Friday, November 11, 2011

Reflection Day: 2 Thessalonians

After going back through 1 Thessalonians, take this day to go back through 2 Thessalonians.

Read 2 Thessalonians

Does this all seem way too familiar? It’s probably because you’ve already gone through these passages in the past week or two. Today’s a day for you to go back and to review what you’ve already learned and maybe even learn new things. You could just coast through this devotional because you “already know everything” and “it is just review”, but there is always more to learn about our faith and our God.

In chapter 1, Paul talks about Christ’s Second Coming. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul also talks about the Second Coming and focuses on the joy and the hope we have because of our salvation. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul talks about the other aspect of this day: God’s wrath. God is a fair and just God, and those who do not follow Him cannot take part in the kingdom of heaven. A life without salvation results in a life in hell, but the good news is that Jesus died for all to be saved so that no one will perish.

In chapter 2 verses 1-12, Paul encourages the church not to be afraid or worried about Christ’s Second Coming. He references the lawless one, one who will try and deceive and mislead the people and pull them away from God. However, Paul reminds them that they are saved and that followers of Christ will endure. None of us can endure on our own, but God is always with us and He gives us the Bible so that we can be rooted in what is true. As Christ followers, we have to constantly root ourselves deeper in knowledge of God, through prayer, scripture reading, and experience, so that we can stand firm.

In verses 13-17 of chapter 2, Paul reminds the church that God will sustain them. Despite the adversity that will come in the times of the Second Coming and that will from each day,, God is omnipresent and God is at work. He fights for us day in and day out and will never let us go. We do not have to be afraid or worry about anything because God is on our side. We should be eternally thankful of what God has done and continues to do for us, so much so that He deserves thanks through every aspect of our lives.

In chapter 3 verses 1-5, Paul talks about evangelism. When evangelizing, we often leave out parts of the Gospel so that it will be more appealing to those around us who are unsaved so that they will become “saved”. But are they really saved through this this? Yes, more people accepting Christ is a good thing, but evangelism does not stop at the numbers. Like in the parable of the sower, spreading the Gospel is more than just scattering the seeds; those seeds need to grow roots. True evangelism takes spreading the seeds one step further and takes the time and work needed to help people grow roots and build their faith.

In verses 6-18 of chapter 3, Paul talks about busyness. Some of us have plenty of time but choose not to use that time for God. Others of us are busy and “don’t have time for God” or don’t honor God with what we do. God should be our number one priority and deserves honor in every part of our lives, whether we think we have time or not.

What sticks out to you the most in 2 Thessalonians? Are you unsaved and still need Jesus in your life? Are you worried about temptations and trials and need to stand firm? Are you unthankful for everything that God has done for you? Do you spread the Gospel but don’t help others build their roots? Do you busy yourself and only give God time when its convenient?
Take some time to pray and to ask God how you can better honor Him in your life. Ask Him to open your eyes to what you didn’t see before so that you can continue to grow in your faith.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Reflection Day: 1 Thessalonians

Now that you’ve finished going through 1 & 2 Thessalonians, take this day to go back and review what you’ve learned. Take this first of two reflection days to look back at 1 Thessalonians.

Read 1 Thessalonians

You’ve read all these passages before and looked into each of them in detail to discover what messages and big ideas God wanted Paul to convey. Now the question remains: Why did Paul write this letter? He is not just writing because he has nothing else to do; he has a purpose for writing. He is not just writing to the church in Thessalonica, but he writes to all followers of Christ back then, now, and in the future.

In chapter 1, you learned about a genuine, costly grace. Salvation leads to discipleship, and discipleship has a cost. Following Christ is no easy task; as true Christians, we are called to give up our entire lives to Christ. So often we give up only parts of our lives: the parts that are easy to give up, the ones that don’t hurt. This is not what Paul writes about. God intends for us to not to be lukewarm and half-hearted, but to wholly and completely devote our lives to God.

In chapter 2, you read about Paul’s ministry and reflected on your motives for service and for Christ. Why do you come to youth group? Why do you read these devotionals? Why do you play in the worship band? Paul sets an example of why we should serve God: not for ourselves, but to glorify God and to declare the Gospel.

In chapter 3, Paul talks about endurance and steadfastness. Through the struggles and adversities we face in life, God is with us. We are lost and weak, but God guides and strengthens us. Paul does not tell us to turn to worldly things or to ourselves for sustenance; only God can carry us through.

In chapter 4 verses 1-12, Paul talks about living a life pleasing to God. We please God when we live in a way that aligns with His will. What is His will for us? To honor and glorify Him in any and every part of our lives: actions, deeds, thoughts, words, relationships, everything. A life pleasing to God does not come from good works because good works without purpose are useful. A life pleasing to God comes through accepting Christ and giving up every aspect of our lives to glorify Him.

In verses 13-18 for chapter 4, we read about the second coming of Christ. Many people in the world have misconceptions about this day and fear this day, but this day gives us hope for those who follow Christ. Through all the thick and thin of this world we do not have to be dismayed because we are saved and will one day enter into heaven. The day when Christ comes again will be one full of joy and jubilee.

In chapter 5, Paul again talks about the second coming of Christ. He tells us to be awake and ready and not to be afraid. We are not destined for God’s wrath and hell, but we are destined for new life in heaven. God gives us eternal live! We are alive! Rejoice and be glad!

What is God trying to say to you through 1 Thessalonians? Is there one message Paul has for us that really sticks out to you? Take this time to pray and to honestly ask God how He wants to mold you and guide you as you continue to grow in your faith.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Working for God - 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18

Do you feel busy? As things begin to crowd towards the holidays, it seems like there are more and more demands of time everywhere you look, school, work, homework/projects. family events, fun holiday festivities. Sometimes I feel like everywhere I look is another thing waiting to claim my time. So how do we make the most of the time that we have?


Read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18


2 Thessalonians 3:6-18 (NIV)
  6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching[a] you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” 11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. 14 Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.


In many ways the Thessalonian church didn’t have a problem with having enough time, but with doing things that were worthwhile. Some had a problem with spending their time being busybodies, into other peoples business. Paul wasn’t talking to people who couldn’t work and contribute to their community, he was talking to people whose priorities were being misspent. Whatever they were doing, they weren’t doing the important things. Let’s step back and think about this personally for a moment. What do you do to procrastinate? Internet? Games? I know for me its reading. These things are not necessarily bad of themselves, but the way we use them can be wrong. Likewise, this doesn’t just apply for procrastination from school work, in this case it was a spiritual and secular problem for the Thessalonians. It was such a problem that Paul told the church to warn their brothers and sisters and distance themselves if they don’t pay attention. What are we doing to procrastinate from what God has for us in our lives? Is our procrastination potentially getting in the way of other peoples’ growth and development in Christ? From what Paul is saying, it would definitely seem so. Paul also writes here to encourage those who are working hard in both their life and their faith. It’s a difficult thing sometimes for us to see that when we give Christ our life, it’s our whole life. It’s school and church. It’s friends from school, from extracurriculars, and from church. God wants to be our Lord in every aspect of our lives, and that includes how we work, when we work, and where we work.


Dear God,

Be LORD of how we work, and the quality of work that we do. Let it speak and show you to whoever we come in contact with. Help us to do it faithfully, and reveal to us whatever is getting in the way of giving our best work to you. Thank you for giving us the ability to serve and reflect you in what we do. Amen.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Not Just About Speeding Ahead - 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Read: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

In Christianity, there is a difference between discipleship and “marketing Jesus.” What is marketing? It is the task of persuading consumers that a certain good or service is desirable, and possessing that good or service will make one’s life easier, or at least, cooler. Do we all really “need” an iPhone? No. But Apple’s marketing has persuaded many of us that it is cool and useful to have one. And thus many of us are hungrily awaiting the near-apocalyptic Fifth Coming of the holy iPhone. Discipleship is vastly different. It is, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer has put it, a radical following of Jesus, even at the expense of what or whom we hold dear. The goal of evangelism is to persuade others that not only is following Jesus good, but it is right. The relationship between discipleship and evangelism is something we will investigate today.

In his closing, St. Paul closes with a prayer request. Note that he begins by asking that the word of the Lord may “spread rapidly” and “be honored.” The “and” is important, because we need to remember that evangelism and discipleship are not separate issues. To tell others about Jesus is not the raison d’etre, the reason of existence for the Church – discipleship is. True evangelism must lead to discipleship, otherwise all we’re doing is marketing the Jesus brand. That’s why Paul desires that the spreading of the Gospel will be accompanied quickly by its honoring.

Many churches today operate on an evangelism-only basis, which is quite a shame because if we all we do is evangelize, we face the temptation to water down the Gospel in order to make Jesus palatable to others. We tell others about how Jesus loves you, John 3:16, but we don’t tell them about Mark 8:34-35, for example. Some take it much further by lying to them that if they believed in Jesus, everything will be okay. We need to understand that Jesus did not come to this world to be “cool” or “acceptable.” Nor did Jesus come to be the solution to all of the world’s problems or the answer key to all the blank philosophical questions we may have. We don’t worship the “God of the Gaps.” We worship Jesus the Christ, not Jesus the Cool. This is the Jesus who died on the cross, and taught all who follow him that we must take up our own crosses. Evangelism is the task of telling people that this is the Jesus whom it is good and right to follow.

