Everyone is into comparisons. We constantly compare ourselves to this person or that person. We evaluate our progress and see who is further along than we are presently in this virtue or that situation. However, we are never called to compare ourselves to each other. Our comparison as believers is vertical.
Horizontal comparisons are easy and mostly useless for we are not in a spiritual race with each other; we run our race alone. At the throne of the consummated end, we are not going to bring our pastors with us before the LORD, nor will we have our mothers, fathers, bankers, brothers, sisters, gurus or any one else for that matter with us. That final evaluation will happen alone. Utterly alone.
This sermon discusses part of this phenomena whereby we look towards other people as example or duty-fillers or excuses only to find out that they don’t really exist.
Death comes swiftly and death comes expectedly for none of us escape its call. Suffering, death and decay are all effects of the fall of man where sin entered the world and so, too, did death. Through Adam’s transgression, his single disobedient act of the will against the Law of God, all of us will see death; yet those who believe in the gospel of Christ will escape its finality. No one avoids their funeral, but we can be rescued from our final judgment. Like Adam, we eat what we shouldn’t eat and think what we shouldn’t think and as a result we will be held accountable for each and every action and heart attitude.
However, those who trust Christ as their Savior and righteousness will not taste the tomb forever. Those who know Him know that just as the Lord’s tomb was found empty, one day in the final Day of the Lord, their tomb, too, will be vacant. And not only that, but when it comes to the time where the Lord of all Creation examines their life in accordance with His prescribed Law, they will be found guiltless. This verdict will not be because of their righteousness or ability to ever have lived up to God’s requirements, but rather their freedom from punishment will be because they, by faith, believed in the perfect work of Jesus Christ. He was sent here by the Father to invade time as a man so that he could accomplish fully the redemptive work of our Triune God. Christ paid what we owe in full and He alone was qualified to do so.
It was His flawless life in thought, word and deed that is accepted by God. It was His sacrificial death at the hands of the world where He paid the penalty owed by His adoptive faithful; where the wrath of the Father was poured out into His every being – where the satisfaction was satisfied. His atoning death covers the sins – past, present and future – of all who believe that this gloriously good news is true. God proved the truth of Christ’s mission on earth with a resurrective seal of authenticity. Christ being raised from the dead on the third day proves that this grand narrative of God’s ultimate work in human history is not merely a fable.
Helpless men radically corrupted by sin, incapable of rescuing themselves or even fully understanding just how deep they are drowning are saved by the grace of the Living God so that God may receive the glory of his mighty work in salvation. God changes hearts so that they will believe and worship in spirit and in truth. This, friends, is the good news. The good news is not what God will do for you; the good news is what has already been done on behalf of His people. The gospel is not man-centered self-help, it is a Christ-centered miracle that points our eyes to the Cross where the Lord of Glory died so that men who deserve nothing from Him might live forever in perfect fellowship with their Creator.
By now, no doubt, we are all weary of the seeming avalanche of celebrity reports in the news related to the high profile deaths in Hollywood as of late – Jackson, Fawcett, McMahon, Malden, Mays, Travalena, Storm… These deaths bring to mind the quick passing time scroll that we call life. In some ways we think that time is paralyzed in movies and pictures and with those whom we haven’t seen in quite some time. How often have you run into someone you haven’t seen in years and suddenly find yourself in shock that they look so different? Time is the ferry that waits for no one.
God tells us that our expiration date has been sealed in heaven for “there is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Eccl.3:1-4) While our end is fixed we are not given the hour or day of our departure (Deut. 29:29); instead, we are firmly told to redeem the time we are given here on earth wisely for we do not know what tomorrow’s events may bring.
As James tells us in his epistle, “…you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” (James 4:14-16)
Thinking that tomorrow is ours is evil. Not acknowledging God’s providence over each inhale and every exhale is arrogant boasting. Our lives are indeed in His hands. As we age, we become acutely aware of our inevitable stop. Our ‘vaporism’ is revealed. Skin loosens. Bones ache. Our frailty is made more and more evident as we ante up more frequent co-payments and attend more frequent funerals. The ferry plows on.
