Tag: sermon

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Anxious Preachers

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Thank you for the many preachers who bring us your Word each week. Because each of us is wonderfully and uniquely made, it is natural that you dispense a variety of gifts and interests to pastors. Some are eager and excited to preach, and doing so energizes them. Other pastors, however, are nervous and even nauseous at times, and preaching drains them. 

Be with those pastors whose anxiety levels rise as the responsibility of preaching nears, no matter how many years they’ve been serving. Calm their fears with the reminder that it is the Message – and not the messenger – which is powerful and effective in preaching. The Holy Spirit does not rely on preachers to make his Word palatable or pleasing; he simply requires proclaimers so that he can work law and gospel into the hearts of his hearers. Steer preachers away from the temptation of trying to be someone or something they’re not when preaching, and fill them instead with a simple confidence in your work through your Word. Take their timidity and transform it into a fearless faith that stirs their heart and their preaching, and bless all those listening to them. Build up your church through bold preachers. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Listen to the Shepherd’s Soothing Voice

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(John 10:22-30)

It may crack a little bit more frequently. It eventually becomes significantly softer. It struggles to convey the confidence, clarity, and coherence it did for so many decades. But even with those changes, whether drastic or subtle, you recognize your mother’s voice. It is so strongly imprinted on many of us that long after she may have passed away, you can still hear in your mind the unique sound of your mother’s voice.

For many of us, that special voice leaves or has left such an impression on us because we associate it with the characteristic care and compassion so often connected with mothers. They nurture(d) us, took care of our day-to-day needs, shuttled us here, there, and everywhere, and regularly check in on us to see how we’re doing. So when we hear her voice, we treasure it because it evokes all of those caring qualities. 

Yet not everyone can relate to this experience. For some, sadly, the voice of their mother, if ever heard again, would be too soon. It is a voice that evokes anything but pleasant emotions or memories. Abuse. Ridicule. Impossible standards. Never good enough. Or, it may be an unfamiliar sound altogether for those who never knew their mother after being given up for adoption, abandoned, or neglected in one way or another. To some, a mother’s voice is the sound of pain.

But there is another voice. There is a voice to be treasured even more than a mother’s voice. It is the voice of the Good Shepherd. Hear his voice on this Mother’s Day and always: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (v.27-28). What is so special about this voice? What is it that draws sheep to hear it? Why can we never get enough of it? 

Jesus says “I know them.” Think of how much that means to us. I was just reminded of this recently after worship. Extended family members had come along to church with one of our repeat guests. After I asked about how the family members felt about the service, guess what stood out the most? The music? Nope. The sermon? Nope. It was that I happened to remember their names after the service. It matters to us to matter to someone else that much, doesn’t it? When someone remembers our name, it means they took the time to know us. And who knows us better than the Good Shepherd? That’s part of why we long to hear his voice.

It’s also because “they follow me.” When you decide to follow someone (not in the social media sense), when really wanting to imitate or learn from someone or become like them – we are putting a lot of trust in that person. To willingly follow someone means I am trusting that person to not lead me astray or put me in harm’s way or lead me down some regrettable path. Since we don’t extend that level of trust to just anyone, it results in a deeper connection with those to whom we give it; those we willingly choose to follow. Since we trust the Good Shepherd enough to follow his paths for our life, we long to hear his voice.

And because we don’t just follow him for this life, but for eternal life, we long to hear his voice even more. “I give them eternal life,” Jesus said. We find that nowhere else! Search and study as much as we might, we will never find the guarantee or assurance of eternal life anywhere other than through Jesus. Why? Because only Jesus “give[s]” it. It is unearned. It is a gift.

We are naturally drawn to giveaways and to free stuff. Think of the last time you were at a community event or a farmer’s market. Your group split up and someone returned with a snack or a sample that they’re raving about. You ask how much it was and when they explain it was a free sample, a giveaway, you immediately ask where they got it from. We love free stuff! How much greater is the free gift of eternal life! And since it comes only through the Good Shepherd, we long to hear his voice.

But not everyone is interested in hearing that voice. Some wish to stifle it, as was the case on that winter day as Jesus walked in the temple courts. “The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly’” (v.24). To be sure, they did their level best at trying to mask their intentions, but Jesus saw right through them. He knew they weren’t curious seekers in search of salvation, but that their intentions were quite sinister. They weren’t looking to hear words of life from the voice of their Good Shepherd, but rather the incriminating piece of evidence to put the final nail in the coffin of their case. They wanted to hear Jesus plainly claim to be the Messiah so they’d have all they needed to justify their pre-determined conviction of blasphemy. 

It reminds me of a humorous clip I’ve used in our membership class before. In it, Rowan Atkinson, the actor who plays “Mr. Bean,” recounts an incident in which someone out in public approached him to tell him that he looked an awful lot like the actor who plays Mr. Bean. Well, the more Mr. Atkinson claimed to actually be the actor, the more the individual refused to believe him. While he couldn’t get over how much they looked alike, the fan absolutely refused to believe that he could in fact be the actor who played Mr. Bean.

Jesus’ Jewish enemies tried and tried to get him to plainly claim to be the Messiah, yet even as he pointed to all the evidence that supported and proved that he was actually the Messiah, they refused to believe it. Why? Why were they so indignant, so set in their stubborn refusal to entertain that Jesus could, in fact, be the Messiah?

Jesus explained it for them (and for us!). “Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep’” (v.25-26). The problem was not with the voice, or even the Good Shepherd who was speaking, as if he had been unclear or mumbled or anything like that; no, the problem was on the listening side of the communication. Unbelieving ears are uninterested in the Good Shepherd’s voice. They aren’t his sheep.

What would happen if you ignored your mother’s voice? Typically, it does not end well. Either we find out the hard way through personal injury or the trouble we end up causing that we should have listened to mom’s voice, or mom has her certain disciplinary consequences that later on underscore that we would have been better off listening to her voice. Either way, although some are slower to learn it than others, we grow up learning that it is generally unwise to ignore mom’s voice. 

What happens if you refuse to listen to the Good Shepherd’s voice? If we aren’t being led by his voice, then we’re being led by someone else’s. And, although some are slower to learn it than others, we find out the hard way that ignoring the Good Shepherd’s voice results in a lot of unnecessary pain and hurt in life. Addiction. Adultery. Divorce. Rage. Bitterness. We don’t arrive at these things overnight, but get there by listening to other voices. The voice might belong to the world. The voice might be my own internal voice. It doesn’t matter – if the voice does not belong to the Good Shepherd or echo his, it will lead us down the wrong path of sin, away from the Good Shepherd and into danger. Every. Time.

And beyond just the worldly, temporal consequences of refusing to listen to the Good Shepherd’s voice, there are ultimately even more significant consequences. What’s the opposite of what Jesus’ sheep receive, the opposite of being given eternal life? Eternal death. What is the opposite of never perishing? Perishing in hell. Isn’t that the fate of all who are not Jesus’ sheep? If only the Jews who had approached Jesus believed the eternal warning attached to the words, “you are not my sheep!” If only people today realized the eternal consequences of those words, “you are not my sheep!”