“But Henry,” you might say, “this is utterly impossible!” You’re absolutely right. Any right-thinking American would never follow Jesus if we tell them that following Jesus means taking up our crosses. What if we tell them that following Jesus meant selling our possessions (See Mark 10:17-31)? What if it meant loving God above our careers, our money, our jobs, our family? But to hide these things is to tell a false gospel. So what shall we do? Are we just going to tell the Gospel as it is, and wait for rejections or maybe even face gun-pointing from everyone?
Perhaps. Indeed, Paul constantly faced such adversities when preaching the Gospel… minus the guns. Thus, he asks the Thessalonians to pray that they may be “delivered from wicked and evil people”, for not all believe (vs. 2). Indeed, when we present the true Gospel to the world, not all will believe, and many will react violently against it. But more importantly, this telling of the Gospel needs to be met with a living out of the Gospel. Evangelism must be accompanied by discipleship. That’s why in vs. 4-5, Paul praises, but encourages them to “continue to do the things we command.” It’s not a matter of believing, but also a matter of living what we believe.
The challenge of the church is to live out the Gospel we claim to accept. Only by living it out can we tell others what it means to receive the Gospel, what it means to have faith in Jesus. In my seven years at WCAC, it was a joy to see many youth group alumni graduate and serve God’s kingdom in many capacities. But there were some who have left the faith. Accepting the Gospel in its entirety is not an easy task. It requires great courage and faith. That is why why it is right for Paul to pray that the Gospel spread rapidly and be honored.

Saving God, free us from hardness of heart. Take from us all pride and pretension. Strip us clean of all that makes us incapable of being witnesses of your gentle love. Make us worthy agents of your peace, so that even as we contend with one another, the world may say, “But see how they love one another.” Amen.

(the prayer above was written by Stanley Hauerwas)

Monday, November 7, 2011

Thanksgiving and Encouragement - 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Before you read the passage, take some time to reflect, and just be with God. Pray Psalms 119:18. Pray that God will let you see how this devotional applies to you.

Psalms 119:18 (NIV)
18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Read 2: Thessalonians 2: 13-17

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 (NIV)
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits[b] to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings[c] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. 16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Here, we see that in verses 13-15, the author is telling the people to stand firm in their faith and in Jesus. We can see that there is an abundance of things to give thanks for: that God chose us, that he sanctifies us. Take some time and really reflect on this. A lot of times it’s really easy to just “be a Christian” but not really thank God for what He has truly done for us. We should all be in awe of the mere fact that God did choose us and chose to die for us. When I read this verse, I realized my own faults for not really giving glory to God. Personally, I know I’m neglecting to thank God for his amazing grace, so much so that when I die, God doesn’t see me, but instead sees the image of Jesus. What can you thank God for? The possibilities are endless.

In verses 15-17, though, we can see a shift. The author is now encouraging the believer. He asks of the Lord, who comforts us eternally to comfort our own hearts. Has anything been on your mind lately? Too much worrying? Just ask God to help you lift your worries for him. I believe that true comfort can only come with God.

Just take some time to reflect on all of this. The author has told us to give thanks, and also written to encourage all of us. Take the time to build that relationship with God, whether it be through prayer, or just sitting there in awe of him.

Friday, November 4, 2011

The Man of Lawlessness – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Just a few months ago, people were predicting the end of the world on May 21st, 2011. When that didn’t happen, they pushed the start date for the end times to October 21st, 2011. That too has passed, and so now the latest reports have the big day coming December 12, 2012. I don’t know when the world will end. We’re reminded in Matthew 4:36 that not even the Son of God knows that, but only God the Father. So even if the world ends on December 12, 2012, whoever predicted it will have gotten it right for all the wrong reasons. It seems that we as a society have a preoccupation with what is coming. Some people worry because they want to get all their affairs in order. Others want to know what’s coming next. Indeed its easy for us to fall into the trap of be overly preoccupied with the end of the world. The truth is, Jesus IS coming again someday. Could be tomorrow, could be 1000 years from now. We need to be less preoccupied with the end of the world, and solely focused on the coming of the King. In Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica, it was clear that they also struggled with having their focus on the wrong thing.

Read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

The Thessalonicans were worried. They were worried they had already missed the coming of the King. For some reason, this church was being easily deceived into believing that end of the world had come and they had missed it. Paul reminds them that this is not what they had heard preached from him when he had last been at this church. Paul’s reminder to them was that their primary defense against false teaching and being misled by others was to remember the Word that God had spoken to them. The moment they forgot these things, they quickly filled their hearts and minds with misleading theories. Take a moment to think about the things we fill our heads and hearts with. Are we easily misled by whatever new fad or teaching the word has to offer? Perhaps it’s because we have not rooted ourselves in the anchor that is the Word of God.

Paul also reminded them that the coming of the King would be accompanied by signs. Paul spends quite a few verses describing the man of lawlessness. This is a reference to the antichrist who will try to do his best to overthrow the kingdom of God. He is the embodiment of rebellion and all he does is in opposition to God and His kingdom. Now, Paul doesn’t tell us and the Thessalonicans this so that they will be afraid, but rather so they will be watchful. Paul wants them to be vigilant so they aren’t misled into believing what the Deceiver would have them believe. Again, their vigilance had to be rooted in their understanding of the Word of God. They had to guard that deposit. Are you guarding the deposit entrusted to you? Are you clinging to the Word of God and growing in your knowledge of them daily so that you can walk worthy?

Paul gives a sobering reminder that those who have been led astray by this man of lawlessness did so because they did not “believe the truth and had delighted in wickedness.” As you re-read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 spend some time asking God to help you be lovers of Him and lovers of the truth.

Dear God, help me to love you more each day. I want to grow in my knowledge of you both intellectually and experientially. Keep me from being led astray by whatever the world is telling me. Give me a thirst for your Word, that I might know you and make you known to the world that is in desperate need of you. Amen.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

A Growing Faith - 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Read 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Take a moment to read this passage and meditate on it.

Paul acknowledges the perseverance and faith of his brothers, but it is not because of the hard times that they are going through, but because their faith is still strong. Their “faith is growing more and more” and their “love…is increasing.” This growth is coming from persevering through trials. How often we dread trials and the difficulties in life, when in fact they are opportunities to grow and to strengthen our spiritual lives!

In verses 5-12, Paul talks about the judgment at Christ’s coming and the idea of revenge. When he says, “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you” (v.6) he does not say to take it into your own hands to exact revenge; God has reserved that right. God has made justice necessary, and that makes revenge necessary, but we are not the ones to carry it out; Paul is indicating that because of this, we are to endure without compromise, but also to look to God for justice.

In verse 8, Paul says “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” We are called to spread the gospel, and if we go about idling our way through life, then those who do not know God will never come to know God. Of course we aren’t all to pack our bags and go to a far away country to preach the gospel. Take some time to pray on what God is calling you to do, now and in the future.

At the end of this passage, Paul says “To this end we always pray for you, that our god may make you worthy of his calling…” (v.11). Staying faithful and being a light to everyone around us is one of our greatest challenges, impossible to do alone. And Paul informs his brothers that they are being prayed for, to continue to grow in their spiritual lives and to stay on the right track. Now take some time to meditate on those that God has placed on your heart, and pray for them and yourself to stay strong in God.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Caring For Leaders - 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Take a moment to pray to God and ask him to allow you to see what this passage really means in your life.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

As Paul is wrapping up his letter here, we see an emphasis on many things- Kindness to others, respect, humbleness etc. These things all end up wrapping into one main thing, community. As seen in verse 12-13, Paul is telling the people to respect those “who are laboring among and are over you in the Lord”, which is basically the leaders of the Church. We can see that it is not a respect simply because of a position, but because of what they do, and how much they care for their work for God. Paul then goes on to urge the people to “admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted…” (verse 14). At the start of the sentence, it seems to be all about telling people off. One person is too lazy and not doing something and so on. Yet, at the end of the passage, Paul tacks on the phrase “be patient with them all” to show that its not simply about telling people off, but there is a manner in doing so, one of respect. Paul’s main underlying theme in this is slowly becoming clearer. We see in verses 15-21 of how our life isn’t truly one lived for ourselves, but for others. Not only should we stop people from doing evil, but also, we should do good onto others. We should rejoice, pray constantly, abstain from evil. There’s one story going on, and it’s definitely not yourself as the main character. Paul is giving a call to just do good onto others, and in doing removing ourselves from the pedestal and putting God on there instead. Then again, easier said then done. What Paul says sounds so simple, but in practice is much, much harder. However, there is hope at the end of the tunnel! Paul ends on an inspiring note. In verses 23-28 we see that this is a process, in which God is slowly making us more and more holy. We can see that in the end, because we are so faithful, God has our backs.

In the end, it’s a process. As you go about your daily lives, just try to be a bit more conscious about what is happening around you and humble yourself enough to show respect to everyone.

Side note: Interestingly enough, every chapter of Thessalonians has some mention of the second coming. Though surprising at first, I guess it makes sense, because of what’s happening. We know that Paul is writing to a church suffering from persecution etc. and he writes to encourage them, to tell them to hold on strong, and do good with others and so on. Therefore, it serves to help us, the reader, understand that earth is but a temporary home, and there is so much in store for us elsewhere. All the riches in the world mean nothing in the face of Christ. To me, it’s a great comfort, to know that eventually, we will have endless joy, not temporary happiness, but real joy to be with God.