Death’s immediate impact on us is directly proportional to how close it is to us relationally. The impact of a Sudanese dying in England whom we’ve never met is not even close to the impact of our spouse or parent passing. According to the U.S. Census bureau, there are approximately two and half million deaths per year in the United States – that’s five deaths per minute. Interestingly, we don’t live as though this is the case; taking each day more precious than the next.
As you continue through your activities this weekend, remind yourself of these passages and another truth from the book of Ecclesiastes – “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart.” (cf. 7:2) May we take life to heart as the gift that it is and may we continue to warn those who are in danger of losing it forever.
Music is a gift from God that soothes our weary souls. Naturally, an aesthetic switch flips on in our minds whenever certain musical packages are unpacked. Ever since Jubal’s first chords on the lyre and pipe (Gen. 4:21), music has always had an ethereal substratum floating in between each time signature creating a vibe and groove and providing us with audio medicine. Even ungodly musicians recognize that something else is at work in musicology. As creative artists, they understand that while they train and learn various techniques, scales and theories; there is a supernatural component to well-written pieces.
Many of us have the experience of curling up to favorite songs in order to reject distress and cope with loneliness. Certain tunes are cathartic remedies that carry us through hard spots in life. Carefully crafted harmonies and grooves can create an endorphin rush that coats worry with a melodious membrane when the right songs are sung to us during depressing circumstance. The right tune can uplift our spirits and put a tattered mind to rest. Sweet melodies tame beastly constitutions and can sedate tense infractions that invade our day.
In the book of Samuel, music’s panecean virtue is seen when David refreshed Saul and drove away an evil spirit with a well-played instrument proving that power rests in the flow of tones and string.
“Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David now stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.” 1 Samuel 16:22-23
There is no denying the emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental intermingling that exists between staff and heart, beat and rhythm, note and piece. Mothers have known this truth for quite some time as they, for centuries, have sung lullabies to relax restless infants as they lay in their arms. Friedrich Nietzsche is accredited with having said that “without music life would be a mistake.” Indeed. God makes no such errors.
The universality of music’s ability to soothe our stress and be our symphonic sensei overreaches borders and cultures and peoples of all time. Just as God ordained the calming sounds of a fresh brook He has given us the seven-strings of a great jazz guitar. For us, as those who have received such wonderful and useful gifts, we must learn to handle this treasure rightly. We must learn how to first understand it and then secondly, to discern our way through it. To fail to do so will ensure that we end up malnourished; feeding on stockpiles of stale and poisoned tunes.
May you find beauty, solace, refreshment, and energized motivation through the right use of song and piece. Amen.
Reflecting upon the beauty of creation draws me closer to the One who made me and the promise of restoration. Even in their fallen state, autumn leaves and sunsets bring awe and wonderment. All around the skyline, His paintbrush colors in hues. Bright-blue and golden clouds are alive, drifting in paced succession. At each turn of my head I see water vapor sculptures floating like parade balloons overhead, stretching across a stationary canvas. Beneath my feet, the ground bristles with active paintings. Sometimes the dirt floor seems alive. Scurrying insects, amazingly designed for specific purposes, crawl over and under shelter and food; each micro-functioning organism a display of greatness and artistry.
If this is the groaning creation that longs to be redeemed into a new fullness, then what will the renewed lilies and life be like when we live in perfected radiance? If the fallen beauty of this present age brings in intense awe, then what unimaginable incredibleness awaits us in the New Jerusalem valley?
While we wait for the final consummation, God’s mosaic patterns swirl and breathe before us each day displaying His glory for all to see. His power and majesty are seen in the forms and features as the time line moves closer and closer to the end of the End. Each day we are one day closer to His coming. Each day passed is another move forward to the grand day of completeness where all of our tears will be erased and grace’s abounding pleasure reigns forever. God has loved us with an unending love! Oh, the great things the Lord has in store for us, His people!
This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Right after Katrina I met Brad Knull, an Ohioan with a big heart. Little known to me, he is also a wonderful videographer and even more unknown to me, he writes songs. This song “Little Life” is simple and moving. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Another version is here: http://www.myspace.com/bradknullmusic
I’ve done quite a lot of traveling over the past few weeks – over 2,500 miles of driving through nine states followed by a week in the Texas sun learning new building and construction techniques. On the way to San Antonio, we flew through Houston and as always, I had that awkward experience associated with plane flights.
