A Pound of Cure

Seriously though, today as we celebrate the Protestant Reformation, as powerful and influential, praise God, as it was, it was never meant to be a once and for all-time event. The Church as a whole and as individual parts of the Body should always be reforming. History teaches us that it is dangerous if we are not. 

As I study church history, I am continually blown away by just how wide-spread the Reformation actually was, over many countries and many years, through many saints of God from all walks of life. 

Officially beginning this day 506 years ago after Martin Luther pounded his 95 thesis into the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. ( Although some historians report he actually used glue; however, when I glue anything, I always still give the thing glued a firm pounding for good measure. ) 

The points listed in the thesis are the heartbeat of the Reformation; however, the arteries spread thickly around the entire world pumping lifeblood back into not only the Church, but all of humanity, giving the glorious Gospel back into the hands of the "common folk." 

Before this time people relied on church leaders to read and expound the Scriptures to them. Without a copy of the Bible, bishops and other church leaders could paraphrase the Scriptures and move them in any direction they chose, inflicting ungodly fear into hearts instead of the true gospel. 

"I defy the pope and his laws!" proclaimed William Tyndale to a church bishop who had informed him that it would be better for the people to have the pope's law than God's, "If God spares my life," Tyndale continued, "In a few years a plow boy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do." 

Praise God those word would ring true. 

Some think that what happened during the Reformation was a breaking away from the true church to start another religion - Protestantism. This could not be further from the truth. 

The church leaders had become caught up in immoral as well as financial scandals selling indulgences to people under the false teaching that their money would spring their loved ones out of a life of suffering in purgatory, that their money could buy forgiveness. 

"May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money."  ( Spoken by Peter in Acts 8:20 ) "Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." ( Romans 1:32 ) 

As Luther wrestled with his sin and guilt and the church's teachings on salvation, God broke through to him by the power of the Holy Spirit as he read the Gospel in the Book of Romans revealing to him the truth: Salvation is not grace plus the works you must add to it, your self-righteousness, your filthy rags, but salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. To add to Christ's salvation would be to take it away. 

The rest is history. The most important discovery that emerged from the Protestant Reformation was the rediscovery of the Bible - the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Luther reminds us when we have the integrity to wrestle with God and his Word, asking him our questions, refusing to give up, repenting of our sins, crying out to him, wonderful things are revealed. 

The Church leaders were not dividing the Holy Word of God rightly. They were obscuring the Gospel from the people, adding to it, not handling it with fear and trembling or reverence. They were not tending the Flock entrusted to them with truth and love. 

What else could the Church do but protest? 

Jesus said that he would build his Church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. We can look back through history and trace his handiwork. It was not a coincidence that the rediscovery of the Gospel coincided with the invention of the printing press. And those printers burned the midnight oil ( and ink in this case ) to keep up with all of Luther's tracks explaining and teaching the Gospel, justification by faith alone, and the Five Solas, Scripture alone, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, and glory to God alone. 

The printers produced thousands of copies of God's Holy Word. ( Now written in the people's language, and not Latin. ) Imagine the freedom the people felt as they read the Good News for themselves, or the many illiterate having family or friends read it to them as they sat and listened to the beautiful Story of God, his redemption through the sacrifice of his Son alone, walking out of spiritual darkness and into the Light as hearts were opened to the Truth. 

And yes, Protestants have also done and continue to do ungodly things in the name of God, and this is sinful and not what Jesus taught. Violence should never be a means of spreading the Gospel. And this is exactly why we can't allow ourselves to drift for a second, but always be about our spiritual disciplines, practicing the discerning of spirits, ever vigilant to see that we are dividing the Word rightly and proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 

We don't need to pound the Gospel over people's heads - but we must never stop pounding it on every church door. 

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." ( Romans 1:16 & 17 ) 

Happy Reformation Day! 💜

Digging up the Truth

"For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ( 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 CSB ) 

Jackie Hill Perry says in her new devotional, "Suffering creates an interpretive lens. Either refining the suffer's vision of God or blurring it." 

I've found this to be exceedingly true. For some it makes them hate God or gives them a reason to deny him, saying that if there is a God, he would not allow suffering. For others, it makes them concoct all sorts of false doctrines like believers aren't suppose to suffer, twisting Scriptures to fit their fancy. 

If we give ourselves over to truly studying the Bible, having the integrity to read it and let it speak to us, not explaining away the difficult verses, but reading the entire counsel of Scripture for what it is, in there, and there only, lies the story and hope we are so desperately hungering for in our hearts. 

For those willing to do this, we not only find some semblance of sense in suffering, but we find a Savior who lowered himself into ours feeling every inch of our pain and infinitely more, crying out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" ( Matthew 27:46 ) 

Why? Why did God forsake his own Son? 

So he wouldn't have to forsake us. 

That truth is worth us digging into. 

The Truth about Fairytales

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." ( John 15:13 ) 

Many years ago now, I went with the Farmer to this party way out in the country at a dilapidated, old farmhouse. I didn't know any of the people there. By the time we arrived, things were already out of hand. Everyone was drinking and cursing and smoking weed and probably other illegal substances, some were laughing hysterically, others were falling down, one group was fighting, but I was in love, so whatever.  