Take some time to pray with God. Talk with him, have a relationship. Prayer is your time to spend with God, and enjoy it for what it is.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Peace & Safety! - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Please read and meditate on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 for a bit before reading this devotional.

I park cars for a hotel’s guests. In addition to people who are staying at the hotel, many people come to eat at a famous restaurant on the first floor. Last week, a man eating at the restaurant rode his bike to the hotel and locked it up about a block away. Roughly two feet long with a link more than twice as thick as a man’s finger, the padlock that secured the bike made it appear that it was safe.

Just after nightfall, the man finished his dinner and went to retrieve his bike. However, the padlock did not protect the bike. The perpetrator came like a thief in the night—though the bike was probably stolen in broad daylight. The padlock cried “Peace and Safety”, but alas destruction came anyways.

Like the bicycle-reader, many people gather defenses all about them in order to feel safe: Padlocks, fences, high-tech security features for their house and car, and the list is endless. Yet, things are still stolen. The violence of our world walks right through our fortifications. They will also be surprised when God ends the world. While everything they accumulated on earth cries “Peace and safety! There is no harm that will befall you,” sudden destruction will come.

This is what Paul was telling the Thessalonians. Only he reminds them that they are “sons of light and sons of day”, capable of being fully aware that the world will end, or at least be catastrophically changed when Jesus comes to earth for the second time. This event is often referred to as “The Day of the Lord” in Scripture, as it is in our passage. Notice Paul doesn’t tell them that they will know when, only that they know that it’s coming.

We as Christians, like Paul’s Thessalonian audience, do not need to be afraid of Jesus’ second coming. Instead, “having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation,” (1st Thess 5:8) we can trust in God’s immense grace and love to save us, by-way of Jesus’ death on the cross. As reflected by their frantic accumulation of defenses, the world is profoundly terrified by death. Yet Paul says that Christians shouldn’t be. Hope in the salvation of Jesus is like a helmet should guard our minds from such fears and anxieties.

“God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that…we will live together with Him” (1 Thess 5:9-10). Both now, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and after Jesus’ second coming, we are together with Him because of His saving blood.

We Christians should a live a life proclaiming this peace and togetherness with Jesus Christ. Empowered by the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ redemption, it should be evident to the world that we are not afraid of the end. A great deal of sin is the result of fears associated with fear. Such sin should not mark the church. If it doesn’t, the world will notice.

Hope in Grieving - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a funeral before, but there’s this heavy feeling of sadness over the death of somebody. Everybody is dressed in black, people are crying, and for many there’s a sense of hopelessness. In a sense they are right, because we’re all going to die.

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and because of our sins, “the wages of sin is death…”
But what’s the second part of that verse?
“… But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In Christ, we have hope. A hope of an eternal future spent in the presence of God. So there no longer is this hopelessness for Christians. There is hope in Jesus Christ.

So the big question for the Thessalonians in this next passage asks the question, “What’s going to happen when the second coming of Christ happens?”

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (ESV) which is printed on the next page. These are the words of God written through Paul in this letter. And I’m going to emphasizing a few parts of the passage. But read it and then re-read it. Look up in a dictionary the words that you don’t know so that you can fully understand what is written.


1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (ESV)
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

There you go, a little bit of eschatology (study of the end times). When you guys close your Bibles and do your closing prayers, don’t turn your minds off and be insensitive to the Holy Spirit and the moving of God. A thought to meditate on for the rest of the day or night: Think about the hope we have in God. What are we supposed to do with that hope? How are we supposed to act as hopeful people? And why do Christians decide to live in a way that they hope in Jesus Christ? Of course there are so many other questions that deal with our hope in Jesus Christ and I want to challenge you all to address those questions and seek answers for them in God’s Word.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Walk Worthy - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

The Christian life is both an inward and outward transformation; Jesus takes control of everything about us. In the first three chapters of this letter, Paul talks heavily about how God works in our hearts and inside of us. In chapter 4, Paul begins to discuss how the work that is doing inside of us should reflect on the outside through the way we live our lives.

In verse 1, Paul tells the Thessalonians to continue to walk and please God and to do so more and more. Paul also mentioned this in Colossians 1:9-10: “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”. The fact that Paul tells people to walk worthy in two different letters should strike you as significant. Why should we walk worthy? Well in verse 2, Paul tells us that they are to walk worthy because Jesus instructed them to.

Imagine for a second that you are sentenced to die because of a crime, but someone else came in and willingly paid that debt for you. What would your natural reaction be? Mine would probably involve being extremely thankful and asking if there was anything I could ever do to repay that person. Now, stop imagining because that scenario is real. All of us have committed crimes and sins and so we are sentenced to die, but Jesus took that penalty on the cross because He loved us so much. When we ask Jesus what we could do to repay Him, He instructs us to walk worthy and to live in a way that reflects the love He gave us and continues to give us everyday.

So now we know why we are to walk worthy, and in verses 3-8, Paul tells the Thessalonians that the sin in their lives is not worthy of the calling God has given us. He tells the Thessalonians to abstain from sexual immorality, to control their bodies, to have no lust, and to not wrong their brothers. Do you struggle with these things? If not, what things do you struggle with that prevent you from walking worthy? Confess them to God, and ask for His forgiveness.

In verses 9-12, Paul talks about brotherly love. Why does he include the word “brotherly”? Why doesn’t he just say “love” by itself? The word love has a lot of different meanings. For example, I often say that I love cheeseburgers. Is this the same kind of love Paul is talking about? Of course not. He’s talking about loving each other like brothers, like family. The church is one giant family. We have all been adopted by God into his family which is why we are often referred to as children of God. Paul tells us here that we are to love each other as family. Who do you need to love more? Is it your biological family? A classmate? Someone in youth group? Someone you pass by a few times a week but don’t talk to? Take some time to pray and to ask God who He wants you to love more.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Not Just a One Way Street - 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Read 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

We turn to God during times of struggle and when we feel that we need him the most. But it’s also during the times when God is most visibly working in our lives and when we think that we can get by ourselves that God wants us to come to him, and we should. Take a moment to read 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13 and reflect on what Timothy is saying and how Paul reacts.

Verse 6 is Timothy’s report; the Thessalonians are growing healthily, and that they want to see Paul as much as Paul wants to see the Thessalonians again. This is how our relationship with God should be. God wants us to come to him and have a growing relationship with him. That isn’t going to change. But it’s not just a one-way relationship. In this good time that the Thessalonians are in, they have the desire to see Paul, and vice-versa. Our lives should reflect this desire that the Thessalonians have, in a healthy relationship with God, we need to have the desire to seek him and to spend time with him.

From hearing how the Thessalonians are, Paul is encouraged and uplifted, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith” (verse 7). Likewise, we as Christians should be spending time in community and fellowship, sharing with one another how our spiritual lives are. Doing this, we will be encouraged. Take a moment and reflect on your spiritual life. Are you trying to walk this journey alone? Do you have someone to keep you accountable, and if so, is it just something shallow?

In verses 8-13, Paul thanks God and prays for the Thessalonians. He isn’t praying for them as if they have cancer, but because they are doing well and Paul is thankful and encouraged by that. Reread these 5 verses, and take verses 11-13 as a prayer for yourself and others that you have on your mind.

Paul isn’t just giving up his thanks to God though, but he also prays that the Thessalonians’ faith will continue to grow, and that “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else” (verse 12). How important prayer is in Paul’s life should also be how important it is in ours. Now take a moment to pray for those in your life, even those who are doing well, and that prayer would grow or continue to be a big part of your life.

The Church in Spiritual Warfare

Read Acts 17:1-9

It seems really interesting to me that Paul preached Christ’s suffering more among the Thessaonian church. There was certainly more open persecution in for Paul, Silas, and Timothy during their time there, and even after they left, those who hated them followed them seeking to make trouble for them in Berea as well. This is certainly not the situation anyone sharing the good news of Jesus Christ ever wants to walk into. Paul however, seemed to expect this type of reaction both for him and for the church there.

Read 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5

There are a couple of things that we should look at in regards to what we already know now about Paul’s time in Thessalonica. 1) Paul mentions at least five times in that short passage that him and his co-workers tried to go see the church there and were stopped numerable times. Only Timothy ended up making it back to Thesssalonica to encourage the new believers there. What exactly was is that kept them from going back to visit the new church there? Their persecutors? You might think so. However, Paul said it was Satan. I think this is important for us as believers to realize. When you come under attack for your faith and there are other people involved who are criticizing you, the problem isn’t always them. There is a bigger battle at stake that we may not even be physically able to see. God was using Paul to bring the gospel to places it had never gone before and Satan was trying his best to make sure that those churches don’t persevere. How do we fight against things that aren’t flesh and blood? Prayer, prayer, and always prayer. We’ve been talking in youth group about the Lord’s prayer and part of the prayer is that God’s kingdom come and his will be done, and that happens through prayer, and Jesus even demonstrated that our prayers should reflect this.


