How we begin is important in our spiritual lives as well. The Bible tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Our generation doesn’t talk much about fearing God. We like to emphasize God’s love, forgiveness and mercy. But fearing God does not mean being scared out of our wits. Rather, it means respectful obedience. It means that we take God very seriously and do what he wants. It’s the foundation of wisdom.

Fearing God means respecting him, trusting him, believing in him and obeying him. If we forget to fear the Lord, sooner or later we’re bound to crash!

“Do you mean that if I ask for a Cadillac, Mike will get two?”

The angel nodded.

Pat thought and thought and finally said, “I wish to be blind in one eye.”

How often is our attitude is like Pat’s, “I’ll settle for what I’ve got only if the other guy comes out on the short end”?

True contentment never comes from doing better or having more than the other guy. Contentment comes from being in the center of God’s will and fulfilling his purposes for our lives.

Sometimes our prayers are as desperate as a 911 call, but the service is even better! When we babble incoherently to God about our health or our job or our marriage, it may seem as if no one is listening and our desperate plea is going unheeded. But, in truth, God instantly knows who we are, what we need and help is on the way. Even if it feels like we’re waiting forever, God’s timing is always best.

The Bible’s rules are not unlike those of football. Jesus is the quarterback and we’re the players. He calls the plays and he’s the boss. Those who think they know more than Jesus and try to “run ahead” of him cannot keep doing it and claim to be a Christian. Listen to how the Bible says it, “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of [Jesus] does not have God.”

At fourteen, I thought I knew far more about cars than he could possibly know! I’d never seen him work on a car. But, trying to be nice I said, “Sure, why not?”

He looked under the hood and suggested I connect the ground wire on the distributor. Later, I tried it and the car started! He had the answer – and I had never asked.

And so it is with our human search for meaning in life. We spend years looking when the answer is right there in the Bible. All we have to do is ask God, our father.

During the time Jesus was on earth he taught God’s truths with great skill and performed many miracles. But of all the things Jesus said and did, he shone most brilliantly when he said, “It is finished,” while hanging on the cross. With those words he died, paying the penalty for our sins. It was his finest hour.

The father watched from a nearby hill. His son’s first furrow looked more like a corkscrew than a straight line. The farmer went back down the hill and said, “I told you to fix your eye on something.”

The boy said, “I did. I’m watching the cow.”

How many times have we done much the same thing in our lives? Instead of focusing on a fixed point, we foolishly use such grazing cows as emotions or circumstances as our point-of-reference and end up with a twisted mess.

The answer is to set our “fix” on Jesus who’s the same “yesterday and today and forever.”

For dessert we were each served a large slice of cake with thick, gooey icing. My older brothers each took their knives and sliced, with a surgeon’s skill, between the icing and the cake, carefully setting the icing off to the side so they could save the best part for last. Meanwhile, our Syrian guest was watching closely. He then took his knife and very carefully copied them, assuming that this was how you eat cake in America.

And that’s what Jesus asks us to do. He said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” He wants us to love each other the same way he loves us.

Or if you go swimming in the ocean, warning signs tell where there’s an undertow. Ignoring those signs can bring disaster.

When you have a prescription filled, the pharmacist sticks on a warning label telling you what and what not to take with your pills. The difference between heeding those warnings and not heeding them can be the difference between recovery and staying sick.

The Bible contains warning signs for living the Christian life that are to be taken seriously. They can mean the difference between eternal life and eternal death. Think of your Bible as having a warning sticker, “Ignore at your own risk.”

At first I was surprised, but then I remembered that the same company makes both the Lexus and the Camry. They share similarities in design, mechanics and craftsmanship. I think he knew I wasn’t in the price range of a Lexus, but by comparing the two, I would be able to see the Lexus in the Camry. He was right and I eventually bought the Camry. It was a great car – sort of like a Lexus.

Similarly, every one of us is like God. We are crafted to be like him. We may be imperfect models, but you can still see the image of God in us. We are of infinite value because we bear his image.

If we’re not careful, this desire for the unique or specialty product can extend into our spiritual lives as well. All too often when we think of God we make him into who we want him to be. We may take bits and pieces from various religions or we may shape a god according to our own preferences. The end result is a designer god, a god of our own making. We may call him “God,” but he’s not the God of the Bible.

God is who he is. He has revealed himself to us in the Bible and we are to love him and trust him as he is.

However, no matter how large your starting number, if you multiply it times zero the grand total is nothing. Zero times anything is zero.

And so it is that life without love is zero. The Bible says, “If I have the gift of prophecy … and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor …, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

A person can be powerful, rich or famous, but if life is multiplied by factors other than love, it comes out to zero – because everything without love is nothing.