But hear the Good Shepherd’s voice shine through in these words to his sheep. His voice isn’t filled with ultimatums for his sheep. It does not include veiled threats. It isn’t the voice of a bully or a goon coming to shake you down or manipulate you through fear or intimidation.

No, it is the tender voice of reassurance for the sheep, reassurance that sheep not only long to hear, but need to hear, because sheep are, well… sheep.

What an accurate picture for us! Sheep. How dumb we are! How slow to learn! How ignorant to think we know better! How foolish to repeat the same mistakes over and over again! How lost we sheep would be without the voice of the Good Shepherd! 

He speaks to his sheep the words we hear nowhere else. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (v.28-29). Perish? Never! Snatched out of his hand? No one can – not even the devil himself! . 

But don’t take this assurance as license to go back to being a dumb sheep who thinks there is no danger in running astray! No, stay by the Shepherd’s voice. Follow it. Be a smart sheep. Be a sanctified sheep that cares more about always being within earshot of the Shepherd, never too far away to hear his voice. Let his be the soothing voice of safety, security, and salvation.

Thank God for mothers who guided us to learn to hear his voice. Thank God for mothers who care enough – no matter how old we are! – to make sure we are still listening to the Good Shepherd’s soothing voice! 

We Don’t Need to Drag Out Doubt

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(John 21:1-14)

There are certain doubts that are rather easily put to rest with a simple proof. Someone tries to convince you that a certain dessert is spectacular, but when they describe it to you, your face wrinkles up in disgust. Your doubt can be either confirmed or corrected simply by taking a bite of the dessert. You are at lunch with a friend and she is convinced she’s spotted a certain celebrity eating a few tables away. You doubt that it’s actually him. Your doubt can be put to rest by simply asking the individual. Your cousin says he makes a shocking amount of money on some side gig, but he’s always stretched the truth a bit, so you doubt him. He can prove it by showing you the direct deposits or his pay stubs. Some doubts can be rather easily be put to rest. 

Others demand more attention. We often want to see the same magic trick repeated a few times because we don’t believe that what we just saw happen, actually just happened. Someone familiar with a child’s history of bad behavior is likely to doubt that the behavior has suddenly changed overnight; they’d need to see the improved behavior consistently to believe it. If a rookie athlete about whom analysts are skeptical will succeed at the professional level has an outstanding game, a similar effort will need to be repeated with some frequency before analysts are won over. Some doubts require more extensive proof to be put to rest. 

I probably don’t have to ask under which of those two categories a resurrection from the dead would belong. People don’t normally rise from the dead, so when such a claim arises, it’s natural for people to expect to see multiple proofs. And the Jesus who knows us so well is aware that our doubt doesn’t always disappear so easily.

That’s why John’s introductory and closing words in the verses from chapter 21 carry so much weight. Don’t miss them: “Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples…” (v.1). “This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead” (v.15). What does John want us to take away from this account? This Resurrection stuff is not made up! Jesus had risen and appeared – and more than just once, you doubters! It’s the real deal, and Jesus went out of his way to make sure that was known by appearing on multiple occasions.

The Sunday after Easter always has the account of doubting Thomas as the reading for the Gospel (cf. John 20). Jesus appeared to the disciples in the locked upper room, but since Thomas wasn’t there to experience it the first time, he doubted Jesus had actually risen. So Jesus showed up a week later to the disciples again and who is there that time, but Thomas. Then – after seeing with his own eyes – the doubts erode and his confidence is boosted. Jesus didn’t show up to shame Thomas; he showed up because he wants to be found so that doubts can be put to rest.

Isn’t how Jesus still operates? He wants to be found. Do you hear that? Jesus wants to be found! How could we draw any other conclusion today? He hasn’t left it up to chance, basing Christianity on some spiritual experience that a person needs to seek out in hopes of finding him. He gives us his Word, where we can read, study, and learn about him for a lifetime. He has given us the visible sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, where the power of that Word can be seen at work.

And where is all of this done? We have churches, physical buildings all over the earth, built to facilitate the proclamation and teaching of Word and Sacrament in order to make him known and visible. We have believers, who make him known through the way we radically love others and allow his compassionate grace and forgiveness to be experienced through us. Jesus wants to be found. Why? To put doubts to rest. 

Perhaps in the past the church went too far on this matter of doubt. It seems to me that there have been too many stories from childhoods and upbringings in church where anyone who doubted was chastised for not having a stronger faith or being a more confident Christian. Sure, in some cases, that may have been more a matter of perception on the receiving end of some tender, guilty, conscience, than it was the message that was actually communicated. But I am also sure that there have been any number of times when any doubt was too firmly denounced as being incompatible with saving faith. That may have been overstating the case and going too far.

If we’re willing to look back and acknowledge that fault on the part of the church, then let’s also be willing to acknowledge the possibility that in the present day, we have may gone too far the other way. Have we given the impression that some measure of doubt is a good sign?

While I believe the intent behind that message is good (for example, when a believer reassures a fellow doubting believer that doubts are actually good, because they are evidence of faith, since no unbeliever would be concerned about any doubts), it may be contributing to an attitude that not only welcomes some measure of doubt, but actually embraces it as being a desirable thing. After all, in our culture, we are now skeptical of everything: science, politics, weather, government, medicine, technology – we have plenty of doubts about all of it, and the general sense is that we’d be silly not to, since none of it can be trusted outright.

What ends up happening then, is that those spiritual doubts lead us to pull back, and when we pull back we also hold back. We aren’t all in. We end up straddling the fence and kind of like the view from there. It’s one thing to have doubts and questions about the Christian faith, but we don’t want them to transition from being temporary guests into permanent residents in our hearts. That’s what happens when we don’t deal with those doubts or address them by seeking the necessary truth and certainty to dispel them. 

This can happen at times because we’re spiritually lazy or apathetic. Or, it can happen because we want to play both sides; we want to dabble a bit in the Christian culture, but also remain “relatable” and “in-touch” with unbelieving friends and acquaintances. But then we speak out of both sides of our mouths. We profess the faith and praise and thank God while around our Christian friends, but then nod in agreement and even freely offer up our own doubts and disbelief about certain teachings when around our unbelieving friends. That’s not being all things to all people as Paul encourages us to do; rather, it is deceiving yourself with a divided heart.

Do not let that attitude creep into your faith, as if a healthy amount of doubt is desirable or to be celebrated when it comes to Christ. Jesus Christ does not want you to doubt; he wants to be found so that your doubts can be laid to rest! Jesus Christ did not come to create doubt, but to crush it.

We want to have the same confidence the disciples did as Jesus appeared this third time to them. “None of the disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord” (v.12). We don’t want to be wrestling with the question of who Jesus is, but rather knowing that he is the Savior.

What happens when we deal with doubt and by addressing it, refuse to let it linger? We’re all in! What does that look like? Remember the apostles being thrown in the slammer and threatened, only to be released to point others to Jesus with as much zeal as ever?!? That kind of passion, that “all-in” attitude doesn’t exist while doubts are hanging around!