The other thing we should note is that Paul was concerned for the perseverance of the church at Thessalonica. They didn’t have all that much time before people threw the city into an uproar over Paul and Silas and they had to leave. They were new and they were quickly left on their own and Paul and his co-workers were prevented from coming to them. They were a church born in suffering. Paul even preached suffering with the gospel there, in his letter he mentions it as well, that they should expect it. All of it makes for a really difficult situation for anything to thrive, including a church and Paul is trying to make it back so they are encouraged and their faith and persevering. We, like Paul, need to be in prayer and looking for ways to encourage and uplift the parts of the church that suffer, whether they are near us or in other places. Faith is not a game, we can’t just put it on hold and come back later when we have the time. Our brothers and sisters are facing things that we may never face, and they need us to pray on their behalf. Someday it may be you who is called, and when it is your time, you will need the prayers of others to cover you.

Dear God,
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Be with our brothers and sisters who are bringing your good news into difficult places. God before them and open the way for them to share you with others. Be with our brothers and sisters who live in difficult places, help us to know how to encourage them, and protect their faith. Provide for them. Amen

Monday, October 24, 2011

Service - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Read 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

In chapter two of this short letter, we read the Apostle Paul defending his ministry to the church of the Thessalonians. His past presence and teaching there was under attack and the local church continued to suffer through persecution. So Paul addresses the accusations directed at him head-on and asserts that his motives for sharing the gospel with them were pure and blameless. He even went out of his way not to be a burden, by working on the side to pay for his living expenses instead of depending on the young church for support. And he affirms them for responding to the gospel and following Christ even though they were enduring great suffering because of it; God would deal with their persecutors.

What resonates as you reflect on this passage? Are you suffering intense persecution in order to follow Christ? Probably not. Do you feel like you’re having to defend yourself from malicious or misguided accusations? Hopefully not. But what about your motivations for serving or even just for coming to youth group? Are they as righteous and selfless as the Apostle Paul’s? Or are they more mixed and messy?

Paul sets a clear example for why and how we should serve and belong in the church. We’re to please God above one another. We’re to be sincere in our interactions and not flatter others to be liked or get ahead. We’re to be honest and not wear masks that hide our real selves, motives, and struggles. We should do nothing out of greed or jealousy. The list could go on….


So why do you come to youth group, and why do you serve? (If you’re not serving in some way then talk to a Doulos member, counselor, or Pastor Jon and we’d be happy to help you plug in!) Our hearts are often deceitful and it can be hard to discern our true motivations for serving. Sometimes we want attention, we want to be liked and praised, we want to attain a special status, we want friends, we think we can get something out of it, etc. It’s easy to serve for selfish reasons—instead of selfless reasons—and we can be good at hiding these impure motives. But nothing is hidden from God, who sees all, and whose son is our ultimate example of a suffering servant.

Take some focused time to intentionally search your heart and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any impure motives within you. Think about what makes you angry when you are serving, and why—that’s one good way to reveal our true motivations. Confess your sins here and receive the grace and strength from God to repent and serve instead out of selfless love for Christ and all He has placed in your care.

Read Psalm 139 as a concluding prayer.

Discipleship - 1 Thessalonians 1

Read: 1 Thessalonians 1

This semester I’m taking a class entitled “The Ethics and Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” For those of you who have not yet heard of him, Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor-theologian who lived during the Third Reich in Nazi Germany. He was perhaps best known as the only pastor who was involved with a plot to assassinate Hitler, and for that reason he was sent to the Flossenburg Concentration Camp and was executed a few weeks before the end of World War II. Dietrich Bonhoeffer visited America twice. In 1930, he came to New York City’s Union Theological Seminary for a postgraduate year. There he met with a fellow friend: Paul Lehmann. My professor, who herself was a close friend of the Lehmanns, would share often of Paul’s stories concerning Bonhoeffer, about the strength and vitality of his faith. Much of this vitality can be sensed in one of Bonhoeffer’s famous books: Discipleship. I recommend it to all of you.

We often think of discipleship as a “mentorship” sort of relationship. Indeed, at WCAC we have a very strong discipleship program that I think all of you should be involved in if you have not yet. But why do we have that program? Why is this discipleship important? For Bonhoeffer, discipleship is ultimately about following Christ, no matter the cost. In his famous first chapter, Bonhoeffer talks about “cheap grace.” The idea of forgiveness without repentance, Christian living without suffering, etc. is cheap grace because it is, to put it differently, cherry-picking the Gospel, picking out what you like about it, and leaving out what you don’t like. We see this all the time. People talk about loving God, but not giving up the things that enslave us, like other gods, money, etc. People talk about following God, but not repenting of sins from our old selves. That is cheap grace.

Bonhoeffer argues that Christianity is about “costly grace,” a grace so costly it costs us our very lives. We see this in the passage we read today. It’s great that God has graciously made Godself known among the Thessalonians (vs. 4-5), but is that enough? What makes the Thessalonian church so much different than just any church that claimed to have received Jesus? We see it in verse 6: they imitated the apostles, who themselves imitated the example set forth by Jesus. And they did that despite “severe suffering”. And in doing so, they preached the Gospel without words, with the Gospel making inroads into Macedonia and Achaia. Paul concludes thusly: “We do not need to say anything about it (v. 8).” Why? The fruits of their witness were plain enough for everyone to see.

Discipleship is fundamentally about imitation. In Jesus’ times, the rabbis would’ve understood what that meant. To be a rabbi begins with becoming a disciple of a famous rabbi. Whatever your master did, you do too. You want to be like your master. If he drank Earl Grey Tea, you’d drink Earl Grey Tea as well, even if you hate it. In our day and age, it’s easy to water down what discipleship is about. Oh, Jesus could not possibly be against homosexuality. Oh, Jesus couldn’t possibly be against having wealth. Oh, Jesus couldn’t possibly be against war. What’s wrong with living in the suburbs? What’s wrong with being patriotic? And by watering down what discipleship is about, we move closer and closer towards cheap grace. Before long, our discipleship becomes a “Denny’s Discipleship.” You meet at Denny’s (McDonald’s or Chik-Fil-A), get your meal, sit together, pray, eat, and then address the most pressing theological and ethical issue of our time: “What do you think of Theo Epstein?” And the rest of the “Denny’s Discipleship” is not so much about Christ as it is about the Cubs and whether this will be the year they’ll experience World Series Resurrection. So much for discipleship.

The challenge for our time today is not liberalism, conservatism, secularism, or whatever “-ism” you can come up with as you try to find a way to fall asleep. No – the challenge for our time today is cheap grace. The challenge for our time today consists of Christians who don’t wish to follow Christ completely, who are unwilling to give up their old idols to serve the one true God; Christians who want to follow Jesus without letting go of their pleasures and possessions. Christians who want to follow Jesus while staying employed. I’m not saying, by the way, that the Cubs, TV, iPods, or a job are bad per se. But so often, they become something we cannot give up.

All the more reason, therefore, that we make authentic discipleship an important part of our fellowship. Let us pray that God will teach us to accept “costly grace” and reject “cheap grace”. May we learn from our disciplers who embody what it means to be saved by costly grace – grace so costly it cost Jesus his dignity and life.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

The Gift of Hope

Read Ephesians 2:11-3:13

Take a moment to stop here and reflect on who you were before Christ saved you. What were the motives and desires of your heart? What paths were you going down? Were you at peace with yourself? What was your hope?

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32

Paul talks about this being a great mystery of the faith that Gentiles and Jews are reconciled in the kingdom of Christ and together reconciled to God. This side of the resurrection it’s sometimes easy to forget what a mystery it is. Did you ever realize that before Christ was crucified there was a dividing wall of hostility? Not just between you and God (which I hope we emphasize), but even between you and being one of the chosen people of God. For Gentile believers in Yaweh at that time one would need look no further than the massive wall blocking off the court of the Gentiles from the Jewish courts in the temple at Jerusalem, where it would literally mean death if you were to try to cross. Gentiles were considered lesser in value than even women in Jewish culture; and women we know were not considered to have any great value, slightly above beasts. We were without hope, without God, and without the possibility of entering into fellowship. Then along comes Jesus abolishing in his own flesh the dividing wall of hostility. When Christ was hung on the cross with his arms spread wide, did his very posture of suffering and death display his call for all to come to him? God with his arms spread and even nailed wide for all to be received into the new kingdom. Paul says his purpose was to “create a new humanity from the two”. Christ by his blood and death made us equal, made us human in a new humanity of peace, with the Holy Spirit of God being the seal of its veracity. The Gentiles who could not even enter the old temple, by Christ’s sacrifice are a physical part of the new temple. We not only can approach God, we together are the very place he now dwells.

Devotional Singing is the practice of filling your mind with God’s word through song. This can be done alone or with others, but you should allow yourself space enough to connect yourself in your mind and your heart to the words you sing to God, think of it kind of like singing prayer. If you aren’t sure which words you should use, you can start with your favorite passage of scripture or a psalm and begin to sing it back to God.

Dear God, give us the words and melody that we may sing back to you the hope you have given us. Amen.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Father Into Your Hands...


Let’s start by taking a step back to look at the time line of Jesus’ last day. It’s the middle of the night and Jesus is in the garden praying. He is arrested in the dark and taken to the house of the high priest where he is waits (and also beaten) until day break and brought before the elders for a few questions. They then take him to Pilate (just after daybreak), who sends him to Herod. Then he is sent back to Pilate, and in the next few hours he is flogged befoe carrying the cross through the city and outside the gate to be crucified. He is place on the cross and left there to die which is where our scripture for today starts. Read Luke 23:44-49

The first thing we learn is it was about the 6th hour, which according to the notes at the bottom of my bible informs me that it is noon. Jesus on limited or no sleep has been taken various places, beaten, flogged, carried the cross, and put up on the cross by noon.

