by arrogant or hate filled enemies. And sometimes He surprises us.
Herb Miller wrote about when a night club opened in a small town on Main Street. The only church in town organized an all-night prayer meeting. The members asked God to burn down the club. Within a few minutes, lightning struck the club, and it burned to the ground. The owner heard about the prayer meeting and sued the church. They denied responsibility.
After hearing both sides, the judge said, "It seems that wherever the guilt may lie, the nightclub owner believes in the power of prayer, while the church does not."
Are you currently praying any prayers that you really don't expect God to answer? Has God ever surprised you with an answer to a specific request? Perhaps this week you could confess your doubts about this old standing prayer and ask God to surprise you.
Now we know that some prayers God has already clued us in on. We know He won't answer a prayer that leads us into an area of disobedience. He has told us that holding on to bitterness and unconfessed sin messes up our prayers. So perhaps it is not a surprise that He has not answered your prayer yet. Pray God's will. Pray with clean hands.
If you do something about the sin in your life, Jesus will take care of the devil in your life. And maybe it is okay to be astonished when He does.
Sal answered, "I would switch the points for one of the trains."
"What if the electronic lever was broken?" asked the inspector.
"Then I'd run down from the tower and use the manual lever by the switch."
"What if that had been struck by lightning?" asked the inspector.
"Then I'd run back into the tower and phone the next tower."
"What if the phone was busy?"
"Well, in that case I'd run up the right of way to the emergency phone at the crossing."
"What if that phone had been vandalized?"
"Oh, well, in that case I would run into the village and get my uncle."
This finally slowed the inspector down a little, and he asked, "Your uncle? Why your uncle?"
Sal answered, "Because my uncle has never seen a train wreck."
How many of you have never seen a train wreck but would like to? It is sad to say, but for Sal, prayer was not even a last resort. I wonder what the inspector would have said if Sal had answered, "I'd call my church and ask them to pray"?
Pray is not magic. At times, the function of prayer is a mystery, but when God moves in response to a person pleading for action, the results are more dynamic than surgery or high rise demolition.
Acts 12
This is Peter's second to last appearance in the book of Acts (15). At this point, James, the half brother of Jesus, takes over the leadership of the Jerusalem church. And Luke, author of the book of Acts, begins to follow the ministry of Paul's mission trips as the focus of the book moves away from the city of Jerusalem to Antioch.
This episode begins with the execution of James - one of the sons of Zebedee. This is the James who came with his brother John to Jesus in order to claim the top two spots in Jesus' new kingdom. He was one of the "inner three." Jesus explained at the time that they had no idea what they were asking - that the Father was in charge of selecting the people for those honors - but that they certainly would go through a similar "baptism by fire" that Jesus was about to experience.
As it turned out James was the first of the Twelve Apostles to be martyred for his faith. Ironically, John was the last of the Twelve to experience martyrdom.
The execution of James so dramatically raised Herod's popularity numbers that he arrested Peter. Unfortunately, the timing was such that he had to wait until the eight day holy period of Passover-Unleaven Bread was concluded. I suspect (hope) that the church prayed for James, but in Peter's case they had more time to organize the prayer meetings. Luke reports that their prayer fervency was especially high the night proceeding the day of execution.
In verse 5 the word for "earnestly" is the same word that describes the level of intensity of Jesus' prayer in the Garden. This word only appears three times in the New Testament. In Jesus' case, his original request to bypass the cross was changed to an uncontaminated willingness to be the sin bearer. The earnestness of His prayer was not a stubborn self will, but an intense desire to line up with the Father's will.
The prayer meeting crowd was praying earnestly for Peter. And Peter was sleeping -- pretty soundly it seems. Some folks suggest he should have been more like Paul and Silas -- singing hymns. However, that was their first night in the stockade. Peter had been in jail several nights. Paul and Silas had already received their punishment. The next day they were going to be escorted out of town. Peter was going to be executed, beheaded. The circumstances were quite different.
I'm impressed that he could sleep at all. Peter's convictions about the impotence of death to separate him from the love of God were real convictions! Peter was not under any illusion that the person who dies with the most toys wins anything. He was comfortable knowing that he was going to a reward -- not leaving anything of value behind that he would never see again!
If your whole life consists of things you've acquired here, and you have made no investments in eternity, then it is a pretty lonely journey through "the valley of the shadow of death." Those earthly assets offer no protection, Peter was sleeping because he had something to look forward to.