As I made my way through x-rays and security arches and long tile corridors with echoing loudspeakers, I noticed that most individuals carry gadgets and gizmos that preclude social interaction. Ipods, cell phones, laptops and books occupy the majority of available arms as everyone shuffles off to wherever they are going; yet, they rarely seem interested in conversation. Earbuds say “I’m listening to something else other than you right now.” Faces buried in intense reading broadcast a “Do not disturb” door hanger to all within ten feet and hurried tapping on computer keys tells everyone that you are busy. It is interesting how the very same technologies that aid us and help create new social venues also facilitate a new type of virtual cocooning.
This techno-inwardness has peculiar implications in evangelism for even though we seem to be more connected it is harder to meet naturally. Electronic webs seem to be strewn over once interactive spaces and despite being inches away; we don’t talk to each other anymore. The nuances of body language and inflective speech have been overtaken by ‘crackBerries’ and a new texting code has emerged as standard communique. This same phenomenon exists inside elevator cubes as well, where small crowds stand together as tall pines and yet most hardly ever mumble a word.
Finding a way to enter the silence becomes evermore difficult when chitchat seems to be dying a quick wifi-death. On the plane, I did manage to speak to a man who was reading a book by Hitchens entitled God is not Good. As he bowed his head into the pages, I curiously asked questions about the title and engaged him in an irenic conversation about life, the true nature of God and social justice. It is possible to naturally penetrate the ever-growing social techno-cubists and the interesting part is that we do so in the same fashion that Christ, Paul and the other early evangelists and believers did – we exercise humble boldness, true compassion, and listen while we speak the truth of the Gospel in love. Communications and societal paths may change, but the Truth never waivers.
Our God is amazing. From the smallest quantum particle to the largest earth mammal, nothing escapes His grip. Every divine attribute cascades over all creation like a perfect fountain, blanketing each movement and course. In God’s tremendous mercy and infinite wisdom, He has revealed Himself to us through the Scriptures even though we should feel as mere ants would, staring up a hill at the One who is completely and utterly unlike us. God alone is righteous. He alone is sovereign. He alone answers prayer. He alone inhabits eternity. And He alone is faithful.
God’s unique purposes are fixed in the heavens – “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’ ” Is. 46:10
Who else can make such claims? We may attempt to pierce the veil of prediction but only find ourselves lying flat again, for although we make plans and plot our ways, the Lord is sovereign over our journey. We indeed choose what we will do, but nothing ever erodes, alters or thwarts God’s purpose. This is perhaps the grandest truth of all for it is the highest attribute in His many characteristics. His sovereignty is also the hardest of all things to accept and comprehend, given our time/space restraints and limited knowledge.
Circumstances arise, but God is not unaware. It must occur to us that nothing has ever occurred to God. The beauty of divine sovereignty comes in knowing that we serve an Almighty Redeemer of pure amazement who rules over every atom in the universe and that those molecules, planets, peoples and events all move forward in history’s footpath to the cadence of His will alone. James spoke about God’s controlling ordinance and complete sustaining grace in our lives when he wrote, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-16
If the Lord wills it, we shall live in accordance with what we have decided. As Christ emphasized while tutoring His disciples in prayer, we must seek that His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven, for He is the pinnacled purpose of existence. Faith in God’s promised decrees, goodness, mercy and ultimate justice is the lens we must peer through no matter how foggy and desperate it may seem. As Job said long, long ago, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” Job 13:15
Too often in dealing with our discontentment we are trapped between two garbs –the stoic robe and the religious jacket. One is lined with prideful linens and the other with clichéd ribbons and fare. Yet, like a lead-infused coating hanging on our flesh, the truth of God’s amazing sovereignty begins to weigh upon us and we drop the spurious in favor of the divine. We settle back before the throne of the Amazing One where true peace penetrates our souls and completed joy fills all space. We rest in Him. He, who alone we adore.