What does that look like? It looks like Peter, when the lightbulb went on and he realized who it was on the shore. “Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water” (v.7). Peter was literally all-in. Refusing to wait for the slow fish-towing boat to make it to shore, he dove into the water to swim and scramble his way to the shore and sprint to his Savior.

What would it look like today if we were deliberate about dealing with doubt? We’d have a lot more men engaged and active in the mission of the church, leading their marriages, their families, and their homes, instead of deferring that responsibility – the biggest one we have as men, mind you – to their wives.

If you disagree, just wait until Mother’s Day and then about a month after that and you’ll see. Why is Mother’s Day one of the most well-attended Sundays of the year? Because moms want their husbands and kids to come to church with them. In stark contrast, why is Father’s Day often one of the lowest-attended Sundays of the year? Because dads want to skip church to do something either by themselves or fun with the family. What’s wrong with that picture? 

More importantly, how do we fix it? We don’t. Jesus does. The same Jesus who appeared to his disciples again and again to put their doubts to rest. He had truly risen. He didn’t want half-hearted disciples, constantly questioning their cause. They needed to be sure. They needed to be all-in. So he showed up for them again and again.

In the activity of the early Christian church, we see the direct result of Jesus’ multiple resurrection appearances reflected in the preaching and teaching recorded in Acts. Again and again they point to the Resurrection. They don’t, perhaps as we too often do, stop with “Jesus was crucified and died to pay for your sin,” but rather allow his sacrificial death to serve as the foundation on which the mighty truth of the Resurrection is built. The Christian faith depends on it and also has something to deliver because of it! Jesus rose! Jesus lives! Jesus rules!

He’s still here, showing up again and again. He shows up in churches every Sunday with his Word. He shows up in churches to serve us himself in the Supper. He shows up in churches with an open invitation to become a part of his family through baptism. He shows up in weekly small groups that gather to build deeper connections within the body of Christ through the Word of Christ. He shows up through our hands and feet as we carry out works of service to each other and our community. He is still here, showing up again and again. He wants to be found, for wherever he is found, doubt departs. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Don’t Miss the Mission

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(Acts 5:12, 17-32)

Unless you’re an employee showing up for your shift, when you make a stop at In and Out or Chick-Fil-A, you aren’t there to roll up your sleeves and get to work; you’re there expecting to be served whatever you ordered to eat. When you walk into Home Depot, you aren’t there to seek out customers who look lost and offer to help them find what they’re looking for, or to stock shelves with products; you’re there to grab what you need to start or finish that DIY project at home. The same is true of Target, Aldi, Best Buy, etc. – when we pull into the parking lots of these places, it’s because we’re there to get something that we want or need. We aren’t there to check in and see if they’re short-staffed or need a hand with anything. We’re there as customers, consumers who intend to pay for a product or service, expecting to get what we want. 

And there’s nothing wrong with that at all, as all of these places exist to provide you with a service or product. They want your business – in fact they need your business; they rely on it to stay in business themselves. They know that if they don’t provide the good service or good product you expect, then you’re likely to take your business somewhere else. They know there are plenty of other options you could choose, so they will do what they think they need to in order to keep you as a customer. 

Is it possible that our consumer culture could – or perhaps already has begun to – rub off on churches? More to the point, is it possible for similar expectations to drive the “bottom line” in our own congregations? It could if churches (including yours?) aren’t careful and lose sight of why they exist in the first place.

What we’re talking about could easily be caused by one or both of two things: 1) It could be driven by a consumer mentality of congregation members demanding to be served in the way that a customer expects, and/or 2) it could be driven by a the church leadership holding to a business mindset that is only interested in the bottom line and hitting the numbers to generate as many happy customers as possible. 

So how do we avoid either of these traps? How do we avoid being driven by a consumer mentality that views church as just another place that should be concerned with the customer’s happiness and meeting the customer’s needs as they determine them? How do we avoid becoming a business consumed with the bottom line and doing whatever it takes to get more people in the pew and get bigger and bigger with the goal of… getting bigger and bigger, as if that’s why churches exist?

We remember that as the church, the gathering of believers, we have a very special and specific mission. After the Holy Spirit had been poured out on believers at Pentecost, allowing them to perform miracles, signs, and wonders, “the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail” (v.17-18). The followers of Jesus were getting more attention than the self-righteous religious elite of the day, and they wanted it to stop, so they put them behind bars. But when the church is on mission, God isn’t going to hesitate to intervene and open doors – on this occasion, quite literally! “But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life” (v.19-20). 

The believers were carrying out their mission, and when arrested for it, what did the Lord’s messenger tell them to do as he freed them? There was no pivoting or plan B. His message was, “keep it up! Go right back where you were and tell everyone about the new life you now have in the crucified and resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ!” They were arrested for carrying out their mission, and then were not only directed to keep it up, but to keep it up in precisely the same place that would have put them most at risk – right back on the home turf of the religious leaders! 

But the most shocking part was not what the angel told them to do; it was that they did it! “At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people” (v.21). The apostles did exactly as they had been told! This would be the part of the movie where we cringe when we see something bad happen to the overmatched hero, and rather than taking his lumps and moving on, he gets right back up and after it again! It goes against common sense and wise judgment! There’s a fine line between being fearless and foolish, and it might appear initially that the apostles’ actions are closer to the side of foolish.

To provide context to their actions, let’s contrast the behavior of the apostles in Acts with the actions of the disciples from John’s Gospel. The difference? John records for us that the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked “for fear of the Jewish leaders” (John 20:19). Fear! They had locked themselves in out of fear.

In Acts, though, the very Jewish leaders they feared had indeed carried out exactly what the disciples were afraid of and put them in jail. But there was no fear! No hesitation. No trepidation. Why? What had changed?

Yes, some time had passed between that first night on the day of Jesus’ Resurrection and the early church after Pentecost, at least a couple of months. Nevertheless, self-imposed hiding behind locked doors versus breaking out of the very jail you once feared, to engage in the same behavior that put you there in the first place – that’s a pretty drastic change! What accounts for it?

They had been giving a mission, and a special one at that – a mission given to them by a guy who died and then came alive again! This was not your garden-variety mission by any means!

Neither is ours, for it is the same. We have been given a mission by a guy who died and came alive again! Is that any less impressive simply because more time has passed since the day it originally took place? It’s so easy to forget, isn’t it, even with Easter having taken place so recently – we worship someone who died and then came back to life!

If you heard a similar story today of someone being put to death and then buried – all with plenty of eyewitnesses – only to hear that he came back to life, the story would be everywhere! Every major news outlet would be running related stories 24/7 and social media would be blowing up over it. We wouldn’t be able to stop talking about it!

So why is it so easy to stop talking about the most prominent dead guy to ever come alive again? Because we assume people won’t believe us? That wouldn’t shut us up if something similar happened today, so why should it shut us up just because it happened over 2,000 years ago?

Some would say it’s because the church has neglected its focus on evangelism. Such a conclusion is the opinion of many who study church culture and metrics. They would say that one of the biggest struggles the church faces today is in the area of evangelism. Churches don’t prioritize it like they should. Members either aren’t equipped to evangelize or aren’t empowered or impassioned to do so. Might that be the case here? That’s probably a question for you to answer. 