He was sleeping so well that when the angel woke him up, he thought he was still dreaming. Angels show up with some frequency in this chapter and the New Testament in general. Some of you may be disappointed to know that none of them looked like Roma Downey. Always they are described with a masculine pronoun although Jesus told us that sexual distinctions are not something angels have to deal with. This spoils nearly everything Hollywood has to say about angels.
The motion picture industry has produced several movies about angels and almost always the plot is some kind of idolizing of human desire. In The City of Angels, Nicolas Cage actually gave up immortality as an angel so that he could love Meg Ryan. In the movie, asked if the switch was worth it, he said, "I would rather have one breath of her hair, one kiss of her lips, one touch of her hand, than an eternity without it."
No disrespect to Meg Ryan, but Cage is an idiot - at least in the movie! Angels, the Bible tells us, have the experience of God's immediate and intimate presence. And he would give that up for a sniff of Meg Ryan's hair? That is the very definition of moral lunacy. Of course, what is really at work here is some producer's idea of how important human pleasure is. This movie turns the pleasures of being human into a rival with God. This is one reason "fasting" has always been a key discipline in heart transformation.
The Bible does not give much systematic teaching about angels. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that God did not share the essence of angels. Instead He took on flesh and blood; not to experience the wonders of humanity, but to rescue us from the horrors of being human. The incarnation never was focused on human pleasure though Jesus was filled with joy.
Angels . . . the Bible's attitude seems to be "oh, by the way angels are real, and on a rare occasion you might have to deal with that fact." The Bible tells us that the best of the angels are servants of God who love doing His will. The worst of them have been defeated by Jesus on the cross.
On the occasion when Peter tried to rescue Jesus from the cross, Jesus said if that was His goal He could've called ten legion of angels who were waiting with swords drawn to demolish Satan and all of creation. Jesus' mission was to overcome the powers of darkness as a man. Colossians tells us that Jesus "disarmed the (dark) powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them by the cross" (2:15). By defeating the rebellious dark powers - in a way humanly impossible to imagine - He was able to make salvation available to the whole world.
The presence of angels in this early history of the church reminds us that the invisible world is no less real than the visible. And at times the two worlds overlap. What we need to do is keep our spiritual bearings about us by reserving our praise for Jesus.
In Acts 12 an angel was sent to rescue Peter from jail. The account does not gloss over the angel's part but the praise goes to God. This is how, on this occasion, God chose to answer fervent prayer. One of the interesting parts of this story is the praying church's response. Clearly they were praying for the best -- and expecting the worst. I don't think this is the part we are supposed to apply, but I do identify with their astonishment. I would hope that they prayed for James. Although the circumstance may not have allowed much time to pray, time is not necessarily the critical problem in prayer. At any rate, they prayed for James but he died. They had seen James beheaded and they were watching Herod strut around bragging about what he was going to do to Peter. Most of the Christians were staying underground. It was not a good time.
But God is not boxed in by arrogant or hate filled enemies. And sometimes He surprises us.
Herb Miller wrote about when a night club opened in a small town on Main Street. The only church in town organized an all-night prayer meeting. The members asked God to burn down the club. Within a few minutes, lightning struck the club, and it burned to the ground. The owner heard about the prayer meeting and sued the church. They denied responsibility.
After hearing both sides, the judge said, "It seems that wherever the guilt may lie, the nightclub owner believes in the power of prayer, while the church does not."
Are you currently praying any prayers that you really don't expect God to answer? Has God ever surprised you with an answer to a specific request? Perhaps this week you could confess your doubts about this old standing prayer and ask God to surprise you.
Now we know that some prayers God has already clued us in on. We know He won't answer a prayer that leads us into an area of disobedience. He has told us that holding on to bitterness and unconfessed sin messes up our prayers. So perhaps it is not a surprise that He has not answered your prayer yet. Pray God's will. Pray with clean hands.
If you do something about the sin in your life, Jesus will take care of the devil in your life. And maybe it is okay to be astonished when He does.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Stephen
February 15, 2004
What is the most damaging lie that has ever been told? I don't suppose there has ever been anything worse than Satan's lie to Eve- that God could not be trusted. Satan couldn't have done more harm if he had chased Eve around the garden with a battle ax.