The second thing we learn is there is darkness… for three hours in the middle of the day! Then at the 9th hour four major things happen: 1. There is an earthquake (Matt 27:51) 2. Bodies are being raised (Matt 27:52) 3. The curtain is torn 4. Jesus, gives up his spirit and dies (Jn 19:30, Lk 23:46). Had I seen all this happen I think my automatic reaction would be to freak out a bit. Most likely there was a bunch of chaos, fear, terror, screams and people running around frantic. The earthquake is bad enough to be splitting rocks and the curtain being torn was probably one of worst things that could happen to the temple. I don’t even know what to say about bodies being raised…

With everything going on needless to say things were loud, people were upset, and things were looking a little hopeless. So what should people do? Pray? Cry out to God for help? Something else? In Isaiah 53:6-7 Jesus sets the example, he is silent and doesn’t open his mouth. While sometime we need to tell God what is on our hearts, other times we need to be silent and trust and give ourselves over to his hands. Jesus commits his spirit into the Father’s hands (Lk 23:45) because he trusts him and knows it is the only thing to do.

We should come before God in the same way, trusting Him and knowing there is no other way. In the amidst of chaos, a busy week, a stressful moment, temptation, whatever it is to be still and know that he is God so He will be exalted (Ps 46:10). Take the focus off your suffering for a moment and put it back on God. David gives us the same advice in Psalm 4:4-5 (take a quick look… Ps 51:16-17 defines sacrifices of the righteous). We are to search our hearts and remain silent. Many times in our lives when things seem overwhelming God is usually trying to get our attention to say something that were not listening to. So why not stay silent and listen so we know how to pray and don’t fall into sin and hardness of heart?

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. (Hab 2:20) Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your mist? (1Cor 3:16) Let us therefore, as God’s temple, be silent before him so that He may be exalted and glorified through the Spirit alive and dwelling within us.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

It Is Finished

“Woman, here is your son…”
“Here is your mother….”
“I am thirsty…”
“It is finished.”

Read: John 19.28-30

Death.

The very mention of the word stirs the souls of Chinese people. It is the “evil word”, the word the utterance of which evokes bad joo-joo. Before my dad passed away, our family never talked about him dying. We always said that things might “change”. As our grandfather approaches 80 years old, we never talk about him dying, but of “things that might happen.” Death indeed is scary. It means something is ending. Whether our efforts and labor were worth it becomes apparent the day we meet our maker. The scariest part is that you never know when it’s going to come.

When I was in high school, I was a part of our school’s NHS. Minnesota has a predominately Lutheran/Congregationalist population, so not surprisingly, our NHS has many committees. I was placed on the Casino Night committee where we organized a night of gambling to raise money for charity. No, it was not my idea. On the committee was Sara. She was an ordinary athletic person with well-combed shoulder-length hair who wore a simple sweater (it was in the middle of winter) and jeans. We talked about our physics teacher who was known for his dry humor. And then we went home. A few days later, she died in her sleep.

Most of you reading this have no idea of death, because you have not seen someone die in front of you. You think that death is at least 50+ years away. You have not been in a situation where the heart monitor of a loved one flatlines as you hold his or her hand. There’s nothing to make you realize that one day, you will face the same fate. The question is always the same: have you wasted your life?

Sometimes we think that a well-lived life means getting lots of stuff done. But that’s not true. Adolf Hitler got a lot of stuff done. And so did Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and other tyrants. But we would rather that they got nothing done! Sometimes, we go through life so fast that we just do stuff, do this, do that, all without thinking. And in the end, when we reflect on that stuff, we realize that all we’ve done so far is just stuff. No lives changed. No living well. Nothing done well. Nothing learned. Just stuff.

As you read the passage above, note the slowness of the reading. This is not a passage you can read in 10-15 seconds. It is a weighty passage, with every pace moving slowly because Jesus’ work is drawing to a close. Everything he did was in fulfillment of the Scriptures, in taking the Law and raising the bar so high that obeying it in its fullness can only be done through the Spirit, from the drinking of the sour wine to the hyssop plant (cf. the Passover in Exodus). It builds up to Jesus’ last words: “it is finished.”

So let us slow down in reflection. As we go approach Good Friday, let us slow down and take some time in reflecting on the Cross. Let this Holy Week not just be something you “do” just for the sake of “doing”, but something that reorients you towards Christ once again. And let this Holy Week touch upon all you do. May every part of your life, from homework to hanging out with friends to youth group to driving to whatnot be not just any other humdrum event, but an opportunity to live out well.

May we, the day death arrives at our doorstep, greet it with joy saying, “It’s all finished!”.

JESUS IS LORD AND SAVIOR OF THE WORLD

Please read Col 1:15-20.

The Apostle Paul is very clear as lays out the supremacy of Jesus Christ: the same “all things” that Jesus Christ created and sustains are the very same “all things” that Jesus Christ is reconciling back to himself through his blood, shed on the cross. In other words, Jesus Christ died because of our sin, but he did not die just to save us; all of creation is groaning because of our sin (Romans 8), and he died to save his whole creation. Amen!

Sometimes we make the gospel all about us and only for us. We should correct this. Two points from Colossians apply here. First—the gospel is ultimately about God, not us. Second—the gospel is for us AND for all the rest of creation. It is God’s good news about the reconciliation of ALL THINGS by Jesus Christ, through his blood that was shed on the cross.

Consider the unified voice of the global evangelical church through the official statement from the Lausanne Congress last year (aka the Cape Town Commitments):
“We remind ourselves that the Bible declared God’s redemptive purpose for creation itself. Integral mission means discerning, proclaiming, and living out, the biblical truth that the gospel is God’s good news, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for individual persons, and for society, and for creation. All three are broken and suffering because of sin; all three are included in the redeeming love and mission of God; all three must be part of the comprehensive mission of God’s people.”

What a big vision God has! And what an inexpressible privilege that he invites us to join him on this divine mission! I’ll unpack the implications of this more in future devotions. But for now let us simply be in awe of God’s matchless mercy and grace, which covers all our sin and heals the deep brokenness of the world we share. We worship him as our personal Lord and Savior, and we worship him as Lord and Savior of the whole world. God is good!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below, praise him above ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

“My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”

Have you ever gone through an intense period of suffering and thought that maybe God had abandoned you? Maybe it was the death of a loved one. Or maybe some sort of extreme trial in school. Often we are faced with situations and life’s difficulties and it feels like God has abandoned us. Or worse yet, that He’s punishing us by withdrawing His presence from us. That’s not the case; God hasn’t abandoned or forsaken us. But there was a point in salvation history when God had hidden His face from Jesus. And it was in that moment of suffering that Jesus underwent the intensely just and righteous wrath of God, separate from relationship for the first time since eternity past. It was in his brokenness that Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” the fourth of his seven cries from the cross.

Read Mark 15:33-41

For the first time ever, as a result of taking on the sin of the world and trading his righteousness for our sinfulness, Jesus experienced separation from the Father. God poured out His wrath on Jesus in that moment and Jesus echoes one of David’s psalms in his cry to God. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t understand why God poured out His wrath on him, he knew full well that God’s plan from the beginning of time was for Jesus to give his life for the world. Instead, Jesus was expressing what he was feeling in that moment of suffering, the fact that God had abandoned him. The significant thing about the Psalm that Jesus quoted from was that in it, while David acknowledges his feelings of hopelessness, the Psalm is largely about God’s ability to save.

Read Psalm 22

In the same way that David knew God’s plan for salvation, Jesus knew that death could not hold him, and the Father would act in divine intervention for him, raising him from the dead. Not only raising him from physical death, but restoring Jesus to relationship within the Godhead. All that from four words in the original language, translated “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Spend some time this morning reflecting on the immensity of what Jesus did for you on the cross. It wasn’t just a physical death that Christ experienced for you, but it was the complete abandonment by God, something he’d never felt before. It was in that moment that God poured out all of His righteous wrath on Jesus. The justice necessary for every sin. Every lie. Every murder. Every rape. Every gossip. Every moment of selfishness and pride. For everything in between the Fall and the day he comes again, Jesus bore it. That moment, he satisfied the wrath of God. For you.

On the cross, Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” so that you would never have to.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Sacrifice

Read John 19:24-27

So I want you to picture this scene with me: Here’s Jesus, hanging on the cross, all bloody and exhausted beyond words. Soldiers had already had their share of mocking him, beating him, and now they divided his undergarments. Near the cross were Jesus’ mother, Mary, Mary Magdalene, and John (“the disciple whom he loved.” They stood next to hanging Jesus filled with pity and sorrow. What could they do? Then suddenly, Jesus speaks.
He tells his mother, probably in painful, broken words, “Mother, here is your son.”
And then to John he says, “Here is your mother.”
The crowd stays silent as they process what Jesus just said.