From Eden, the strategy of the Enemy has been to discredit what God has said. At our current point in history we see no relenting of that course as skeptics and textual critics dissect and mutilate what is simple. The declaration that the Bible is not knowable and irreversibly altered screams through best-seller books and talk shows; even sadly, from within some church bodies. Hyper-critics juxtapose and conflate biblical text against biblical text in an attempt to play ‘battle Bible’ but their arguments expose a gaping fallacy. For example, what was written as narrative was written as a continuum; a story to be heard in its context just like any other historical work. Yet, the skeptics pick apart the Scriptures breaking them into ’sound bytes’ as if a retelling can be chopped into mixed-up pieces and still maintain its coherency. It is not as if God hasn’t spoken clearly, man just, at times does not want to listen.
Piecemeal critics hide their agendas under academic blankets and calls for open-mindedness. The perspicuity of Scripture maddens the unregenerate knights who gallop through agnostic pastures for they hand out opaque windows to the gullible and uninformed and ask them to see clearly. Apostates line the streets cheering them on while multi-million dollar book tables feed willing crowds. But for those who by the grace of God through faith can now see; Scripture is simply beautiful.
Written to us through His prophets and apostles over centuries, God has breathed out His eternal decrees, commands, guidance, and wisdom to mankind by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. His Word remains pure and uncomplicated despite there being some difficult-to-understand pieces of the whole. These difficulties and variances do not render us without understanding anymore than any other discipline that requires patience and study.
Divine truth cannot be silenced. When God speaks; we should listen. Do we really think that the Almighty is at a loss to effectively communicate with His creation in both clarity and purpose? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and it is not mumbled through broken glass. It is spoken plainly and precisely and it is able to cut right down to the joints and marrow of our hearts. Scripture is the encapsulation of what God has said to mankind and part of its beauty is its unending depth.
Scripture is like an endless mine shaft that extends deeper than deep itself. Each time we take our mining cart down the tracks we find new gems and more rails to explore. It is as if God has rewritten certain passages for us as, over time, we reread portions of the text and see new illuminated insight and intention. God’s Word is alive in our newborn hearts as the continuing work of the Spirit matures and fine tunes our understandings in parallel to our learning, wisdom and application. Consequently, studying Scripture is not an option for if we are to grow in our walk with Christ we must rightly divide the Word.
Stand fast and hold firm saints for not only can nothing separate us from the love of Christ; nothing can gag God when He speaks.
Normally when a family member discovers an empty tomb there is distress, sadness and a mad dash to call the authorities. But when we, the members of God’s redeemed family, see our Savior’s empty grave, we rejoice, for why would we seek the living among the dead?
Apart from the attraction of chocolate bunnies and egg hunts and other cultural festivities surrounding Easter weekend lays the heart of our hope – the resurrected Shepherd. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then all that we do in our church life is mere vanity and our faith is worthless. And if all we have ever done is to hope in Christ in this life only, we are pitiful, pitiful men indeed. (1Cor.15:12-19) But our hope is not in this life.
The supernatural validation that authenticates our faith is the resurrection of Christ. It is God’s signature on the redemptive canvas of Calvary’s suffering sacrifice where the King of Glory died in our place so that we, along with Him, might live in eternal perfection. The angel told us to not be afraid for Jesus rose from the dead just as He said he would -“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay” (Matt.28:6) Therefore, we are not to be pitied, but rather we can and must rejoice! (Phil.4:4)
Christ’s resurrection represents the Godhead’s conquering victory over sin and death through the foreordination and decree of the Father, the obedience and work of the Son, and the will and power of the Holy Spirit. In this Triune work of great salvation we find renewal and comfort and a new life that purposes to please God. We now have the privilege to walk rightly and obey Him as our Lord and Savior when previously we were dead in our sins and trespasses incapable of satisfying God. Through the triumph of Lamb, death has lost its sting and life eternal belongs to us. Mercy has been shown to the undeserved! Grace beyond description has been given to the rebellion. Love is our new signature.
On his missionary journey to Greece the Epicureans and Stoic philosophers met up with the apostle Paul in Athens and heard him preach about the wonder of the resurrection. They thought he was a strange babbler coming to proclaim peculiar gods in their city. But as Paul spoke to them in the Areopagus, he instructed them about the God who is there. “He”, Paul declared, “has overlooked the times of past ignorance but is now declaring to everyone everywhere that they must repent, because God has chosen a future day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through Christ’s return having furnished proof to all men by raising Jesus from the dead.” (my paraphrase -Acts 17:16 ff)
As you look up to the skies today remember the One who is risen. As you contemplate the newness of spring forget not the victorious King. As you pray to God in His will remember His glory. See heaven. Worship the Lamb!