Politicians have noticed how effective lies can be. As we enter another election year- the whoppers will fly! Many careers inside and outside of politics have been killed and saved by lies.
What's the worst lie someone has told about you? How much damage did it do? Whatever it was, I hope you've gotten over it, or forgotten it.
Two false witnesses spoke up at Jesus' trial. They said Jesus was going to destroy the temple and erect it again in three days. It doesn't seem like such a horrible lie. If you don't think Jesus is capable of such a feat, what is the point? Except that to the Jews the temple was the most sacred building on earth. It would be the equivalent of suggesting that God had rejected them! It would be like threatening to demolish Congress and the Whitehouse!
Early in the book of Acts a man filled with God's Spirit and God's wisdom came to prominence in the church. His insight from God helped him understand some things that the apostles like Peter and James would not understand for a few more years yet. He was ahead of his peers and his leaders in understanding God's plan. Specifically, Stephen saw that Jesus was very serious when He said in Matthew 28, "Go and make disciples of every nation."
Peter and the apostles were still trying to reform Judaism. Stephen understood that the law of Moses was a God given step on the journey back to God, but it was not the final step. He would not undervalue the law, but neither would he worship the law of Moses. In fact, God had done something so powerfully wonderful that the Jewish system of religious rituals have become redundant, even obsolete! As an educational track these traditions could be helpful- like learning to add, subtract, divide and multiply is helpful in knowing Algebra- but the one big concept these small steps of religious law were pointing to had been fulfilled.
Stephen was so persuasive in making this point, that the best minds of Judaism could not defeat his reasoning. So they did what any evil person would do; they did what Satan did; they lied.
Acts 6: 8-15
The Jewish teachers of Jesus' day and Stephen's understood their religion to be static, changeless, immovable, stationary. They held to three eternal pillars of faith. First, the land they were living on was "The Holy Land." Second, the law of Moses was God's complete revealing of how to live right. Third, the temple was the place to perform the rituals needed to bring people back to God. Essentially, God had become a tribal deity, belonging to them alone. They had all the secrets and no reason to share.
Sectarian Christian groups still make these kinds of claims, "We know the true truth. If you don't come to us, you will be lost." This is not an exclusive fault of first century Judaism. A variety of little and large groups in the Christian faith think they have cornered the majority of good stuff about Jesus.
Stephen understood that God was the God of the whole world- not just a tiny pocket of land located on a strip of coast at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean. He understood that God was trying to reconcile every tribe and language and family. Not just one tiny ethnic and cultural group.
This thought was deadly dangerous to those with a vested interest in their religion. If you made a profit off of temple rituals this was not the kind of thing you wanted to hear at Saturday morning Sabbath class. So they arrested him on trumped up charges.
Acts 7
Stephen makes his point by recounting the history of Israel- which they were all familiar with. Their own history teaches them that God is not restricted by territorial boundaries or buildings. He spoke to Abraham in Mesopotamia. He worked powerfully through Joseph in Egypt. And the one person most responsible for the Jewish people and their faith (the person more significant that the patriarchs, the kings, and the prophets) -- Moses -- never set foot in the promised land. But wherever God would meet him, that place was holy ground.
Furthermore, they had a history-long habit of rejecting God's anointed means of rescue. How long did it take before they recognized that Joseph was God's plan to save them? How many times did they try to reject Moses? How many of God's prophets had they killed? "Are we seeing a pattern yet?", Stephen seems to be asking.
Furthermore, they had invested far too much value in the going-nowhere temple. God's plan, in fact, His literal blue print, was not for a temple, but a tabernacle. The tabernacle was a symbol that gave rise to a far more accurate picture of God and His people than the temple could. The temple was immobile and fixed to one spot on earth. The tabernacle was a structure ready to go.
Images are basic. They determine how we live. Our mental image of God (no idols forcing us to stay in the realm of ideas a little longer) must be as close to true as possible for limited thinkers like ourselves. Otherwise our spiritual lives will be lived in terminal confusion. Some things are OK to be confused about...hockey rules and geometry to name a few. Accepting a false idea of God gets you into the same kind of trouble, however, that Eve found herself in...basically the trouble we all experience.
It was no accident that Jesus arranged for one of the strongest images connected to His work to be the cross! The cross reveals God's broken body and poured out blood freely given as an act of atonement. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, "but God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The cross is not confined to a place or time, a language or a people. It speaks more of what God has done for us than what we must do for God. The cross is a picture of a bridge or the symbol of a door. Too often religion communicates the image of walls- keeping people out. The cross is an invitation that says, "Dear (you), I want you with me this much! Love, God!"