I’m sure you know of this passage. But it’s important that you grasp and visualize what exactly is happening in this passage. Remember, Jesus isn’t just saying these words lightly. He’s on the cross! He’s suffering unbearable pain, and here, you can almost see him gasping these words out to his mother and John. And what did he say? Well, simply stated, he told his mother that John was now her son, and to John, that my mother is now your mother as well. The passage finishes with stating that “from that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

What Jesus did was sacrifice. Yes, his crucifixion was also sacrifice, but this act of compassion towards his beloved mother and disciple was equally as sacrificial. You have to understand this. Jesus was dying. Yet he still took what air was left in his lungs to make certain of the welfare of his family. Now expand that, and you have the crucifixion. He suffered all the pain and humiliation all for the welfare of God’s family, His children. Do you get the picture? This is true sacrifice. Jesus is the true sacrifice.

Now you get it, but let’s connect it to your life. If Jesus sacrificed his all for us, and even sacrificed precious breaths to care for his family, how do we measure to that? I’m sure we sacrificed meat, Facebook, fast food, or any other distractions in life all for lent, but what does that act of sacrifice even mean for us? We’re so quick to sacrifice things all for the sake of “religion,” but do we even bother to sacrifice our time – our, oh so precious, time – for God’s people? For the ones we truly care for? Jesus cared for his mother and John when he was nailed to the cross, dying for our sins. Think about that. How should we respond to such sacrifice? As followers of Jesus, how can we be shine the light just how Jesus did? Pray that God would transform you into a “living sacrifice,” void of the old, and bursting with newfound light.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Real Jesus - Sabbath

When I was dating Joanne, I was impressed by her calm, gracious, cheerful personality – a big contrast to my anxious, self-centered, gloomy personality. She seemed too good to be for real. Maybe she was faking it, just acting when I was around? How could I find out what she was really like? I got a chance to find out when she had a huge project to complete at the end of the school term. She worked on it day and night, finally going without sleep for several nights in a row to finish it. In that state of complete exhaustion, under grinding pressure, the real Joanne was sure to surface. Would I discover that she was actually crabby, self-pitying, and prone to fits of temper?

In the same way, we have all these stories about Jesus – he seems so kind and caring. Really? Or was all that just a show? How can we find out what God is really like inside? Today’s passage shows us God stripped naked, completely vulnerable, in agonizing pain. Here is where we meet the real Jesus and find out how he really feels about us.

Read Luke 23:32-43.

Question: Look again at how Jesus treats the people around him. Listen to the words that come out of His heart. If you were in His place, what would your heart have said?

Consider the second of Jesus’ last words to people, “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. They were addressed to a criminal, and Jesus in his suffering could still speak with so much compassion and forgiveness while he was suffering himself. In the last moments of this criminals’ life he had nothing to look forward to but condemnation from everyone around him, but Christ, because he looks at him and sees his faith, gives him the hope of paradise over the pit. Christ draws near to relate to this condemned man in his suffering to offer him the hope of salvation. Now think about how Christ has done that for you, how he is doing that for you even today, even now. How has Christ drawn near to you when you felt overwhelmed by the judgment of others?

Pray: Tell Jesus what you see in the real Him.

The spiritual discipline for today is Sabbath. When was the last time you had a real Sabbath? When was the last time you took a day to rest and reflect on God? Separate yourself today from the business and give yourself time to work on your relationship with God. Tell God about the moments when you have seen him moving in your life. Give God some time when you are just listening and he can speak with you. What is he saying?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Father, forgive…

Read: Luke 23.26-43

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.
Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.
For He will lift you up
higher and higher
and He will lift you up.

It is interesting that of all the major religions, only within Christianity is forgiveness such a big deal. Indeed, we have in our reading above the best example – Jesus, dying on the cross, watching his created beings crucify and accuse the God they profess to worship. He, of course, has all the right to breathe fire on them. He has the right to destroy his enemies, the Roman soldiers, the teachers of the law and chief priests who sneered at him. But he did not. He only responded with “Father… forgive them…”
We live in a world, unfortunately, where forgiveness is foreign. Just watch the news. Not long ago, Tiger Woods revealed that he had several mistresses. Lindsey Lohan was in court again for stealing. And just today (4/5/2011) Justin Bieber’s cake burned his mom’s hair. The news reports them as if they were not supposed to make mistakes! Tiger Woods may be a sports idol and many respect him and see him as a role model, but one thing I know – Woods was not perfect. Lindsey Lohan, who is very wealthy, was in and out of the courtrooms and rehab. The news made it sound like she’s this “bad girl” who used to be good. The problem is that something is terribly wrong with Lohan, and she needs help, not more media attention gawking at her problems. As my ethics professor put it, “Americans are so finicky. One day their idols and celebrities are extolled as heroes, and when they make one mistake, everyone tries to kill them as quickly as possible.”
We’d be dreaming if we claim that the Church is above and beyond such finicky-ness. A few years ago, the chairman of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted Haggard, who preached vehemently against homosexuality, was caught with a male prostitute. In my opinion, the response was more interesting than Haggard’s sin itself. Most notable, I think, was Dr. James Dobson’s. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, who used to publicly support Haggard, quickly became silent and withdrew all contact from him. Apparently, “tainted” people such as Ted Haggard are to be avoided from holier people such as Dobson. At least that’s how many of my liberal seminarians interpreted the situation.
Why is forgiveness so hard? Why is following Jesus in this respect so difficult?
Part of the problem, I think, is because we think we’re right. We’re conservative evangelicals; we believe X, Y, and Z; therefore, we must be right. We have to be right. And God must be on our side, because we are conservative evangelicals. We think we’re somehow higher, better, more righteous than others who are not like us. Dr. Duane Litfin, former president of Wheaton College, once said that Wheaton College is “militantly evangelical.” But if Jesus were militantly evangelical, he first words would not have been “Father, forgive…” Thus, forgiveness and humility always go hand in hand. When we truly see ourselves honestly, we will be more willing to forgive others readily. When we dethrone ourselves and put Christ in the throne of our hearts, maybe we can see others with the same eyes as God. When we humble ourselves, we might just see others with the eyes of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who were against Jesus, but with the eyes of our God who saw people in need of healing, in need of love.
Let us spend some time in quiet reflection on the virtue of humility. Are we judgmental people? Just think about our youth group for a second. Maybe you know a few people who have issues. Some might have issues reining in their words. Some might have issues of lust. What’s your first reaction? Eww! They’re not as holy as I am!
Think about school. There, you definitely know a few people who you despise, if you’re honest with yourself. Those inner city kids who are head-over-heels if they get a B-?
Those kids who swear across the hallway?
Those kids who don’t understand the Pythagorean Theorem?
Those kids who have GPAs less than 3.5?
Those kids who are gay?
Those people who had sex before getting married?

Whatever categories and labels you use for them, we are called to be different, to not judge. Think about some of the words we use to hurt. Merely not using those words is not enough. We’re called to eliminate those categories that are intended to cut down and destroy and replace them with the love and mercy that comes from Christ. If our call is for Christ likeness, consider how Jesus see’s these individuals. Not as a label, but as someone in need of compassion.

Origin of all righteousness,
Confronted by You we confess our unworthiness, even our sin. It is a terrible thing to be so found by You. We want You to like us, and so we try to hide who we are. We play at being faithful. Alas, such play only becomes an occasion for more sin. Yet You forgive us in a way that does not destroy. You make us Your own and in the process free us from our enjoyment of our sin. It is good to be forgiven by You.
Amen.

Monday, April 25, 2011

The Response of Sorrow

Read Luke 23:44-56.

Sorrow and grief take many forms. For those of you who are more familiar with death and tragedy this will not be anything new to you, but let’s take a look for a moment at the sorrow surrounding Jesus’ death:

“Surely this was a righteous man.”
What an interesting thing for a man who had literally presided over the death of Jesus to say. What was it, I wonder, that made him make such an exclamation? Was it the death itself? Was it everything leading up to the death? Had he inadvertently been paying attention to this condemned man’s last words? Was it the reaction of God through nature around him when the sky turned dark and the earth shook? What does it say about his regret? Does he seem to regret that he just killed a man who didn’t deserve it?

“When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.”
The very people who, a moment before, had been the mocking passersby upon his death become the wailing mourners. The practice of wailing in the Middle East is still commonly done today upon death. However it was not commonly done by men either back them or today, and yet here and in the original language there is everything to suggest that there were both men and women who were wailing at the time of Christ’s death. Why? Was it because they too had the clarity of the Centurion? Were some of these people also among the faithful followers? If they weren’t with Jesus’ family were they all there to mock Jesus? Whatever their reason for being there, at seeing his death there was a sudden realization of who he was that equally affected men and women standing nearby.

“Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. . . Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body.”
Joseph always seemed to me a pretty decent man. It’s not clear here that he believes in the resurrection of Jesus, and presumably no one expected it; but having just witnessed the death of the man he hoped would be Messiah bringing the kingdom of God, he still goes out of his way to make provision for his burial. Was it out of guilt or shame? The gospel of Luke states that he didn’t agree with the Sanhedrin’s actions or decisions. Was it because he realized who Jesus was and loved him? Was it because it was the last thing he could do for the man whom he had hoped in as Messiah?

“The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph . . . then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes.”
Was it the job only of the women to make themselves ceremonially unclean in order to preserve the dead with the spices and perfumes? No. Yet they are the only ones recorded who are making further preparations to give Jesus a proper Jewish burial.

Looking at some of these examples of grief and sorrow you may see your own reaction, you may not. How is it that you relate to the sorrow of the Cross? How do you connect with Jesus on the level of grief? What does your sorrow have to say about your relationship with Christ?