Why are your church? Is it just the religious version of In and Out or Chik-Fil-A  – you’re there because it appeals to your personal preferences and does church the way you like it? Are you there as a customer to be served, or because you’re on a mission, looking to be serving others? Speaking of mission, do you know what your church’s mission or tag line is?

Ours is Seeking the Lost, Serving the Found. Notice what isn’t included there: Show up sometimes on Sundays when it’s not inconvenient and you’re good to go.

Obviously, Sunday morning worship is the heartbeat of what the church does – it is hugely important! But, just as a body has so many other essential and necessary functions than just the heart beating, so the church also has so much more going on than Sunday morning worship. Sunday morning worship isn’t the finish line to cross each week; it’s the starting blocks, where we position ourselves to get the best possible start to carrying out our mission each week!

To imagine it any other way is to not only redefine what church membership means and what the church’s mission is, but to blatantly disobey what God has commanded us to do as believers. It really is that simple. When the apostles were set free from jail, they were told what to do and they obeyed. Later on, as they found themselves in trouble once again for carrying out their mission, what was their response? “Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (v.29). They were obeying what God had told them to do. 

When we entirely disregard or are indifferent to what we have been commanded to do as believers, we are disobeying God’s direct orders and failing to carry out the mission he’s given us. And where does that leave us? It drags us back to Calvary yet again, prior to the empty tomb, right back to where we are forced to face the painful reality of our rebellious disregard of Jesus’ mission for his church. There, plain as day, as I scan the endless list of all my other sins for which my Savior was crucified, it is listed: disinterested, disobedient disregard for the very mission for which Jesus gave up his life.

And I am then instantly reminded of why I need to return here to this place – to church – as often as possible. Here I see the cross front and center, yes – but also to witness the white of Easter, the embrace the confidence of the empty tomb, to remember that the Resurrection means I am redeemed and restored from my rebellion. The very mission of Christ’s church that I so often think so little of is his mission to me, too, for I need to hear of my forgiveness. I need his grace. I need to be assured yet another week that no, God has not and will not forsake me, even in my most stubborn moments. So I need to hear his mission to me to renew the zeal of his mission for me. 

Starbucks used to want to be the “third place.” After home and work, they set out to be the third place people would gather at to spend time. A number of factors, like the convenience of mobile orders, led them to change their business model. Once they realized how quickly they could churn out more drinks and serve more customers, they were less interested in a cozy, welcoming lobby, and more interested in volume and speed: more drinks, faster drinks, would mean increased profit margins.

Meanwhile, as local coffee shops continued to pop up nearby, providing the comfortable make-yourself-at-home vibe that Starbucks used to be known for, and having baristas that got to know their customers, Starbucks had some serious competition. Suddenly, the short-term boom in business sort of popped like a pin-pricked balloon. For that reason, you may have noticed recent efforts to restore that “third place” culture that they first became known for. The tables and chairs that were removed from the lobbies, leaving them eerily vacant and open, have been returning. Free refills are being offered to encourage customers to hang around and linger for a bit while sipping their beverage.

So what happened? Some would say that they became more concerned about satisfying shareholders than caring for their customers. They lost sight of their mission.

May we never lose sight of ours. May we never lose sight of the mission Jesus gave us to carry out together. May we never miss out on our mission together, so that others don’t miss out on meeting the same loving Savior we know and love, Jesus Christ. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Identity Gift

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(John 20:1-18)

It cost anywhere from $20-50 billion last year (depending on how cases are classified) and impacts multi-millions of people. Identity theft is serious problem. Its attempts are also so common that most of us can filter out the spam emails or even texts as soon as they hit our inbox or phone. For those who have fallen victim to identity theft, though, it’s not just a financial burden they face. There is the emotional stress of not knowing what someone who is pretending to be us may be trying to get away with, or what other personal information of ours they may have access to. Then there’s also the painstaking process of having to cancel this card or re-issue that I.D. to essentially start all over again with establishing your identity. Victims of identity theft face big challenges!

Maybe you’ve personally experienced identity theft; maybe you haven’t. But I am quite certain you’ve experienced what we might call identity “uncertainty.” Maybe you’re even going through it right now. What causes identity uncertainty? Any number of three significant scenarios might trigger it: a significant shift, shock, or shame/success.

We all experience significant shifts. A high school graduate is indecisive and overwhelmed by all the considerations for the next phase of life. New parents have to adjust to the shift of splitting their time from just between each other to now a new member of the family. Or, the other side of that shift back to being empty nesters can its own challenge. An occupational change that disrupts the workplace identity others have associated you with for so long is also a significant shift. Such shifts find you at a crossroad – now who are you?

The identity uncertainty could also be the result of significant shock. You experienced abuse or assault recently or a long time ago that still shapes how you see yourself and/or how you think others see you. A traumatic event or injury robs you of a unique trait or ability that has permanently altered how you function. The absence of a spouse means the two who became one has now unexpectedly morphed into a much lonelier one. Now who are you?

We might be going through identity uncertainty as a result of our own significant shame or success. It may have started at a very young age, possibly pushed or pressured by parents in specific direction academically or athletically. As a result, you either burned out or failed to excel after a certain level and don’t know who you are anymore. Or it could work the opposite way – you achieved a level of success that came so fast that you became ungrounded and forgot who you were.

Or, in your young adult life you accomplished something spectacular that brought about your fifteen minutes of fame, which then quickly fade and leave you scrambling to achieve something similar ever since. Or instead of fifteen minutes of fame, it was fifteen minutes of shame as a result of some past humiliating act or even a crime. Maybe you were the golden boy or darling at work who could do no wrong, nailing everything that came your way, until a new boss came along and made it a point to be unimpressed by your efforts. Now who are you? 

So, whether it’s caused by a significant shift, shock, or shame/success, how do we address “identity uncertainty?” The advice that often seems to make the most sense is also some of the worst: take a good hard look at yourself or go on a journey of self-discovery to really find yourself; find out who you are by focusing more on you.

But if you follow that advice, it’s like trying to get from point A to point B only by staring at your feet the whole time. You’ll just spend the rest of your life correcting every time you realize you veered off course. You pursue a different identity only to be left unsatisfied or uncertain. You will remain on an endless chase, always coming back to the same struggle of who you really are.

If you want to know who you are, there’s a better place to start rather than looking at yourself. Start by looking in the Bible, specifically in the Gospel of John.

One of the themes of John’s Gospel is to make sure of what we’re looking at. Or better, “who” we’re looking at: Jesus. John he provides this direction to us as one with firsthand experience. In the first chapter he states, “We have seen His glory” (John 1:14). He didn’t say that he had heard about it from someone else or that he speculated or pondered what it would be like, but that he saw it with his own eyes. John saw God’s glory in Christ.

He highlights what he sees again later in that same chapter when, pointing to Jesus, he says, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29). Later, when Philip encourages Nathanael to find out more, he invites him to come and see. The Samaritan woman at the well does the same thing, pleading for the people in town to come and see the Jesus who told her things about herself that no one else knew. Seeing Jesus is a common theme in John.