When you don't want to listen to someone, what is your preferred way of shutting them up? What if that person is God? With God, you can't go to another room and close the door. I hope you know that...but you can stay busy, so busy that you don't notice God. You can play the radio and read magazines, or go sky diving. Or you may join the church choir, lead a Bible study, and raise money for a new sanctuary. That is kind of what the Jews of Jesus' day were doing. They heard enough of Jesus and Stephen that they knew they didn't like it. So they became very busy -- busy saving their religion. They did a bunch of religious stuff so that they couldn't hear God. They even held a religious trial.
Religion has a long history of helping people close their ears and minds to the voice of God. When was the last time you heard the voice of God? Do you know your personal "sin that so easily entangles?" In other words, where are you most inclined to resist the Spirit's voice? What's the thing that tempts you to cover your ears and run?
The Jewish people of the first century would've gladly listened to God- if He would've consented to remain confined with in their system...if He would have stayed in His box. God won't do that! For them or for us! He won't honor your homemade ideas of a god who looks more like a Santa Claus or a beloved grandmother. He won't play along with your wrong religious convictions.
God has revealed Himself in Jesus and His written word. Jesus will be Lord or Judge. He is right now at the right hand of the Father, giving access to God, whether you are Jew or Gentile; rich or poor; man or woman; strong or weak. The door has been opened for you by Jesus!
Wherever you find Jesus, you can know that that is holy ground; that is the Kingdom of God. If Jesus is not at the core of your life, no matter how religious you are, no matter how influential or attractive your place of worship, you are on worldly ground.
If Jesus is in charge at the core place of your life, you can have the assurance that whatever happens to you in this life -- perhaps you experience the same things as Stephen -- the unimaginable happiness of eternal life is yours. In John 11: 25 "Jesus said to (Martha), I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." When your physical life is over, will you see the Son of Man at the right hand of the Father?
What is the most damaging lie that has ever been told? I don't suppose there has ever been anything worse than Satan's lie to Eve- that God could not be trusted. Satan couldn't have done more harm if he had chased Eve around the garden with a battle ax.
Politicians have noticed how effective lies can be. As we enter another election year- the whoppers will fly! Many careers inside and outside of politics have been killed and saved by lies.
What's the worst lie someone has told about you? How much damage did it do? Whatever it was, I hope you've gotten over it, or forgotten it.
Two false witnesses spoke up at Jesus' trial. They said Jesus was going to destroy the temple and erect it again in three days. It doesn't seem like such a horrible lie. If you don't think Jesus is capable of such a feat, what is the point? Except that to the Jews the temple was the most sacred building on earth. It would be the equivalent of suggesting that God had rejected them! It would be like threatening to demolish Congress and the Whitehouse!
Early in the book of Acts a man filled with God's Spirit and God's wisdom came to prominence in the church. His insight from God helped him understand some things that the apostles like Peter and James would not understand for a few more years yet. He was ahead of his peers and his leaders in understanding God's plan. Specifically, Stephen saw that Jesus was very serious when He said in Matthew 28, "Go and make disciples of every nation."
Peter and the apostles were still trying to reform Judaism. Stephen understood that the law of Moses was a God given step on the journey back to God, but it was not the final step. He would not undervalue the law, but neither would he worship the law of Moses. In fact, God had done something so powerfully wonderful that the Jewish system of religious rituals have become redundant, even obsolete! As an educational track these traditions could be helpful- like learning to add, subtract, divide and multiply is helpful in knowing Algebra- but the one big concept these small steps of religious law were pointing to had been fulfilled.
Stephen was so persuasive in making this point, that the best minds of Judaism could not defeat his reasoning. So they did what any evil person would do; they did what Satan did; they lied.
Acts 6: 8-15
The Jewish teachers of Jesus' day and Stephen's understood their religion to be static, changeless, immovable, stationary. They held to three eternal pillars of faith. First, the land they were living on was "The Holy Land." Second, the law of Moses was God's complete revealing of how to live right. Third, the temple was the place to perform the rituals needed to bring people back to God. Essentially, God had become a tribal deity, belonging to them alone. They had all the secrets and no reason to share.