One time on a trip to Oregon I watched as people with out of state plates pulled into gas stations. Many of them, out of habit, would get out of their cars and start to fill their tanks. Soon the service station attendant would come running out and tell the driver to get back into the car while he pumped their gas. Some of the drivers were stunned. They’d always pumped their own gas.

Most of us value self-sufficiency, but in the spiritual realm it doesn’t work. Like Oregon and New Jersey, God doesn’t have self-service righteousness stations. The only righteousness available is that which God pumps into us. It’s his righteousness and he does the filling.

Finally he agreed to go and the diagnosis was a chronic infection easily treated with an oral medication. He recovered quickly and he didn’t even need to have a shot!

That old man is like a lot of us as we search for happiness. We try many home remedies yet we’re reluctant to go to the divine physician to get the real problem diagnosed. When we finally go, we discover that our real need is not for happiness, but for the righteousness that Jesus offers.
If we look just for happiness, we’ll continually miss it, but if we seek righteousness, we’ll find happiness, too.

And that’s how we are to be when we approach God. We are to take off our uniforms that may be intimidating to other people and leave our power outside the room. The best way to stand before God is naked, obedient, grateful and meek.

When his mother saw the mess, she made no comment, but picked up the portrait he had made and said, “Why, it’s Sally!” Then she stooped and kissed him.

Ever after, Benjamin West used to say, “My mother’s kiss made me a painter.”

Billy Graham once said that the key leaders of our country are the mothers and fathers. As parents, our kiss, our example and our instruction are powerful tools to make our children into the men and women God wants them to be.

We need to make teaching our children the truths of God a priority in our lives. Memorizing Bible verses with our children shows them how much we value learning God’s truth. When watching television with our children, we should make it an opportunity to interpret what’s good and what’s bad in light of what the Bible teaches.

The key to effective parenting is to make whatever changes are necessary in our own lives, so we can be an effective model of faith to our children.

The biblical view of “smart” is wisdom. It’s someone who chooses to do what is right even if the immediate consequences may end up being less than ideal.

The smart Christian knows when to be a short-term loser in order to be a long-term winner. The smart father, for example, figures out that it’s better to turn down a promotion and hang onto his children, than to be vice president of a huge company and be a stranger to his children.

We need to be smart about moral decisions, health decisions, the use of time, how to deal with people and everything else.

But how do we get smart? The book of Proverbs puts it simply, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Something else that fascinates me is that when one goose gets sick or is shot, two other geese pull out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay by the wounded bird until it dies or is able to rejoin the flock. Only then do they resume their journey.

Geese are faithful because God created them to be faithful. The same God who instilled that quality of faithfulness in geese, created us to be faithful. And it’s our privilege to live out that faithfulness for God.

The next day, the invasion began.

Eisenhower’s decision required a weighing of his mission of liberating Europe from Nazi rule and the circumstances of adverse weather.

Our circumstances may be different, but we, too, face an awesome decision. We must decide whether our lives will be ruled by the mission God has for us, or be overruled by circumstances. How will you decide?

Jesus was saying that that’s true with life as well. I find that encouraging because it means that if I’m a follower of Jesus, the foolish things I did in the past and the mistakes that I’ve made are forgiven and I can set my sights on tomorrow. When we’re following Jesus it’s a mistake to focus on yesterday – for God promises that the best is yet to come.

God’s situation is completely different from ours. God is neither young nor old and he’s not bound to time as we are. Imagine what it would be like to be able to make decisions without having to take time into consideration. You just decide to do what you want, when you want, and don’t worry about the timing. That’s a major difference between God and us. The Bible says, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”

Time may be a limited commodity for us, but not for God. Everything he does is at the right time.

On the trip home, he shared his story with some fellow passengers. When the bus finally pulled into town, they erupted into cheers – for the oak tree had not only one yellow ribbon, but a hundred ribbons tied around it. Instantly he knew that she not only forgave him, she wanted him home with all of her heart.

And that’s what it will be like for those of us who’ve given our hearts to Jesus and asked him to forgive our sins. He’ll welcome us into heaven some day with a million yellow ribbons!

God is the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow. In him, the past, present and future are all connected. Sometimes it may appear to us that human history is chaotic nonsense. But that’s not true. God has a plan and history is the working out of that plan – whether or not it makes sense to us.

Even though we cannot control the future, we can put our trust in God to make everything work together for good in the end.

When I watched the movie, I was completely caught up in the tension. There were moments when I was scared that Team USA would lose. Then I thought, “Hey, I may not know all the details, but I know that in the end we’re going to win.”