Now, on Easter morning, Mary expected to continue that theme of John and go see the body of Jesus. Only, when she arrives, she sees something else: the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. Her fear swells. She runs to inform Peter and John and then returns back to the tomb. Then, after the angels attempt to ease her fears, distraught, she turns around and… sees Jesus!

Only… she doesn’t see him. She doesn’t know it’s Jesus. “At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him” (John 20:14-15). Mary saw Jesus, but she didn’t really see him.

That can be the case for many people, sadly. They can look right at Jesus and not recognize him. They don’t see him for who he is. They might as well be blind. Let’s be honest. We all suffer from some kind of blindness. It may be that the pile of sin that I’ve accumulated over my life appears to me to be too big for me to see Jesus. Perhaps I can’t see Jesus because I don’t trust him to actually make a difference in my “real-life” problems that need fixing. We can even attend church occasionally, speak the words and sing the songs, and still never see Jesus.

When did it all change for Mary? When did she see Jesus? She didn’t give up. She continued to look at Jesus and listen to him. And finally she recognized his soothing, saving voice. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). (v. 16). She knew this was not a fluke or apparition, for she raced back to the disciples and burst out the words, “I have seen the Lord” (v. 18). 

Speaking of the disciples, did you catch the message Jesus asked Mary to relay to them? “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (v.17). Jesus hadn’t called them that previously! This was new. Now, post-resurrection, they were “my brothers.” Jesus called them brothers! They had a new identity! The Resurrection had changed their relationship with Jesus! They were someone new!

So was Mary. This Mary is mentioned along with others as having accompanied and supported Jesus during his ministry. She was present at his crucifixion. Since Mary was a common name, and there were other Marys involved in Jesus’ life and ministry, this Mary is identified by Magdala, the seaside village from which she came. But it’s hard to imagine that any of these things carried as much weight regarding Mary Magdalene’s identity as another detail that the Gospel of Luke brings to light: this Mary had been possessed by seven demons, and Jesus had healed her. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like, and so I can’t imagine her really being identified by anything else more significant.

Until now. Now, she was not just the woman who had been possessed by seven demons. Now, she was the first one to lay eyes on the resurrected Jesus! Her identity had changed! She was someone new, made so by the Resurrection!

So are you. The Resurrection has changed your identity. Your identity is not determined by some significant shift or shock in your life, nor by some shame or success, but by your Savior. Your past doesn’t define you. Your sin doesn’t define you – how can it when it’s been forgiven and paid for?!? Your shame doesn’t define you – how can it when it’s been removed and cancelled along with your sin?!? None of that determines your identity; Jesus does.

In the book of Colossians, Paul wrote, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4). When we see Jesus by faith, what we were, who we were, died. Now we are in Christ, hidden and unable to see he full glory that is ours until he returns on the last day, yes, but we are no less in him! Paul even writes that Christ “is your life.” That’s who I am now! That’s who you are! We are “Christ’s.” We are Christians. That is more than just one of many labels we attach to ourselves; it is who we are over and above every other label. I am a God’s child. I am a Christian. That is my identity. The Resurrection guarantees it!

Now what? What do we do we this new identity? Now where do we look? “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-3). You still look at Jesus, only you look up at him, where he is seated at the right hand of God. And we heed the encouragement to set both our hearts and our minds on things above.

Why both? They work together. Your heart reflects what you desire. Your mind reflects what you think about and give your attention to. Like it or not, the two work together. So I cannot claim to desire something that I rarely or never think about. And, if I rarely or never think about something, then I won’t ever really desire it, either. On the other hand, whatever consumes or takes up most of my thoughts and attention – that is the thing I desire. 

So an addict desires the next fix – why? Because that’s all the addict thinks about all day long. And when that’s all one thinks about all day long, that is what a person desires. The two – heart and mind – work together. And this can be an extremely destructive thing. 

Or, it can be an extremely positive and powerful thing. For the believer with a new resurrection identity, it can be an extremely powerful thing. My new life in Christ doesn’t just mean that I think about Jesus once in a while, maybe when everyone else in my family goes to church. It doesn’t mean I can legitimately claim to desire Christ… if he is never more than a passing thought in my life. 

No, when both the heart and the mind are focused on Christ, my true identity in Christ begins to take shape. So I can believe what Christ says about me, that in him I am new, I am his, I belong to him. But if I am to experience that to the fullest, it means the new me focuses both heart and mind on Christ. I desire more of him, and I think of him more, and the more I think of him, the more I desire him. The two feed each other in a beautiful cycle of spiritual growth and maturity! That’s the purpose and goal of my new identity in Christ – and life does not get any better than when we discover that.

I hope no one here ever has to deal with identity theft. But I hope everyone reading this knows and believes that because Jesus lives, you have been given an identity gift: you are his. Keep looking at him, with your heart and your mind, and embrace your true identity: you are Christ’s, Christian. 

Nothing to See

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(Luke 19:28-40)

The history of mighty armies and victorious leaders making grand entrances by parading into cities have something in common: such occasions tend to be displays of power. And it’s true whether it’s an unwelcome oppressor invading or a friendly force coming to the rescue. Either way, any sort of parade is a show of power. Through it, the enemy displays his control and successful overtaking of the city, by being able to parade through it unopposed and unhindered by any opposition. Or, in the case of a rescue, the parade is a show of power on the part of those who came to rescue the city and relieve it of enemy occupation, having successfully defeated the enemy and delivered freedom to the people once again. Enemy or ally, hostile or hero – the pageantry and fanfare associated with grand entrances has always been about a display of power. 

But not Jesus. He didn’t enter into Jerusalem to wield his power, but to withhold it. Don’t forget, all power was already all his to begin with! He didn’t ride into Jerusalem to assume power or rise to it – it was already his.

Remember some of Jesus’ final words before leaving this earth, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt. 28:18). Every ounce of power was his from eternity, and only from his power has any other power in the universe ever been derived. Whether that power has been on display in nature, in man, or anywhere else, all had Jesus as its source (for example, think of Jesus reminding Pilate that he only had any authority in the first place because it had been given to him by God – cf. John 19:11!). There was no power for Jesus to assume when he entered into Jerusalem, for it all already belonged to him. No, he did not enter Jerusalem on the Palm Sunday to wield his power, but to withhold it.

But why? Why should Jesus choose this course? Why not just demonstrate his power in some convincing fashion as he had so many times in the past? He wielded his power over nature and living things by bidding them to do his will through the plagues in Egypt. He then wielded his power by splitting the Red Sea to both deliver the Israelite slaves and destroy the Egyptian army. He wielded his power in the wilderness on many different occasions in how he chose to punish rebellion and ingratitude.

If history records so many different displays of power at the hand of God, why not here and now? This, after all, was God making ready to carry out his most powerful act in history: redeeming a cursed world! What better time to wield his power in full force to grab the attention of as many as possible? Why would he choose not to wield his power on this occasion?

