Hunting For Bicentennial Quarters

I wrote a while back about loving 1976.  It was the Bicentennial of our country.  It was a year long party.  I loved that year and so many things about it.  I loved the  song that came out about it.  I loved the patriotism that was evident throughout the nation.  But there was one thing I love most about it.

It is the quarters.

I don’t know how many I have.  Several.  I used to find them on a fairly regular basis.  I would put them back in a special place reserved just for them.  I give them to Jan whenever I find them and she puts them back for me.

I thought about this as I was reading from Luke 15 recently.  It has three parables in it.  Or one if you take all three as one big parable.

I want to focus on the middle one or middle part of the parable.  It is about a woman who has lost a coin in her house.  She sweeps and sweeps and sweeps looking for this lost coin.  Why?  A couple of reasons, I think. 

First, that coin is precious to the woman.  Even though it is one of ten that she has, she wants to find it badly.  It is very valuable to the woman.  It means the world to her to get it back.  She will do anything to get it back.

Second, the coin can’t just become unlost.  It has to be found.  It has no ability to find itself.  It isn’t just going to roll out of the corner back to the woman.  She has to find it.

How does the woman react when she finds it?  She rejoices.  She runs to the neighbors and tells them all about it.  She has found the lost coin!!!!!!

There is a huge difference in that woman and me.  I wait around for a quarter to show up in the change I get from the concession stand.  I look through the change I get from McDonalds.  Before I put change in at the carwash, I check to see if it is a Bicentennial quarter.  Altogether, it’s pretty passive. 

Not the woman.  No, she lights a lamp to light up the house..  She sweeps in every nook and cranny in the house.  She is very active.  She searches high and low for the lost coin.  And what happens when she finds it?  She rejoices.  The coin is back where it belongs.  With the other coins.  In her possession.

If you read it carefully, you know that God searches for us much like the woman searches for the coin.  Except there is a huge difference.  The woman searched and searched and searched.

God searched and searched andsearched and sent His son ans searches and searches and searches.

I Saw The Light

Praise the Lord, I saw the Light!!!!

I hope you know who Minnie Pearl was.  If you don’t, please go back and research her.  Sarah Cannon’s wonderful character, who graced the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw, was loved by many and even gives us the first line from Charlie Daniel’s The South’s Gonna Do It Again  (yes, Minnie Pearl was from Grinders Switch).

Minnie Pearl said that when Hank Williams wrote the song lyrics above that he had seen the light.  If you don’t know who Hank Williams is or why that might cause some of us to be surprised, again, please do the research.  This blog is not really about Hank or Minnie.

I thought about all of this as I read Ephesians 1:18 recently.  This verse goes like this: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.  And I really want to focus on that one phrase, May Be Enlightened.

The first thing that grabs my attention is exactly who Paul is talking to.  He is talking to the saints in Ephesus.  Get it?  Saints.  Saints are what Paul calls believers and followers of Jesus Christ.  So, what Paul is not talking about is some sort of enlightenment that brings people to salvation.  He is not praying for people to come to Christ. 

The next thing that grabs my attention is Paul prays this.  This is a sentence prayer.  Paul is praying this will happen.  He is not giving these Ephesian saints step by step instructions on how to  know the hope of His calling.  He doesn’t tell them how to know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in them.  No, Paul prays that their hearts will be enlightened.

Why?

Why pray for it?  Why not say if they will get up in the morning and spend two hours in prayer and Bible study the eyes of your heart will be enlightened?  Why not say if they will spend time in fellowship with other believers this will happen?  Why not say that if they will spend time evangelizing they will be enlightened?  Why, I ask?

Because then they would be able to brag on themselves.  They would be able to boast on what they had done to grow in the Lord.  They would be able to tell everyone what they had done.  “See!  See!  See what I have done to be enlightened.”  That is what the Ephesians would do if enlightenment was up to them. And let’s face it.  Most of us would do the same thing.  Maybe all of us.   Instead, Paul prays for this enlightenment.  And sets the example for the rest of us.

Finally, let’s look at who Paul prays to.  He is praying to God through Christ.  He is leaving the enlightenment of the hearts of the Ephesian believers in God’s hands.  He is trusting it to the Lord.  He is placing this enlightenment in God’s grace.  It is totally up to God as far as Paul is concerned.

What does this mean for us?