Thinking about my reaction to the movie, I realized that it’s the same way with the Bible’s predictions about the future. As we watch history unfold, we can get nervous about who’s going to win. But even though we don’t know all the details or when it’s going to happen, we do know that in the end, God is going to win!

Matthew 2:11

My mother was born and grew up in England where the Christmas tradition is to open presents on Christmas morning. Even though I have a Swedish last name, my mother’s English Christmas tradition prevailed in my family. In fact, it is still our own family tradition today. So, every December 25th of my life has begun with everyone gathered to exchange gifts.

While the date of gift giving has not changed, my perspective has. As I reflect back on my childhood I can only remember the presents I received. I don’t recall onegift I ever gave to any member of my family. Now it is almost the opposite. As an adult, I can barely remember any of the gifts I’ve received. What I most remember are the gifts I have given.

The change didn’t take place all at once. It took time. But there is one Christmas when the transformation seemed to permanently take hold. It was my first Christmas as a father. As never before, I didn’t care what I got because I was so totally wrapped up in what I gave. We had a four-month-old daughter and I wanted to give her everything in the world.

Changing from a getter to a giver is one of the most wonderful changes that can happen in a person’s life. Only when it happens do you begin to truly understand the words of Jesus in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The wonderful joy of gifts is that giving them means more than receiving them. To better understand, we return to the story of the first recorded Christmas gift-givers in Matthew 2:1-13:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judah, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judah,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’ ”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star that they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

The first four words of this story may be the most neglected even though they are among the most important: “After Jesus was born . . . . ” Jesus came first. He was the Number One gift. This fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah 9:6 predicting the coming of the Messiah: “ . . . to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Those words are beautiful poetry, but also profound theology. The Son of God is eternal. He had no beginning; he always existed. He was given by God the Father and sent to earth to become human. It is called the “incarnation” or “into flesh”. When he was conceived and born, the Son of God became human and was given a human name, Jesus.

So the terminology is very specific: “ . . . to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Without the gift of the Son of God there would be no Christmas, no Magi, no salvation, no joy, no reason to celebrate or to give. All of which makes a most important point—to experience the joy of Christmas first requires the receiving of the gift of Jesus. Otherwise, Christmas is no more than a commercial holiday one week before the end of each year.

If you have not received God’s Christmas gift, now is the time. This is the place. God’s offer still stands. Receive Jesus Christ as God’s personal gift to you. Trust him as your Savior from sin. Accept him as the Leader of your life. Don’t wait. Pray right this minute, telling God, “Yes, I accept Jesus as my Christ, my Lord. Right now. Right here. Thank you, God, for the Number One gift!” because only those who have received can ever truly know the joy of giving!

The rest of the Magi story is really an “after-Christmas Christmas story”. Unlike the cards we receive showing wise men on camels or standing by the manger, the Bible indicates the Magi didn’t arrive until long after that first Christmas. Matthew 2:11 says, “ . . . on coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.” Jesus wasn’t living in a stable; he was living in a house. No manger is mentioned. He was a young child, maybe almost two years old, because when King Herod felt threatened by the risk that this child might somehow seize his throne, he ordered the execution of all male babies in the entire area who were age two and under. Every indication is that the Wise Men started their journey on the day of Jesus’ birth and it took them up to twenty-four months to arrive.

We call them “Wise Men” although the technical name is Magi. They were astrologers, magicians, pagan priests from Persia to the east. They were men who had devoted their lives to studying the stars and were convinced that they could predict a person’s future. In today’s culture they would be the authors of the daily horoscopes in newspapers around the world.

Somehow, in their study of the stars, they saw something unusual and interpreted it as historic and beckoning. They probably were caught up in the worldwide expectation of a coming leader who would rule the world. They decided to follow the star in search of a king.

I find an amazing insight into God’s attitude toward true seekers. God doesn’t require a person to have all the right knowledge and beliefs to come to him. Those who seek the truth, who honestly desire God, will be led to Jesus. Their route may be strange but the destination is what counts.

When the Magi finally arrived at the house of Joseph, Mary and Jesus they immediately bowed down and worshiped Jesus. That is nothing short of amazing. Remember, that was written by a Jew. Matthew knew well the teaching of the Hebrew law in Exodus 34:14, “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Every Jew knew the rules inside and out: no idols; no images; nothing that even appears to be worship of anyone or anything other than the one true God of heaven and earth. Yet, Matthew approvingly writes that these Magi worshiped a boy named Jesus who was less than two years old.