Because he did choose you and me. And to have us for eternity and not lose us to Satan and hell, he chose to wield his power by withholding it. He had to, for there was no other way for salvation to come about if God was to remain true to his essential qualities of being both a God of justice and a God of compassion.

Remember what got us into this position in the first place. It all started in the perfect world in the perfect garden when our perfect parents, Adam & Eve, having been blindsided by Satan, disobeyed the one command they had been given and ate the fruit. God had previously explained to them that such disobedience would result in their being eternally cut off from a relationship with him. Since God cannot lie, he had to keep his word. Justice had to be carried out.

But neither can he operate against his very essence of being a compassionate God, filled with free and faithful love for the crown of his creation, mankind. So to satisfy both of those qualities, his justice and compassion, he promised to take the matter of our sin in his own hands and pay for it himself by sending the perfect sacrificial payment for sin, Jesus, the Lamb of God. In Jesus, God’s justice could be satisfied when he served sin’s severe sentence of damnation in our place, and God’s compassion could be carried out by allowing us to avoid the severe sentence our sin deserved. 

Yes, it wasn’t just for the sin of Adam & Eve that this payment had to be made, but for ours, for yours and mine. For the sins we pull off that we think we got away with, as well as the sins that were deliberate and destructive – the ones we knew full well that we were committing. For the sins we downplay or minimize by shifting the blame onto the person we’ve wronged as being at fault by being guilty of overreacting or taking it too personally. For the sins we commit that blend in so well with the way the world operates that we conveniently forget that they’re even sins. For the sins we commit not by some egregious, shameful act, but by heartlessly doing nothing at all when we should have done the right thing.

So for such an enormous database of disobedience – not just Adam & Eve’s, but our every last sin as well, if God was going to take on himself the complete payment for that sin, that meant setting aside the full use of his divine unlimited power. It meant not fully wielding it, but withholding it for a time.

As we look ahead to the events that play out over the course of this Holy Week, specifically on Thursday and Friday, they could not have taken place if Jesus had not been willing to withhold the full use of his power for a time. 

Think of it – who could ever successfully blindside God with betrayal as Judas appeared to? No one! An omniscient God – all-knowing – and an omnipotent God – all-powerful – would both know about the betrayal ahead of time and easily foil any such plans.

Who could ever put God on trial in any court – legitimate or not – and successfully orchestrate a legal case against the only person to have ever lived who never once sinned?!? It would be impossible to pin any wrong-doing on the One who had never done wrong!

Who could sneer and jeer, mock and make fun of, assault and abuse the God who created the very lips and fists guilty of carrying out such cruelty – he could have rendered their faculties useless with a mere look!

And finally, how could the created ever hammer a single nail into the hand of the Creator if the Creator was not willing to allow it? No, this week we call Holy could never have taken place had God not willingly withheld the full use of his divine power for a time. 

What we’re talking about here is Christ’s humiliation. By that term we don’t mean that it was shameful or humiliating that God became man in Christ Jesus. Rather, this “humiliation” is exactly what Paul described in the book of Philippians. Jesus was and is fully and completely God, yet to carry out the work necessary for our salvation, he set aside – for a time – the full use of his divine power and glory.

Paul explained that Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing (Philippians 2:5-7a). Nothing. By withholding the full use of his power for a time, Jesus made himself nothing. He became nothing for us because we are everything to him.

So as the crowds gathered on that first Sunday we now call Palm Sunday, what did they see as Jesus rode in on his colt? We could say there was Nothing to see. They saw the One who came to be nothing for us so that we could have everything in him. 

Next month our school children will be putting on a play. Suppose we were able to get an A-list actor from Hollywood to come down and take on a role in that play. While it would be a fun, novel experience to have a famous actor in our play, do you think there would be any movie or theater reviewers in attendance, scrutinizing his/her performance with a critical eye to see if it would be Oscar-worthy? Of course not! No one could expect that Hollywood actor to put on an Academy-Award type performance in our little school play!

But could they? Would that A-list actor still be capable of such a performance? Yes! Even if they chose not to fully tap into every ounce of acting chops to pull off the performance of a lifetime, they’d still have the exact same ability to do so. They simply wouldn’t take advantage of it in that setting. 

So it was with Jesus. Do not think for a moment that the temporary withholding of his power rendered him helpless at any moment, or that he had no intention of ever wielding that power again (spoiler alert: Easter Sunday and Jesus’ return on the Last Day!).

Lest anyone doubt it, Jesus’ subtly reminded the Pharisees of the power that was his when they demanded that he take his disciples to task for glorifying him. “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out’” (v.39-40). Jesus’ power was so great that even if the vocal cords of man would not shower him with rightly-deserved adulation, the stones would! He was no less God even though he withheld the full use of his divine power for a time.

Doesn’t that make it even more impressive? We’re not dealing with some cocky, arrogant, braggart, waiting to see if he can back up his words and prove himself; we already know what God is capable of, and we’re witnessing him humbly withhold it – all for us. We know what our sin deserves and what God could do and has a right to do to us, because of it. But in his matchless grace, he chose to make himself nothing so that true nothings like you and me could actually be something. 

For that reason, even though the crowds didn’t know how profoundly true their words were as they belted them out, let us echo their refrain daily, proudly proclaiming, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (v.38). 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Guard Against False Teaching

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. As believers all over the world gather on this day to hear your Word proclaimed, protect their ears from false teaching. Keep those preaching faithful to the promises they made to speak the truth as your representatives. Keep their preaching pure, free from the seeds of lies and deception sown by the evil one, whether blatant or subtle. Equip leaders and elders in your churches to distinguish between truth and error, so that they may correct or rebuke heresy, and raise up mature Christian members to share in that responsibility. Guard those preaching from the temptation of proclaiming what itching ears want to hear. Guide them in rightly handling the application of law and gospel. Through such faithful preaching sanctify your church and keep her in the one true faith.   

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

You Don’t Stand a Chance

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(1 Samuel 17)

“Dismayed and terrified.” That’s the description of how you are feeling as you are watching this giant of a man, this killing machine named Goliath, invite a challenger to stand up and oppose him. And you aren’t the only one feeling that way! The Israelites – battle-hardened, trained soldiers! – are also “dismayed and terrified.”  Saul, the one who was no physical slouch in his own right, described as being a head taller than the average man, the one who is supposed to be Israel’s fearless leader, the king and general – he also is included among those who are “dismayed and terrified.” 

And understandably so! Nowhere else in Scripture do we have such a lengthy description of a soldier – ally or enemy! According to the measurements provided in these verses, the Philistine champion, the best of their best, Goliath, was in the neighborhood of nine feet tall. His coat of bronze scale armor weighed as much as a small teenager. The iron tip of his spear was as heavy as an olympic men’s shot put. Twice a day for forty days (v.16) Goliath had come out to face a potential challenger, but none showed because every time he appeared, they all fled in fear (v.24). This much was clear to any sensible person who might consider opposing the imposing Goliath: you don’t stand a chance.