You and I cannot ensure that our hearts will be enlightened.  We cannot do anything to make sure that we grow and mature in the Lord.  We can pray. We can study our Bibles. We can fellowship.  We can evangelize.  We can worship.

And none of it is enough.

It is not enough is we are not enlightened.

That is up to Him.  His choice.  Not you.  Not me.  Him.

Praise the Lord! I saw the Light!

A Holdover From Christmas: Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy….Do you hear what I hear?

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I love just about everything  about it.  I especially love the music.  While listening to Christmas music this past season, this thought kept coming to my mind:

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy…do you hear what I hear?

I kept wondering what that little lamb, what that little sheep was hearing.  Not the one in the song.  No, the little lamb or sheep that represents you and me.  What is he or she hearing?

In John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”  Think about what Jesus is saying in this sentence.  His sheep hear His voice.  These sheep belong to him.  He calls them, “My sheep.”  He owns them.  They belong to Him.  How did he come to this ownership?  Verse 29 gives us the answer.  His Father has given them to Him.  They were in the Father’s hand.  No one was or is able to snatch them out.    Now no one will be able to snatch them out of Jesus’ hand.

He knows these sheep.  That means these are more than just dumb animals.  You and I may not be able to differentiate one from another.  Not Jesus.  He knows them.  I understand this, a little I think, from when my famly owned cattle.  From spending time with these cattle, I could tell from hundreds of yards away which was which.  You can do that when you know them.  These sheep are not creatures he watches because it’s His job.  It’s because He has ownership and cares about them.

These sheep follow Him.  Why do they follow Him?  Why not just wander around?  Here’s why.  They follow Him because they know His voice.  They follow Him because they belong to Him.  That is the nature of Jesus’ sheep. 

There are other things I see in this chapter where Jesus talks about His sheep.  First, sheep believe Jesus because they are……sheep.  Jesus tells the Jews (probably Pharisees) that the reason they did not believe because they were not sheep.  Do you catch what Jesus is saying?  He does not say that believing makes you a sheep.  He says that being a sheep is why you believe.

Second, sheep have eternal life.  He gives eternal life to them.  Again, eternal life does not make them sheep.  Being a sheep means that they will have eternal life.  Does that reduce your responsiblity to hearing and believing the gospel?  I dont’ get that from the Bible.  It just seems that sheep are wired to believe and gain eternal life.

Third, sheep are secure.  They draw their security from Jesus.  No one could snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  No one can snatch them out of Jesus’ hand.  The Father is greater than all.  Jesus and the Father are one.  No one is able to affect this security that Jesus brings.

I love reading this chapter from the gospel of John.  I am reminded of it everytime I hear this song at Christmas time.

Do you hear what I hear?????

Image Is Everything

Several years ago Andre Agassi starred in a series of commercials for Canon in which he said, “Image is everything.”  These commercials seemed to play upon the fact that Agassi was extremely image conscious and implied that we all are really.

He may have been right.

It may have always been that way.  It may have increased during the 20th century with print, radio and TV advertising.  It has exploded over the last twenty years.  People are famous simply for being famous.  Indeed, image is everything.  It reminds me of what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes: “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.”

Image has always been important.  God created man in His image.  Adam and Eve threw that away.  The rest of us do no better.  Image, for perhaps the only time in history, was everything.

After the murder of Abel by Cain and Cain’s exile, Adam and Eve had another son.  His name was Seth.  The Bible tells us Adam had a son “in his own likeness, according to his image.”  Again, image was everything.

The problem, though, was that Adam’s image at this point was faulty.  This was an image that had been corrupted.  This was an image that was flawed.  This was an image that did not live up to the original.  It was an image that contained sin and death.  It was an image that includes rebellion and unbelief.  Plug in any other sin and iniquity you can find.  It is found there.  Image is everything.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be to know what this original image looked like?  Is that possible?  Can we know what the original image was supposed to be?  Can we know what to aim for?  Can we know what we were intended to be? 

Yes.

Phillip asked Jesus to show him and the other disciples the Father.  He wanted to see God.  Do you remember Jesus’ response?  He said to Phillip, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Phillip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”  Jesus was telling Phillip that image was everything.

Paul says it very bluntly.  He says that Christ is “the image of the invisible God.”  Image is everything

So, what does that have to do with you and me today?  The original man was created in the image of God and threw that image away.  Jesus came in the image of His father and gave us a way back.

Image is everything.

The Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, The Sin of America, The Sin of You and Me

I was just reading Luke 17 and came across something that I have read several times.  Today it hit me what this scripture said about Sodom and Gomorrah and what it did not say.

You remember Sodom and Gommorah, right?  If we traveled back in the Bible to Genesis, chapters 18 and 19, we would see that God has decided to destroy these two cities.  He says that the outcry against these two cities is too great for Him to ignore it.  Abraham begs Godnot to on behalf of his nephew, Lot.  He and God bargain for a little bit, but there is no saving these cities.  Angels of God go down and rescue Lot and his family.  As they travel away from the city, fire and brimstone rain down on those two cities.  Lot’s wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt.

Now, what is the first thing that comes to your mind about why God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?  Might it have something connected to the word Sodom?  Probably so.  That is usually what has always come to my mind as well.  I have always thought that God destroyed these two cities because of the pervasive homosexual lifestyle that was prevalent.  The text certainly seems to indicate that this particular lifestyle was spread throughout the cities.

Now, let’s flash forward several hundred years to Luke 17.  Jesus is discussing His second coming.  He mentions that prior to the Flood of Noah’s day, people were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage.  Then He says something funny.  He says that same thing was going on during the day of Lot.  They were eating.  Drinking.  Buying.  Selling.  Planting.  Building.  And that on the day Lot left, fire and brimstone from heaven destroyed them. 

Did you catch that?  Did you catch what Jesus says was going on?  And did you catch that He did not say what we would think He would say was going on.  He did not say that rampant homosexuality was going on.  Of course, that is not to say that it was not going on.  He just did not mention it when talking about those cities destruction. 

I saw that and did a double take.   Why did Jesus not mention what most of us take as the reason for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Maybe I know.  Maybe I do not.  But it is something that I have been pondering for the last little bit since it hit me.  And here is why I think Jesus did not mention it.

Homosexuality was not the main reason God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now, please do not misunderstand me.  I do not believe God was happy with the sin of homosexuality that was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah.  I believe that homosexuality was A reason that God destroyed those cities.  Just not the main reason.  Let me explain.

Notice what Jesus said.  Life was just kind of happening.  Eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, and building.  Those things seem to have been going on before the Flood as well.  Life was happening.  Everyone was going about their business.  Just normal everyday life.  Except for this.  This is the thing that I think resulted in Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed.  I think it is also why homosexuality became a part of their culture.  I think it was because the people of Sodom and Gomorroah, just like the people before the Flood, gave no thought to God.  I do not think that God was included in one part of their lives.

I believe that lives that do not include one thought or do not include God in their lives result in lives that are lived for the seeking of pleasure only for themselves.

I think this is what is happening here in America.  And elsewhere in the world.  People are living lives without giving God a thought.  People are living lives that do not include Christ.  People are living lives where they are seeking only their pleasure.  People are living lives that are similar to those of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

For Sodom and Gomorrah, this resulted in the sin of homosexuality.  For others, it might be adultery.  Or lust.  Or gossip.  Or gluttony.  Or jealousy.  Or covetousness.  Or greed.  You name it.  Without God, without Christ, you will have a life that includes one or many of these things.

That is the sin fo Sodom and Gomorrah.  That is the sin of America.  That could be the sin of you and me.

So This Is Christmas

You would have to be living in a cave or on the moon to not know that we are nearing Christmas.  Christmas is much more than a day these days.  It is a season that almost begins at the first of November and runs until New Year.  There are so many opinions of what goes on during Christmas these days.  I’m going to go ahead and state mine.

Let’s start with the obvious.  We celebrate the birth of Christ during the Christmas season.  Anyone who wants to study a little and really put forth an effort can tell you that Christ was not born anywhere near December 25.  I know that  pagans originally celebrated other festivals during this time period.  I know that we have no mandate from the Bible to celebrate Christ’s birth.  I understand that the central point of our faith is the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord.  However, there would not be a death, burial and resurrection with the birth.  So let’s pause during this time and celebrate what the birth of Christ was bringing to us and to the world.  Grace.  Peace.  Mercy.  Forgiveness.  Salvation.

Next, let’s think about the Christmas tree.  There has been a lot of controversy over the Christmas tree in history.  One pastor in 1851 was condemned of pagan practices for putting up a Christmas tree and decorating it.  Most likely it had its origins in pageants and festivals in Germany during the Middle Ages.  Regardless, when I look at the Christmas tree, whether a cedar, spruce or other evergreen, I think of the work of Christ in removing the curse from the world.  Granted we have not seen the full result of His work, but we certainly have the promise that it will happen.