Sectarian Christian groups still make these kinds of claims, "We know the true truth. If you don't come to us, you will be lost." This is not an exclusive fault of first century Judaism. A variety of little and large groups in the Christian faith think they have cornered the majority of good stuff about Jesus.
Stephen understood that God was the God of the whole world- not just a tiny pocket of land located on a strip of coast at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean. He understood that God was trying to reconcile every tribe and language and family. Not just one tiny ethnic and cultural group.
This thought was deadly dangerous to those with a vested interest in their religion. If you made a profit off of temple rituals this was not the kind of thing you wanted to hear at Saturday morning Sabbath class. So they arrested him on trumped up charges.
Acts 7
Stephen makes his point by recounting the history of Israel- which they were all familiar with. Their own history teaches them that God is not restricted by territorial boundaries or buildings. He spoke to Abraham in Mesopotamia. He worked powerfully through Joseph in Egypt. And the one person most responsible for the Jewish people and their faith (the person more significant that the patriarchs, the kings, and the prophets) -- Moses -- never set foot in the promised land. But wherever God would meet him, that place was holy ground.
Furthermore, they had a history-long habit of rejecting God's anointed means of rescue. How long did it take before they recognized that Joseph was God's plan to save them? How many times did they try to reject Moses? How many of God's prophets had they killed? "Are we seeing a pattern yet?", Stephen seems to be asking.
Furthermore, they had invested far too much value in the going-nowhere temple. God's plan, in fact, His literal blue print, was not for a temple, but a tabernacle. The tabernacle was a symbol that gave rise to a far more accurate picture of God and His people than the temple could. The temple was immobile and fixed to one spot on earth. The tabernacle was a structure ready to go.
Images are basic. They determine how we live. Our mental image of God (no idols forcing us to stay in the realm of ideas a little longer) must be as close to true as possible for limited thinkers like ourselves. Otherwise our spiritual lives will be lived in terminal confusion. Some things are OK to be confused about...hockey rules and geometry to name a few. Accepting a false idea of God gets you into the same kind of trouble, however, that Eve found herself in...basically the trouble we all experience.
It was no accident that Jesus arranged for one of the strongest images connected to His work to be the cross! The cross reveals God's broken body and poured out blood freely given as an act of atonement. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, "but God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The cross is not confined to a place or time, a language or a people. It speaks more of what God has done for us than what we must do for God. The cross is a picture of a bridge or the symbol of a door. Too often religion communicates the image of walls- keeping people out. The cross is an invitation that says, "Dear (you), I want you with me this much! Love, God!"
When you don't want to listen to someone, what is your preferred way of shutting them up? What if that person is God? With God, you can't go to another room and close the door. I hope you know that...but you can stay busy, so busy that you don't notice God. You can play the radio and read magazines, or go sky diving. Or you may join the church choir, lead a Bible study, and raise money for a new sanctuary. That is kind of what the Jews of Jesus' day were doing. They heard enough of Jesus and Stephen that they knew they didn't like it. So they became very busy -- busy saving their religion. They did a bunch of religious stuff so that they couldn't hear God. They even held a religious trial.
Religion has a long history of helping people close their ears and minds to the voice of God. When was the last time you heard the voice of God? Do you know your personal "sin that so easily entangles?" In other words, where are you most inclined to resist the Spirit's voice? What's the thing that tempts you to cover your ears and run?
The Jewish people of the first century would've gladly listened to God- if He would've consented to remain confined with in their system...if He would have stayed in His box. God won't do that! For them or for us! He won't honor your homemade ideas of a god who looks more like a Santa Claus or a beloved grandmother. He won't play along with your wrong religious convictions.
God has revealed Himself in Jesus and His written word. Jesus will be Lord or Judge. He is right now at the right hand of the Father, giving access to God, whether you are Jew or Gentile; rich or poor; man or woman; strong or weak. The door has been opened for you by Jesus!
Wherever you find Jesus, you can know that that is holy ground; that is the Kingdom of God. If Jesus is not at the core of your life, no matter how religious you are, no matter how influential or attractive your place of worship, you are on worldly ground.
If Jesus is in charge at the core place of your life, you can have the assurance that whatever happens to you in this life -- perhaps you experience the same things as Stephen -- the unimaginable happiness of eternal life is yours. In John 11: 25 "Jesus said to (Martha), I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." When your physical life is over, will you see the Son of Man at the right hand of the Father?
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