Today’s spiritual discipline is seeking Guidance. For most of us we like to seek guidance from God in big decisions like college, careers, relationships, missions, or moving. This is something different. Seeking guidance from God in these areas is important, but the discipline of seeking Guidance revolves being open to what God wants to do through your life daily and being obedient, not just in the decisions you consider big. Take some time out today to actively listen for God’s will without pushing forth your own desires, is there something God is putting on your heart that you didn’t see before?

God, quiet our hearts and our souls so we may listen to you. Speak to us of the things that are close to your heart. Give us willing spirits that are obedient to your will, so that in all things you may be given glory. Amen.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Response of Faith - Prayer

Before we begin today, let’s just recap what has happened so far:
Jesus has been brutally and unjustly tried, found guilty, beaten, beaten some more, spit on, and suffered through all sorts of other things too. In a nutshell, Jesus was tortured physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
I think that most of us might be able to understand the physical and emotional torture to a miniscule degree. Perhaps you’ve been severely injured physically at some point playing a sport. Perhaps you’ve experienced extreme pain at the death of a family member. But I think that none of us can really, truly comprehend the spiritual pain that Jesus went through. Having always been intimately connected to God in a perfectly harmonious relationship, Jesus never knew separation from Him. So when he was forced to endure that separation, even if only for mere minutes on that cross, it must have felt devastating. What does Jesus do though?

Read Luke 23:39-49

I think what strikes me in this passage above anything else is Jesus’ response to all this pain and suffering: prayer. He cries out to the Father, amidst all of his hurt, amidst all of his disfigurement (how many of us could handle that even?). He does not blame God for all of his struggles, for the mere humans who are essentially treating God’s one and only Son like a common criminal; instead he prays. And what does he say? “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” What an image: a perfectly obedient and humble son who would do his father’s will, even if it meant temporary death (separation from God) and the shame and humiliation heaped on him as the perfect sacrifice. God the Father allows all of this to happen yet it is to this very same God to whom Jesus commits his spirit into. What this screams to me is this: “I TRUST YOU! Even if it seems that, at the current time, things seem to be going crazy and out of control and nothing is going right, I WILL TRUST IN YOU. I will trust that you have a greater plan.”
So what is holding you back from responding to God amidst trials and hardships as Jesus did? Is it a lack of trust in Him? Distractions? The belief that you can count on other things or people to pull you up out of the depths of your problems? Whatever it is, other than God, it doesn’t work. Even up to today, I still personally struggle with trusting God and praying to Him amidst my struggles and the craziness of my life. But I know that God is calling me to turn to Him more and more everyday for strength and comfort just as He is calling you to turn to Him in prayer. As we continue approaching Easter, how can we learn to imitate Christ’s example of prayer more and more each day?


Father, forgive us of the times when we’ve sinned by not turning to you first when we are faced with challenges. But transform our hearts; renew them daily that we may learn to trust you and build our foundation upon You and your Word.

Friday, April 15, 2011

The Response of Mourning – Confession

Matthew 27: 45-56

Take some time to read this passage, and then reread it. Jesus could have chosen to take upon our sins all alone, he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Through this experience, Jesus doesn’t choose to take a different route, but follows through with what God has planned for him, and dies for our sins. He chose to continue to obey God despite knowing how much pain and suffering he would have to endure. As we look at this passage, there are two mourners. One is God mourning the death of his son, symbolized by nature’s response.

The landscape reacts to God mourning, darkness passes over the land, and the earthquake shakes the ground. The curtain of the temple is torn, symbolizing a chetonet, which is something that people in ancient times would rip off from their clothes to mourn for someone who has passed away. And when Adam and Eve sinned, they were closed by God; they were wrapped in a chetonet, a veil separating them from God and each other. The chetonet being ripped into two shows how we can now be in community with God and that we are no longer separated from God. The mourning of God is shown through nature, and the significance of it is even noticed by the non-Christians, the centurion and the others watching of Jesus said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Take some time to reflect on Christ’s sacrifice for us, and what it means for us.

The other mourners of Jesus were the women, specifically the Marys. The women were with Jesus through the whole crucifixion, and were there after it; they helped bury him, and were the mourners of Jesus on Earth.

Just as how Jesus was mourned for, take some time to reflect on how you have mourned for Christ’s sacrifice for us.

Now take some time to pray:
Dear God, we confess that we don’t always live for Jesus and don’t always show that we love him. We get distracted and stray away from you sometimes. We pray that you would continue to remind us of Christ’s sacrifice for us and that you would instill in us a desire to continue following you. Amen.

The Response of Forgiveness - Worship

Read Luke 23: 26-43

We’ve all heard the story before; this is the crucifixion of Jesus. It may take you back to younger days in Sunday School when the teacher would show a picture of a cross and all the little kids would ooh and ahh before asking for some more goldfish to snack on. We know the story, now how can we reflect on its meaning?

What does it mean for us to read about how Jesus was led to the hill to take on your sin? Maybe think of it through the eyes of a soldier or one of the other men being crucified as they watched him being beaten and mocked. How would it have looked through their eyes? Was it just another man being nailed to a cross or was it something that affected the lives of all those living and even not yet living through to this present day?

Reread the passage now through the eyes of whom you pick. Think of how it affected them and what it looked like as they watched it all unfold.

Think about worship- how you worship. When you are singing through words on a screen and when you are praying do you remember that you are praising the God who sent his son to take on the shame and sin of the entire world? Are those just words on a screen that you’ve come to memorize and recite like machines, or are they words that you are meditating on and consciously thinking of what you are saying? Think about how you pray, do you say the same things every time you talk with the Lord? Have those become words that you’ve grown so used to praying for that you don’t even realize it?

Spend time in prayer reflecting on how you can worship in a way that truly gives God the glory he deserves. Meditate on each and every line that you are singing, pray in a way that it does not become a structured checklist of things to pray for, but think of it like a conversation with your closest friend where you aren’t rushing to carry on with the rest of your day but you are there to spend time with them and to speak and listen while letting whatever comes to your mind and thoughts be lifted up to the God who is there listening. What little things can you do to make your “worship time” more of a lifestyle? What things are you doing during your day that aren’t letting God speak to you without you realizing it, what can you change to fill your life and mind with that will benefit you and your walk with Christ each and everyday?

Meditation: The Response of Indifference

Read Mark 15:21-32

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes, it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

You may not recognize the hymn above, but for the black church in America, this hymn was no ordinary hymn. Along with other famous songs such as “Amazing Grace”, these songs were reminders of faith despite being enslaved in the 19th century. The white slaveowners – many Christian – did not permit the slaves to worship in a way that they’re comfortable with, so the slaves held secret services where they could sing praise songs that incorporated African rhythms, cadences, etc. And from such squalid and unjust conditions came some of the deepest hymns that, despite their simplicity, still speak to us today.

The passage we read above sounds familiar. After all, we read it yesterday. But for most – if not all – of us, the crucifixion story is just another story. We read it, and maybe just think, “oh, how tragic,” and then maybe utter a prayer or two. On Good Friday, we hear the story, maybe shed a tear or two. But then, maybe two weeks after Holy Week, we’re no different. It’s almost as if we’ve never heard of the crucifixion story at all.

But such a lackadaisical indifference to the story of Christ’s death is not unique to just many Christians today – it’s happening across the world. Just this past week, Newt Gingrich, who is campaigning for the Republican nomination for the 2012 Presidential race, talked about how he fears that America is growing more and more atheist. But where does that atheism come from? Does it just appear from nowhere? Of course not. When people see Jesus’ crucifixion as just another historical event, coupled with the hypocrisy within the Church, the power of the Gospel becomes muddied. Elie Wiesel wrote once that “because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.”

What, then, could be done? In a world that is all about getting things done quickly, expediently, in a world about becoming “bigger, faster, better, stronger” we need to slow down. When we think of “meditation”, we often think of Buddhist meditation, which involves trying to rid our minds of gobble-dy-gook. Those math equations, chemical formulas, all those things – just forget about them. But in Christian meditation, we’re more… realistic, shall we say? Instead of just clearing our minds of everything, let us refocus our minds on the cross. Let us focus on the image of our God who died for our sins. Let us focus our minds, our lives, on that image.

For tonight, let’s re-read Mark 15:21-32. I realize it’s a Wednesday, and it might not be the best day to do this, but if you have the time, re-read it a few times. Each time you read it, put yourselves in the shoes of the different people involved.

Picture yourself as one of “those who passed by”. How would you ridicule him? What a loony Jesus was! Destroying the temple and rebuilding it in 3 days? You’ve lost your mind! Might as well be crucified – the world is better of without you!

Picture yourself as one of “the chief priests and the teachers of the law”, the “evangelical conservatives” of Jesus’ time! This Jesus is delusional, liberal, Marxist! This is the Jesus who hung out with the tax collectors (think: liberal Christians), the Samaritans (think: illegal immigrants). This is the Jesus who even extended kindness to a Roman official (think: Arabs). Here is a Jesus who claimed that it is harder for the wealthy to go to Heaven! (think: socialist). Who needs a liberal, illegal, Arab, and socialist Jesus? Oh, and since he talked about “saving others”, let’s see if he can do that too!