When I see the lights at Christmas, whether on the tree or on houses, I think of how Christ described Himself.  He said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  The world may just see pretty lights.  I see reminders of Who the Light really is.

Most of us will receive gifts and presents this Christmas.  It is wonderful to give people something because you care about them and love them.  It is wonderful to receive something for the same reason.  We received the greatest gift of all when Christ was born.  We received our King.  He came, lived, died, was buried and was resurrected.  He gave us the gift of life.  He gave us the give of grace.  He gave us the gift of mercy.  When I see all of the presents, I think of His great gift.

When I hear someone say, “Merry Christmas!” to me, I join them because of the joy I have received through Christ.  When I hear someone say, “Happy Holidays!”, I join them because I am happy in Christ and the holiday I celebrate is based on Christ.  When someone says to me, “Season’s Greetings!”, I join them because the season I am participating in is based on Christ.

So this is Christmas.  I hope you have a wonderful one.  I plan to.

Death and Dust

I mentioned in my last post that the Jehovah Witnesses came by the other day.  One of their objectives was to tell me their doctrines about life after death.  As so often happens, some of the best answers I could think of came after they left.  So, here is what I wished I had said when they brought this subject up.

While they never said it quite this way, Jehovah Witnesses do not believe in life after death for those who are not believers.  The only true believers are, of course, Jehovah Witnesses.  They believe that non-believers simply cease to exist.  The particular person on my doorstep explained it that when God told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate from the tree in the Garden, He meant that they would return to the dust and cease to exist.  He said that when Satan told Eve that she would be like God if she ate, that this was a great lie that we all still believe today.  I asked him if he meant that people are simply annihilated when they die.  He said yes.  Things got very interesting at that point.

I asked this gentleman about the story Jesus told of Lazarus and the rich man.  He explained this away by saying that this was just a parable that Jesus made up to explain the truth he was trying to get at.  He went as far to say that the rich man represented the Pharisees.  When the rich man asked for a drop of water and for permission to go tell his brothers that what was really being communicated was that the Pharisees had watered down the truth.

On the other hand, I happen to think that Jesus was relaying a true life event that He has witnessed in order to communicate the reality of life after death.  Another thought I thought of later was how did the other Lazarus come back to life?  I imagine they can explain that one away too.

Something I wish I had asked them about was Ephesians 2:1.  Here Paul says that before Christ we were all dead in our trespasses.  Were dead.  Past tense.  Meaning that now we are not dead in our trespasses.  Which seems to indicate that we are alive.  Which again seems to indicate that when God told Adam and Eve they would die, there was more to it than just a physical death.

Some other Biblical reasons to not buy this thought from the JW’s are a couple of other things Paul says.  Paul says that to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ.  This would run counter to their claim that when a man dies he essentially lies in an unconscious state until he is resurrected.  I don’t about you, but this would run counter to Paul’s argument that to die is gain.  I don’t think Paul would have been looking forward to death if the result was going to be an unconscious state.

There is much to commend the Jehovah Witnesses.  They are certainly more dedicated to their beliefs than many people who claim Christ.  However, their beliefs do not match what I see as the truth in the Bible.

The Central Question

Last Saturday some Jehovah Witnesses came by the house.  I’m just going to admit it right off.  I blew it.  Not because I let them get the best of me.  Not because they proved to me that they were right and I was wrong.  No it was because I didn’t ask them the one question I should have.  The most important question.  The central question.

Who is Jesus?

I don’t know why I did not get around to asking them.  The simplest answer is that they got me off on some other issues and I did not think to come back to this central question.  I think this is the mistake that many or any of us can make when dealing with the JW’s.  They want us to focus on what they consider errors in our Christian churches.  That is mistake I made.

Here is what the JW’s believe about Jesus.  They believe that He was the first created being.  They believe that He then created everthing else.  They believe He existed as the angel Michael before his being born in His earthly body.  They believe Jesus was killed on a stake rather than a cross and consider any likeness of Jesus on the cross as idol worship.

One of the  scriptural arguments that the JW’s make is from John 1:1.  The translators of their scriptures add the article a and say that the Word (Jesus) “was a god.”  Our Christian scriptures sayt hat the Word “was God.”