I doubt anyone’s opinion changed when the challenger, David, arrived. He was small in stature, comparatively speaking – a shepherd, not a soldier. In place of any weapons of war, he had a staff, a slingshot, and some stones. Any armor was absent. When Saul sent him, saying, “Go, and the Lord be with you,” (v. 37b), while he surely must have admired David’s confidence, it’s hard to imagine that he himself had any real confidence that David would actually be able to pull this off. The rest of the Israelite army watching had to be expecting a blood bath. David’s own brothers likely assumed their arrogant little bother was going to get what he deserved. This much was clear to any sensible person watching David opposing the imposing Goliath: you don’t stand a chance.

Step away from the showdown for a moment and into your own life. There may be no Goliath, but there is no shortage of imposing threats in his place that seem like insurmountable challenges to overcome. Some are seasonal and situational and some are just plain sin. They’re circumstances you find yourself in that don’t ever seem like they’re going to change. The burden of a loved one with zero interest in Jesus or who believed at one time but is now walking away from the faith. You’re tied up in a toxic work environment, but can’t afford to walk away from the paycheck. Frustrated by a friend who can’t seem to get their life on track because it’s littered with awful choices. Quietly suffering abuse with no clear way out. Chronic pain for which nothing seems to offer relief. Not being able to quit doing that thing that I know full well I should not be doing. This much is clear to any sensible person: you don’t stand a chance.

But sensible doesn’t hold a candle to spiritual. Return back to the showdown between the Philistine and fearless shepherd. Why do you think David, at a severe disadvantage when it came to size, training, and weapons, was unafraid? Because sensible doesn’t hold a candle to spiritual. When we consider the significance of what was described in the previous chapter as having taken place, it starts to make sense. David was anointed. “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David” (1 Sam. 16:13).

There it is – the source of his confidence! David was anointed with the power of the Spirit of the Lord! With that in mind, suddenly it isn’t David who appears to be the underdog, but the godless heathen, Goliath! 

There we have it! A David-like faith, a spiritual swagger that knew God was for him, a trust that refused to be taunted – when these are present, then we have a fighting chance. Then we can slay our own giants and take down the Goliaths getting in the way in our lives! Then the underdog story can play out just like it’s supposed to! The little guy wins; the big oppressor is overcome. It’s a tale for the ages, and arguably one of the most played out stories from the whole Bible. We see it in movies when the underdog team ends up pulling off the upset in the championship game, when the little start-up small business takes down the blue-chip behemoth at its own game. We love the underdog story! 

And as Peter preached in the days of the early church, through baptism, we have been anointed with the same powerful Spirit that came upon David. “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38). We, too, can imitate David and courageously take down whatever stands in our way! Greater faith! Titanium-like trust! With God on our side, we can overcome any adversary in our lives and slay our giants!

But what is to blame then, when cancer is the conqueror and we’re on the losing side? Why is the abuse still continuing? Why hasn’t the chronic pain gone away? Why am I still unable to quit doing what I know I should not be doing? Wait a minute – that’s not how it’s supposed to end.

But it does! And we can spin David’s victory every which way we want to into some spiritual motivational speech to lead us to boldly take down our giants, but then we’re left without an answer when the giant wins and we lose. What then? Not enough trust? Not enough faith? Tough luck – it was “just God’s will,” and there’s nothing we can do about it. Baloney.

There is so much more in this narrative that God wants us to take away, and no matter how many times you’ve heart it, the main takeaway is not that you can slay your giants like David did with the Lord on your side. No, David’s role is not primarily one for you to imitate, but simply to celebrate. 

Put yourself back on the battlefield. You just witnessed a boy with a stone take down a massive man-killer. Now what? You celebrate, not because now you have someone to idolize, but because someone just did what you would not and could not. David stepped up in your place to take down the enemy. You didn’t have to lift a muscle. Your weapon rested on the ground beside you the whole time. Not the slightest bit of perspiration was required of you. Not a drop of blood on you anywhere. David defeated the enemy for you and you get to celebrate the victory.

What David was to Goliath, our Savior is to Satan. David cut off Goliath’s head; our Savior crushed Satan’s. What David accomplished against the Philistine in the valley with two armies watching intently, Jesus carried out on a cross and completed at the tomb with armies of angels and legions of demons watching intently. Jesus stepped up in your place to take down the enemy. You didn’t have to lift a muscle. Your weapon rested on the ground beside you the whole time. Not the slightest bit of perspiration was required of you. Not a drop of blood on you anywhere – it was all on Jesus, who defeated the enemy for you, and you get to celebrate the victory.

And rest assured, the victory was decisive and final. “[Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25). The Savior defeated Satan for you and you get to celebrate the victory. Only as those words are spoken by Jesus to Satan have they ever been so true: Satan, you don’t stand a chance.

And that means that you and I do. Now you are back on your own battlefield. No matter what you’re facing, you can face it fearlessly. Because even when you lose, you win. Because Jesus did. You can face any obstacle, any challenge, any hardship, with complete confidence – not with the guarantee that you will overcome it, for you know better – you might not!

But even if you don’t, and the struggle and the difficulty and the suffering and the pain continue, you can endure it, because the battle that matters for eternity has already been won for you by your champion, your Savior, your Jesus. And whatever we face for the short time here on earth can’t begin to compare with the celebration in eternity that will never ever end. 

Earlier, in describing Goliath, I mentioned that nowhere else in Scripture do we have such a detailed description of a soldier’s weaponry and armor. That’s not entirely true. There is such a description. It’s found in the sixth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, a section describing the “armor of God” that the Christian is encouraged to wear.

How fitting a reminder! Even as Scripture encourages us to take a stand, it does so not with any worldly weapons or shoddy, short-lived solutions that we might devise or resort to, but the armor of God. How beautifully that fits with David’s bold statement as he faced the soon-to-be headless, threatless heathen, Goliath. “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (v.47). The battle wasn’t David’s! The battle isn’t ours! The battle is the Lord’s! Why would you dress with anything other than the armor of God, who alone is able to overcome and conquer?

There is a noteworthy epilogue in the Bible after David’s victory. “When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines…” (v.51-52). David’s victory spurred on Israel! Those who were formerly “dismayed and terrified” suddenly surged forward to fight with a newfound bravery! 

Should it be any different for us, for Christ’s church, for the people of God, to go forth with valor, fighting with the weapon of his Word, to demolish strongholds and let his kingdom come? Where are the enemies of the cross? Who opposes Christ, the crucified conqueror? We can face them fearlessly, bolding alerting them to this reality: “You don’t stand a chance! I fight for the Savior who already fought for me – and won! Victory is ours!”

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Worship as Evangelism

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. They are a staple for the spiritual health of believers, but they also serve as one of the best evangelism tools. When visitors join us for worship, they see, hear, and sing the good news of the gospel, which is able to make them wise for salvation. Lead congregations to warmly welcome visitors for worship, and to thoughtfully consider how to make their worship experience a pleasant one. Help churches see the importance of taking care of their facilities so that visitors are left with a favorable impression. When churches do have visitors, facilitate faithful follow-up so that connections can be made that lead to more of Jesus in the future. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Giving God Glory by Getting God’s Glory

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(2 Corinthians 3:7-18)

The world’s glory is like a disappearing act. The darling company that is behind the skyrocketing stock symbol today will have investors and shareholders scrambling for months after its shares suddenly plunge. Once the A-list celebrity everyone was talking about is in a movie that bombs or generates some negative publicity, we move on to the next big name. The championship team was all anyone talked about, until they barely mustered a winning record the following year. The world’s notion of glory is pursued by so many with such drive and determination, only to find out it’s nothing but a mirage.