All the shenanigans got to be too much even for the Farmer to deal with so he took my hand and led me out the front door and over to the porch swing. I think we would have left, but our ride was drunk as a skunk and so we were sort of stuck. I definitely was no angel; I was drinking a bottle of cheap, sweet wine the Farmer had picked up for me at a local convenience store on the way. 

As we began to swing together, we heard a loud voice above all the others yell, "Out Devil - Get Out! I mean it, Devil, get out!" I said, "Oh great, now they're casting out demons." I'm not making this up. Then all of a sudden this huge, black lab came running out of the door. The Farmer and I both burst out laughing. To this day, we still tell the story of the dog named Devil. 

After Devil came out, I began to pet him and this music starts playing. We peep through the grimy window beside the swing and some of the partiers now had banjos and guitars and were singing gospel songs. Through slurred speech and missed notes they started with "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" and then proceeded to desecrate a whole host of gospel music's greatest hits. 

I wasn't sure what to do with that. I know it may sound judgmental, but back then, I didn't feel worthy to sing a hymn in the middle of my mess. I knew I wasn't living the way I should be, and I felt like a hypocrite. 

And I want to be clear that I'm not saying alcohol in and of itself is a sin, but the abuse of it carries with it a dread that is heavy, deceiving, and dark. The abuse of any good or bad thing, especially people, is a sin. I don't drink alcohol, not mainly because of my history of addiction, but because of God's mercy in delivering me. I can't pay him back, but I can honor him with my whole, sober life for all he has done for me. It's my personal conviction concerning alcohol that I do not place on anyone else. 

Anyway, back then I might not have sang gospel songs in the midst of my broken life, but I would read a few Bible verses in the morning and attend church to make myself feel half-way like a Christian. But isn't that how we are before we come to Jesus? We want to come on our own terms. We want to decide which parts of our lives we give to Jesus and which ones we keep to ourselves.

Sometimes when we see someone engaging in sinful behavior, we might hear someone say that that person needs to get "a little bit of Jesus." 

But as C.S. Lewis so bluntly put it: "He ( Jesus ) has not left that open to us." 

With Jesus it's all or nothing. He's either Lord or lunatic. There's no middle ground. 

Cold or hot. "Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." ( Revelation 3:15 -16 ) Those are Jesus's words to the church in Laodicea. Yeah, he's speaking to the church. 

Jesus lived a perfect life and died a criminal's death for us. In our place. When we just grab a little bit of Jesus to make us feel good in our sin, I imagine it saddens him greatly. Like when he lamented over Jerusalem longing to tuck the people under him like a hen gathers in her chicks. ( Matthew 23:37 ) 

We've seen in TV shows, movies, and books these scenarios where someone saves someone else's life, and then the one who was rescued gives their very own life over to the hero. They say that they owe them their lives now that they saved them. 

I believe we see this depicted so much in film and all genre of literature, especially fairy stories and fantasy tales, because it's a longing deep inside the human soul. We want someone to love us so much that they are willing to search the world over to find us, then give their lives to save ours so that we then can become theirs forever. 

And we have that! That is exactly what we have in Jesus! 

When the truth of this gracious and merciful knowledge makes its way to the bottom of our broken hearts, the response is always: "I'm yours forever, Jesus! You own every part of my life!" 

This gratitude springs up and out into praise to God and a willingness to go where ever he sends us, to love all those he places before us, to serve him with gladness, and to surrender to him every square inch of our sinful lives so he can begin our metamorphosis into his glorious image that pleases our heavenly Father. Not to try and save ourselves, but because he has saved us! 

A few weekends ago I thought about this long ago memory as I sat swinging on the front porch at Josh's house with my grandchildren. I was overcome with emotion because in our rebellion, God had grace and mercy on me and the Farmer. We didn't deserve it. No one does. If we deserved it, it wouldn't be grace. And if we weren't guilty, it wouldn't be mercy. If we thanked God for eternity, it wouldn't be enough.

But I'm prepared to try. 

I look forward to it. 

Thank God for his indescribable gift and give your heart and entire life to Christ if you haven't already. The King has come for you. 💜

It was a treat to share a movie experience with my oldest man child near his home in Atlanta. ( Wow, the seats were recliners! ) I really need to get out more.  

Jonah and the Well ( of mercy )

Many of my friends this morning are suffering in various ways. Sometimes life seems to bring on these seasons of pain, grief, and fear in tidal waves but not without the mercies of God relentlessly swimming within them. 

My childhood friend Jerry is facing open heart surgery right at this moment. Another friend is in unending, excruciating agony in both of her shoulders with little pain management available. Another is fighting blood cancer. Still another is battling M.S. There are others. 

Maybe you are thinking that is all good and fine, that you can believe God will intervene and help these dire and needy situations. But what about the one who caused their own pain? Does God help them? Surely they knew how to get themselves into this mess, and God now standing with his hands on his hips, wagging his finger, will not get them out. 