Picture yourself as one of the Roman soldiers who crucified him. Who cares, right? He’s just one of those rag-tag Judeans, not one of us noble Romans. Those Judeans have no culture; they’re crass and uneducated compared to us glorious and refined Romans. Might as well crucify one more, right? One less Judean means one less crude barbarian on this planet.

Picture yourself as a slave in America singing the hymn above while remembering the cross. Your white masters whip you, yell derogatory comments at you, raping your heart and soul with every racist epithet, tearing down every shred of humanity you ever have. And then, after a day of enduring the scorn and evil heaped upon you, you sing the beautiful hymn of praise… were you there when they crucified my Lord?

And now, picture yourself as a teenage Asian-American man/woman getting ready to go to school tomorrow, probably staying up a little too late because of this long devotional. What is the cross to you?

The Response of Mockery

Read Mark 15:16-32

A number of people responded to the cross with open mockery. In the last moments of Jesus’ life he received scorn from every sector around him. Let’s take a moment and reflect on the types of scorn that Jesus received.
The Roman Soldiers and Jesus vs. 16-20. It’s almost ironic to me that crouched within this scenario of the soldiers denigration of someone they presumed to be a religious/political Jewish upstart is the tragic reality that their brutality is directed at the only Son of God, and the true King.
Pilate Mocks Jesus vs. 26 The sign of his charge was written not just in Hebrew but in multiple languages so that any local or traveler could read the invectively sarcastic remark from Pilate that this is what Rome did with kings of other nations; whether or not he had washed his hands of Jesus’ death.
The passersby mocked Jesus vs. 29-30. From the account in Mark’s gospel Golgotha must have been packed that day because there are the soldiers, the other thieves, Jesus’ friends and family, the chief religious leaders and also just people passing by. Whoever they were though, the must have been familiar with Jesus’ teaching or overheard it from others because they’re scorn is directed at an argument about the temple. Ironically, they were looking at the very God whose presence the temple was built to demonstrate among the people.
The religious leaders mock Jesus vs. 31-32 I find it very odd that the religious leaders claim that Jesus had saved others. If indeed they knew he had saved others and that salvation is only found through God then they must’ve known he was God. Why then would they need to see to believe? The hardened heart looks but doesn’t recognize.
The criminals mock Jesus vs. 32. Even those in the same situation as Jesus apparently were mocking him amidst their own suffering. If the shame of social rejection and humiliation of the bloody, naked, crucifixion were not enough he endured hours of ridicule from everyone around him before he died. What do we learn from this?
Today’s Spiritual discipline is reflection. Take some time to remember the crucifixion of Christ and how you have responded in the past. What types of response have you made? What happens to the image of the cross when we sin and harden our hearts toward God?
God, grant us humble hearts to look and see the sacrifice of Jesus, your Beloved Only Son, and help us to remember. Amen.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Response of Silence

It’s funny that as I’m writing this devotional, I also happen to be watching the movie The Passion of the Christ. And even as I was reading the passage for today, I was watching it unfold on screen. A coincidence? Maybe. But even with the understanding that The Passion of the Christ is just one man’s depiction of scripture and not scripture itself, I was struck by how accurately it portrays what was happening as Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin. If you have the chance, I’d watch the movie. Or better yet. Read the story the movie was based on.

Read Mark 14:53-15:5

Try to picture what is going on as Jesus stands before the high priest. He’s surrounded by an angry mob, and person after person comes forth to accuse him. He hasn’t done anything wrong, and yet he doesn’t speak in his own defense. His response to his accusers is silence. Why do you think that is? I think that when Jesus said “Not my will but yours be done” to the Father, he meant, I will take whatever abuse they heap on me. Jesus bore both the wrath of God on the cross, but also the shame of being accused, beaten, and crucified like a common criminal. His response to his accusers? Silence. Full acceptance that God’s will was going to happen.

Spend sometime this day reflecting on Jesus and his response as he stood before the high priest. Yes, his silence spoke volumes about his character and his submission to the Father’s plan. But the few words he spoke before the high priest speak immensely about his person. He is God. “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Death couldn’t hold him in the grave. While the Sanhedrin accused him of threatening the temple, Jesus was only telling everyone that he was the perfect sacrifice.

Take some time to reflect on the Easter story and journal. What emotions spring up in you when you hear the story of the crucifixion? What thoughts has God put in your mind as you reflect on Him and all that He’s done for us through his Son?

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” Isaiah 53:7

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Way of the Cross

Luke 9:18-27

Recently, I have been student teaching at Wheaton North with ESL students. This week several teachers have been observing me teach the students (very humbling for me!) After every class I teach I have to submit myself to listening to their critiques about my teaching and then try to improve the next class. As you can imagine it creates a lot of pressure, frustration, and discouragement to see all your weaknesses so closely. However, I submit myself to these critiques knowing that it is a refining process and the end goal of teaching well is what will glorify God and open doors when I’m in China. For some reason, when we talk about submission we feel negatively about it (probably because we are selfish beings…) but I hope you keep an open mind and it is more positive at the end of this. Take a moment to pray, then start by reading Luke 9:18-27

Here Jesus is praying with his disciples nearby and He asks them two important questions. First, He wants to know who people think He is. Their response included John the Baptist, Elijah, and the prophets of old. Take a moment to think about what these three answers have in common. After reflecting on it you might have realized that they are all humans that have had special anointing or used by God for something important. Next, Jesus wants to know what the disciples think and Peter answers “The Christ of God” (ESV) or “God’s Messiah” (NIV). Think a moment about Peter’s response. What does ‘Christ’ or ‘Messiah’ actually mean? ‘Christ’ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ‘Messiah’ so both mean the same thing: Anointed.

Peter said ‘Anointed one of God’ or ‘God’s Anointed’. So what does the word anointed mean? Usually it means that you are rubbing oil on something to prepare it for holy use. In Jesus’ case he was anointed with the Holy Spirit (Isa 61:1, Luke 3:21-22). Peter was repeating what he knew mentally of Jesus and what he had seen as a disciple. But perhaps he didn’t really understand what it meant to label Jesus as the ‘Christ’ because Jesus then explains what is coming and we also know what happens to Peter in Luke 22:54-62. Jesus was much more than just a prophet anointed for God’s use. He wanted to make sure the disciples knew that before He told them what was coming, even if they didn’t fully understand, so they would be ready when they finally did understand.

Jesus explains what is coming in verse 22. He knew that the only hope for humanity was in His death and resurrection. He had to submit to death, God submitted himself so that we could gain life! Jesus, so perfect, did not deserve the pain and difficulty of the cross/death BUT He submitted to it anyway because there was no other way we could know life in communion with Him. His only request is that we deny our selfishness and pick up the cross He places before us knowing that He will strengthen us (1 Cor 10:13).

Now ask God what are you doing out of selfishness that you should deny and what is the cross placed before you. Stop and listen! This takes time! This is something to ask God daily and moment by moment… it’s a discipline you must learn. Most of the time it can be painful and fearful, but just like I am being refined in my teaching through submission to critique (or Peter in Lk 22) so you are being refined in your submission to ASKING what you need to deny and CHOOSING to pick up that cross. We submit because He submitted first for us. The wonderful thing is you will find more joy and freedom in submission to God than anywhere else because He created us that way…for submission!

The Simple Cross

Read: Luke 23:26-43

When President Ronald Reagan passed away in 2004, the funeral at the Washington National Cathedral was packed with people we read in history books. Of course, there were presidents Carter, H.W. Bush, Clinton, and W. Bush. There was Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, prime ministers of the United Kingdom, former Soviet chairman Mikhail Gorbachev, French president Jacques Chirac. The body in the coffin was then escorted on an elaborate carriage to Air Force One, where it was flown to California and finally buried in large tomb. It was a fitting tribute to one of the most popular – if not the most popular – presidents in recent decades.

Jesus, on the other hand, had no funeral. His “funeral service” comprised of religious leaders going, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” He was escorted along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Golgotha. The soldiers drafted an unwilling Simon the Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross for him. And then, on Golgotha, they crucified him. Crucifixion was a terrible punishment. The physical pain and suffering victims of crucifixion endured was only the tip of the iceberg. Crucifixion was reserved for the most deranged criminals, for those who deserved to be put up in the public for parents to take their kids to and say, “That’s what you get for being a baaaad person!” And to rub salt into the wound, Jesus was crucified between two thieves. The thieves must have robbed someone incredibly wealthy or committed some additional crime on top of their theft, because a pickpocket doesn’t get crucified.

This was no fitting death for “The King of the Jews”. Even St. Paul had a much more dignified execution (he was beheaded alone). But even so, wouldn’t it be better if Jesus were crucified in between two political prisoners or two social justice campaigners or even two overzealous Jews (there was a militaristic faction of Judaism back in Jesus’ day)? But Jesus’ death was an ordinary execution; shockingly ordinary for a king.

The story of Jesus’ crucifixion is simple, and its simplicity magnifies the power and the significance of this story. So let us spend some time reading the story again and again. Put yourself in the shoes of someone witnessing the crucifixion. As Jesus was mounted on the cross, ask yourself: “Is this who I want to follow first in my life?” And as he died on the cross, ask yourself this: “Is this the kind of God I want to worship?”

What does it mean for us to worship this crucified God?

Great God, humble us so that we will be capable of hearing your Word. We thank you for the gift of yourself in the Scripture. We rejoice in its complexity. Give us the simplicity to be confounded by your Word. Amen.
- Stanley Hauerwas