But there is glory. Real glory. And that glory is God’s glory. 

You want to know something astonishing about God’s glory? He wants to share it with you! The same author of these words from Corinthians wrote elsewhere that God desires “that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14). How amazing is that?! A glory unlike the world’s disappointing version of glory, but a real glory, and God wants you to share in it!

So how do we come by this glory? How do we take our share in it? There are two channels by which God reveals his glory in Scripture: law and gospel. 

In the Old Testament, God’s glory was visible to the Israelites while in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. When God first gave his Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, his glory was enough to terrify the Israelites through loud crackling thunder and lightning, trumpet sounds, and smoke around the mountain. Then, as the Israelites wandered, there was a special place outside of their encampment called the tent of meeting where Moses went to meet with the Lord face to face. Whenever Moses was inside the tent, God’s glory was visible via a cloud column standing at the entrance. Then, after God gave Moses his commandments for the second time, his glory was manifest through Moses’ radiant face. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord” (Ex. 34:29). God’s glory was visibly associated with the law God gave to his people. 

When we think of God’s glory in connection with the law, we may not be drawn to that type of glory, and understandably so – it’s terrifying! But make no mistake, God’s law is glorious.

To appreciate the reality of how glorious God’s law is as it stands on its own, imagine how different a typical day would like for the rest of your life if you and everyone else kept the law perfectly. You’d wake up in the morning to fill up with the Word, then see headlines in the news that were only positive. Any exchanges with family members result in smiles. The drive to work sees commuters politely waving each other ahead of them. Work is filled with happy employees encouraging one another and offering any help wherever it may be needed. A scroll through social media leaves you feeling uplifted and blessed by how good God is to so many people. A few errands after work leave you delighted by such pleasant customer service, which you of course expressed your appreciation for. You are excited to arrive home, knock out a couple of chores – which hardly seems like an appropriate label for something you enjoy doing so much – and then prepare dinner. Afterward, a little down time with a book or show, then some more with the Good Book, some prayers, and off to bed.

If we were able to experience how amazing that life would be, we’d understand how glorious God’s law is! If we could all live perfectly, our minds would be blown. Take it a step further and consider why we long for heaven so much: no sin! Only perfection!

Well, what are we really describing? Perfect obedience to the law. So the law itself is glorious because it is in perfect harmony with how a perfect God longs for everything to be.

But, as Paul describes in our verses this morning, we have a better understanding of why it isn’t natural for us to perceive of God’s law as glorious. “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!” (2 Corinthians 3:7-11). That covenant, that ministry of the law results in only one thing: death! Why? Not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because it so clearly exposes what’s wrong with us and what we deserve because of it. 

So the law itself is glorious and reveals God’s glory, but it will never be the avenue to our pursuit of glory, because it can only kill those who sin against it. Think about what this means when it comes to Christian living and obedience. Our obedience isn’t carried out under the misunderstanding that glory is somehow attached to the law. In other words, rules and keeping the law are not the bottom line. We don’t strive to live that way or teach our kids to live that way just because it’s “the right thing to do.” That is moralizing. There is no glory attached to that. Instead, the law assures us that there is no such thing as a “good” Christian, regardless of how much we might throw that term around. There are only perfect Christians, and that label will never be attached to us on the basis of the law, but only through the other channel by which God reveals his glory: the gospel.

That is what Paul was referring to as a greater ministry than the one that “brought death” and “brought condemnation,” the one that was “transitory.” Paul’s point was that since the glorious law when applied to us can only kill and condemn, it cannot compare to the gospel, which has an entirely different purpose. “Will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? How much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!” (v.8, 9b-11). 

This glory is a glory that the world cannot find and that no made-up religion can ever offer, for as Paul wrote, when it comes to the veil of the law, “only in Christ is it taken away” (v.14b). The gospel news is that “whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (v.16). Jesus kept the law perfectly, so righteousness comes only through him. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (v.17). The gospel offers freedom in place of the law’s condemnation, and only through Jesus, because he alone kept the law perfectly in our place. The gospel offers freedom in place of the law’s condemnation, and only through Jesus, because he alone paid the price for our sinful law-breaking. What could be more glorious than that?!

And if this gospel glory is only through Jesus, then what does that say about proximity to him? If freedom is ours through the glorious gospel, which is inseparable from Christ and only comes through Christ, then where else do we want to be than where he is? 

Consider the visual aid God provides to illustrate this. What happened when Moses met with the Lord in the tent of meeting? His face was radiant… for a time. Eventually, though, after he was done meeting with the Lord, the radiance faded.

What happened when the disciples accompanied Jesus on top of the mountain? They saw his radiance… for a time. Eventually, though, after they departed down the mountain, the radiance faded.

What happens when God’s people gather where God is wherever his Word is proclaimed and his sacraments administered, just as they are today? By faith we see his radiant glory, though it is hidden in the water attached to his promise and the bread and wine set apart for his purpose. Where the Word is, there Jesus is, and where Jesus is, there is God’s glory. 

But what happens as we distance ourselves from Jesus? The glory fades. Or, to state it more correctly, the glory appears to us to be fading, when in reality it still remains; it just looks like it’s fading because we can’t see it as clearly the farther away we are from it. 

Then, the further away we are from it, or the longer we stay away from it, the more we become accustomed to a glory-less life. We forget how glorious it is to be in the presence of his glory. So we chase the world’s ideas of glory here and there, thinking we catch little glimpses of it.

But as stated earlier, such perceived glory comes to nothing. It is but a mirage. And we live such glory-less lives only because we have distanced ourselves from the Lord of glory himself.

Paul described one way it happened in his first letter to the Corinthians: “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). They didn’t get it either. They thought glory could be achieved through the law, but since Jesus and his message stood in the way of that, they killed him. If they would have understood and believed the relationship between God’s glorious law and his glorious gospel, and how they work together to lead us to Christ, then they could have known true and lasting glory.

But we don’t have to suffer the same fate, for we know where God’s glory is and where to find it. We join the psalmist in gushing about it: “Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells” (Ps. 26:8). God’s house is where his glory is! That is the place where his glory dwells because that is the place where the gospel is dwells. Unlike Moses, however, the glory doesn’t have to fade when we depart from there, because if that glory is wherever the gospel dwells, then I take that glory with me and let it dwell richly in my home and daily life. 

That glory is for us, and it changes us. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (v.18). Jesus was transfigured on the mountain; his people are transfigured – changed – to be more and more like him, through the gospel.

There is no greater way to give God glory than by getting God’s glory. Let the gospel saturate your soul. Hunger and thirst for it more than whatever else it is you’re chasing after in life right now, which is glory-less. We know where to find real glory. It’s where God is. And where is God? Wherever his Word is.