What about Jonah?

Jonah, a prophet of the people of God, no less, who should have known better, was flat out disobedient to God's command in his job description. "Go preach to Nineveh." God wanted to show mercy on the wicked city. However, Jonah ran away from God the text tells us; he went in the opposite direction. 

We could say Jonah caused his own pain. 

Pastor Bryan, the teaching pastor at the Summit Church, in his recent series on Jonah pointed out something I had never seen before in the epic story. 

"God has more mercy than we have mess."

In Jonah's rebellion, God was still hounding him to heaven. When Jonah refused mercy to Nineveh, God still showed mercy to him. 

Astounding, isn't it? 

Another thing Pastor Bryan pointed out was that as Jonah continued in his disobedience, God sent the storm that rocked the sea and the boat. God sent the fishermen, who threw Jonah overboard. And God sent the whale that swallowed him alive. 

God sent these things to Jonah out of his mercy. Pastor Bryan hopes that he has shattered our image of a Santa Claus god. 

When we are in a pit simply because we live in a broken world or in a pit of our own making and rebellion, either way, we do not have the strength or the power to get ourselves out. We don't "got this" I'm sorry, but I don't like that saying. We don't got nothing. 

But God has everything. 

And we learn this when we come face to face with the darkness, fear, and pain of a pit, whatever it may be. We learn to call on the God who has everything and depend on him. 

We learn that God has more mercy than we have mess. 

He sends storms, fishermen, and whales to "fish" us out of the pit. 

Some people want to just trash the God of the Old Testament and accuse him of "cosmic child abuse" and all sorts of atrocities, but they are missing the overarching theme of the entire Bible narrative: We are the ones that got ourselves in the mess! We are the guilty, rebellious party. We are born sinners, and we add to our sin account daily. Against God who is Holy, Holy, Holy. 

And "while we were sinners, Christ died for us." ( Romans 5:8 ) 

Because God has more mercy than we have mess. 

I just pray that we have eyes to see and ears to hear. 

"Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." Hebrews 3:15 

Cry out to him. 

"I cried out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice....The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me.... yet you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God...... Salvation belongs to the LORD!" 💜 ( Jonah 2:1,5,6,9 )

The Farmer with the late great Atlas and his grand pup Aslan 

T.G.I.M.

Today as we move out into our spheres of influence, into our work spaces and into the new week, I pray we take the lessons of Sunday with us. Yesterday at my church Harvest Ministries, we devoted the service to praising the Lord and to prayer for our pastors, staff, each other, for Israel and for the nations. It wasn't planned by us, but by the Spirit. 

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all." ( John 6:63 ) 

So we cried out to God. It was a time of humbly serving each other and seeking the face of God which acknowledges our dependence upon him and not on ourselves. It puts us in a right posture for the rest of the week. It's that "upside-down kingdom" thing again where in God's Kingdom the way up is down. 

It is in this same servant spirit that we must move out into our Monday. What does that look like? Instead of thinking we have to begin some "big" work of God, like we so often do in this country, where fame, flashy, and fruitful seem to be emphasized, even from the pulpit at times, I think it simply means this:

"Do what's in front of you."

Now, good fruit is biblical to be sure. We are called to bear much healthy fruit. In fact, the Scriptures tell us that good fruitfulness is assurance that we are children of God and that we are growing. 

But I don't believe our eyes should become too focused on the fruit we are producing. Maybe we should glance at it from time to time, do an occasional fruit inspection, but if our eyes and heart are concentrating on how much fruit we think we are creating, we will miss what's in front of us. 

And God is more concerned with our faithfulness than our fruitfulness. 

Are we being faithful with what's in front of us? 

For one thing, we can't produce the fruit anyway. 

In 1 Corinthians 2:5  Paul writes to the immature, jealous church members, "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each." 

"Servants" Paul says that he and Apollos are "servants." 

"I planted. Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." 

Let's focus on being faithful then with what's in front of us and leave the fruit production up to God. 

"For even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." ( Mark 10:45 ) 

People were hungry. Jesus fed them. People were sinful. Jesus forgave them. People were lost. Jesus found them. People were ignorant. Jesus taught them. People were dirty. Jesus washed them. 

Make your family breakfast. Forgive your friend. Send the missionary. Teach your child to pray. Wash away bitterness and envy from your relationships. Have patience with the slow driver in the left hand lane. ( Welcome to the Farmer's world. ) Invite your co-worker to church. Attend the counseling session with your spouse. Linger a bit longer and with more intensity as you listen. Care for the poor and for aging parents. Influence your grandchildren for the gospel. Consider others better than yourself. 

When we die and stand before our Father, we will not hear the words, "Well done good and "fruitful" servant." 

No, what do we long to hear?  

"Well done, good and "faithful" servant.

You have been faithful over a little; 

I will set you over much. 

Enter into the joy of your master." ( Matthew 25:21 ) 

T.G.I.M. 

D.W.I.F.O.Y.

Happy Monday!