I have taken basic Greek, so I cannot say that I am an expert.  But I do know that the Greek does not contain this article.  This is inserted outside of the Greek text.  What the Greek  text does say is that the Word and God are equal and share the same attributes.

The bottom line is that the JW’s and we Christians will answer the central question differently.  The JW’s will say that Jesus is a created being.  We say that Jesus is the Creator.  How we answer this central quesiton is the most important answer we can give in our life no matter who we are.

Number 100

Wow!!!  I have written 100 of the little blog entries.  I want to take just a little bit of time to reflect upon these first 100 and then look forward to where I may be heading in the future.

Let me say that I really wanted to write for a long time, but never would sit down and do it.  Until I figure out that there was such a thing as a blog, I would just kind of dream about it.  It makes me wish that I had taken writing and my English classess a little more serious in high school and college.  Now, I cannot imagine NOT sitting down and blasting out my thoughts in written format.

Looking back, I have various emotions over what I have written.  There are some that I really like.  I am quite fond of several of these musing of mine.  There are some that, quite honestly, I wish I had never written.  Some of them were not written with the best frame of mind.  Some of the things I have written do not even square up with what I really believe.  I may have wanted to take a certain position in writing that is actually opposite of what I really believe just to see if I could write from outside of what I really, truly believe.  Sometimes what I have actually done is think while I am writing and maybe I have moved on beyond certain thoughts or ideas.

Going forward, I plan to continue doing this.  I have plenty of material coming up.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses came by the other day and I can easily fill up five to ten just out of that visit.  Christmas is here, so should I write something about Christmas.  Do I always have to write about faith?  I have written a personal one or two that have more to do with who I am that the faith I follow.  Should I talk about my passion for the University of Tennessee sports?  How about the Tour de France next year?  How about my fitness goals for the coming year?  I gave up caffeine over the last few weeks.  What other changes will I make?  And doesanyone really care.

Thanks for taking the time to read some of these musings.  Comment and debate with me.  That helps me formulate my thoughts.

Come back.

Feed Yourself

My friend and co-worker, David, made a statement recently about someone he knows. This persona was unhappy in their particular church situation. He believed that he was not being fed. From what I gathered, he was frustrated about this and prayed about it. The answer he seemed to feel in his spirit was this: “You’re a big boy. Feed yourself.” Quite honestly, I understand this person’s feelings. I think we all do. We have all been in situations where we might not have been fed. We may use that excuse for any number of things including, but not limited to, finding another church. We might feel like we are not being fed. We let that feeling grow within us. We grow bitter and disappointed. Ultimately this affects our maturity in the Lord and relationship with Christ. What is the answer? I think we can find it in John 6.

In this chapter, Jesus feeds the multitudes. He begins with five loaves and two fish. He ends with twelve baskets full. In between, everyone eats their fill. Jesus goes off by himself because the people seem to want to make Him king. The disciples hop in a boat and go to the other side. A storm comes and scares the disciples. Jesus calmly walks across the water, tells the disciples, “It is I.”, and calms the storm.

The next day the people realize Jesus is not there, so they find Jesus and the disciples on the other side. Jesus tells them that what they really want is to continue to have their bellies filled. They want Jesus to satisfy their need. Jesus responds by saying, “I am the Bread that has come out of heaven.” What Jesus is telling these folks, I think, is this. He is saying that yes, He gave them something to eat, but that is not what He is all about. He is saying that yes, He is their King, but not in they way they imaging or want. He is not just a belly filling Kings. He is not about doing something for them. He is about being something for them. His followers will not just hunger and thirst for food and water. They will hunger and thirst for righteousness. He will be the Living Water that quenches their souls thirst. He will be the Bread that satifies their souls hungers. Nothing else will do.

 This is not much different that what He told the woman at the well. He told her that He had this Living Water so that she would never thirst again. It’s not much different from what He told Nicodemus. He told Nic that he had to be born again, not of the flesh or water, but of the Spirit. We must be born again, drink of the Living Water, eat of the Bread of Life. Nothing else will do. Not the first birth. Not water from a well. Not even the miraculous food that comes from five loaves and two fish.

So to any of you who, like my friend’s friend, who feel like they need to be fed, listen to what I have to say. Why? Because I feel that way sometimes. For those of you who feel like they need to feed themselves, here is what I have to say. Jesus is the source for everything you hunger and thirst for. Drink deep of His Living Water. Eat your fill of His Bread of Life. That is the only way for you to be truly satisfied.