Everyone is into comparisons. We constantly compare ourselves to this person or that person. We evaluate our progress and see who is further along than we are presently in this virtue or that situation. However, we are never called to compare ourselves to each other. Our comparison as believers is vertical.
Posted by ostrakinos 
Death comes swiftly and death comes expectedly for none of us escape its call. Suffering, death and decay are all effects of the fall of man where sin entered the world and so, too, did death. Through Adam’s transgression, his single disobedient act of the will against the Law of God, all of us will see death; yet those who believe in the gospel of Christ will escape its finality. No one avoids their funeral, but we can be rescued from our final judgment. Like Adam, we eat what we shouldn’t eat and think what we shouldn’t think and as a result we will be held accountable for each and every action and heart attitude.
Posted by ostrakinos 
By now, no doubt, we are all weary of the seeming avalanche of celebrity reports in the news related to the high profile deaths in Hollywood as of late – Jackson, Fawcett, McMahon, Malden, Mays, Travalena, Storm… These deaths bring to mind the quick passing time scroll that we call life. In some ways we think that time is paralyzed in movies and pictures and with those whom we haven’t seen in quite some time. How often have you run into someone you haven’t seen in years and suddenly find yourself in shock that they look so different? Time is the ferry that waits for no one.
Posted by ostrakinos 
Music is a gift from God that soothes our weary souls. Naturally, an aesthetic switch flips on in our minds whenever certain musical packages are unpacked. Ever since Jubal’s first chords on the lyre and pipe (Gen. 4:21), music has always had an ethereal substratum floating in between each time signature creating a vibe and groove and providing us with audio medicine. Even ungodly musicians recognize that something else is at work in musicology. As creative artists, they understand that while they train and learn various techniques, scales and theories; there is a supernatural component to well-written pieces.
There is no denying the emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental intermingling that exists between staff and heart, beat and rhythm, note and piece. Mothers have known this truth for quite some time as they, for centuries, have sung lullabies to relax restless infants as they lay in their arms. Friedrich Nietzsche is accredited with having said that “without music life would be a mistake.” Indeed. God makes no such errors.
I’ve done quite a lot of traveling over the past few weeks – over 2,500 miles of driving through nine states followed by a week in the Texas sun learning new building and construction techniques. On the way to San Antonio, we flew through Houston and as always, I had that awkward experience associated with plane flights.
Our God is amazing. From the smallest quantum particle to the largest earth mammal, nothing escapes His grip. Every divine attribute cascades over all creation like a perfect fountain, blanketing each movement and course. In God’s tremendous mercy and infinite wisdom, He has revealed Himself to us through the Scriptures even though we should feel as mere ants would, staring up a hill at the One who is completely and utterly unlike us. God alone is righteous. He alone is sovereign. He alone answers prayer. He alone inhabits eternity. And He alone is faithful.
emphasized while tutoring His disciples in prayer, we must seek that His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven, for He is the pinnacled purpose of existence. Faith in God’s promised decrees, goodness, mercy and ultimate justice is the lens we must peer through no matter how foggy and desperate it may seem. As Job said long, long ago, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” Job 13:15
From Eden, the strategy of the Enemy has been to discredit what God has said. At our current point in history we see no relenting of that course as skeptics and textual critics dissect and mutilate what is simple. The declaration that the Bible is not knowable and irreversibly altered screams through best-seller books and talk shows; even sadly, from within some church bodies. Hyper-critics juxtapose and conflate biblical text against biblical text in an attempt to play ‘battle Bible’ but their arguments expose a gaping fallacy. For example, what was written as narrative was written as a continuum; a story to be heard in its context just like any other historical work. Yet, the skeptics pick apart the Scriptures breaking them into ’sound bytes’ as if a retelling can be chopped into mixed-up pieces and still maintain its coherency. It is not as if God hasn’t spoken clearly, man just, at times does not want to listen.
Normally when a family member discovers an empty tomb there is distress, sadness and a mad dash to call the authorities. But when we, the members of God’s redeemed family, see our Savior’s empty grave, we rejoice, for why would we seek the living among the dead?