There is only one conclusion: Jesus must be God! Non-Christian religions and most cults balk at the notion that Jesus is truly and fully God, but there is no doubt what the Bible teaches, what those Magi thought or what Matthew believed. Jesus is God in human form!

The Magi worshiped Jesus as God and gave gifts to Jesus as a king, gifts they had carried on a very long journey. All of them were very expensive and the type of gift given to royalty. The symbolism and significance is not explained, but we can’t help but wonder.

Of all the gifts that were given, the most royal of the three was gold. Gold was worth a lot then and it is worth a lot today. It is the king of precious metals. This may have been the first and last time in the family of Joseph and Mary that they ever had gold of their own.

Incense was what a priest used. It was required to burn incense throughout the day at the temple in Jerusalem. It was called a sweet fragrance to God. Incense always reminded Jewish people of the connection between God and man. It, too, was a fitting gift because Jesus was and is the only true mediator between God and us.

The strangest gift of the three was myrrh. Also expensive and also a spice, myrrh was a resin used for embalming. It was externally applied to the body prior to burial. What an unusual gift for a baby . . . unless that baby was born to die! In this first Christmas gift the death of Jesus on the cross was not too subtly hinted at. Jesus had come to atone for human sin.

Suddenly the holy family was rich. The Magi gave their expensive gifts and left. But, whatever happened to the money? What was done with the gifts?

While not directly told, the story immediately reports their flight into Egypt where Joseph, Mary and Jesus became refugees hiding out in Africa. How did they live? Where did they stay? What did they eat? How did they survive for the next couple of years until it was safe to return home to Nazareth?

The obvious answer is that they financed the family trip and supported themselves with the gifts of the Magi. What was given as an act of worship was used in most practical ways to keep Jesus safe and alive. It is often that way . . . that gifts to God are wonderfully used to accomplish God’s greater purposes on earth.

What do we learn from this after-Christmas Christmas story? We learn a lot about Christian giving from Magi who were not even Christians. For even though Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” the truth is that the bedrock of everything Christian is getting before giving! The Magi first met Jesus and then gave to Jesus. The order could not and cannot be reversed. No one can be a Christian without first getting. No Christian can give away anything without first receiving from God. All of Christianity is based on God as the first and greatest giver. God gave his one and only Son who left heaven, became human, sacrificed his life and loved us all the way. God offers us Jesus. There is no greater or better gift.

Anything that a Christian gives flows out of God’s generosity to us. Whether it is giving worship or money to God, helping the poor with our time and money, opening our homes in hospitality or any other giving of love or possessions . . . we must first receive.

It is out of order to first ask people to give anything. First things first! Always ask people to receive from God. Those who fully receive Christ’s salvation and blessing will be motivated to give; those who have not received Jesus and his blessings need not even try to give. Always, always, always receive from God first. Take him at his word. Accept his salvation. Receive his love. Get his good news. Receive, receive and receive some more from God because God is an outrageously generous giver.

The second principle of giving after getting is to give out of what we have received. As God has loved us, so we love others. As God has forgiven us, so we forgive others. As God has blessed us, so we bless others. As God has treated us kindly, so we treat others kindly. Whether we are giving a present at Christmas, an offering at church or an act of kindness for a stranger we always give because we have received. We are God’s agents. We should let him fill our cup and then let our cup overflow to others to make room for more blessings from God to give away.

When I hear about people with critical spirits, who treat others harshly and are stingy instead of generous, I feel sorry for them. I assume that they have never received from God or that they are somehow trying to hoard God’s love and generosity for fear God might run out and they will get no more.

The bottom line is that giving is good. Giving is Christian. Giving is a blessing. Not just Christmas gift giving or church giving but all giving that is in the name and truth of Jesus Christ. To be a Christian is to be a giver.

I’ve thought long and hard about this statement from Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” It is interesting that St. Paul quotes the statement as if it had been spoken by Jesus, yet there is no place in the biographies of Jesus where it is ever mentioned. My guess is that everyone knew what Jesus said so there seemed to be no need to write it in his biography.

If we were using more common terminology today we would say, “It is happier to give than to receive.” But that’s based on a presupposition that we have first experienced the joy and the happiness of receiving from God and then we move on to give.

But, why is it happier to give than to receive? The answers are multiple. First of all, only a Christian will ever understand this truth. You have to first be a disciple of Jesus or you will never get what he means.

It is happier to give than to receive because givers are like God. And what can be happier than to be God-like? Every time we generously give and bless others we are behaving like God and that is what makes a Christian truly happy.

It is happier to give than to receive because we have received so much. Christians are keenly aware that “every good and perfect gift comes from above” (from God). That’s what motivates us. That’s what makes us happy. When we realize that we have received so much we want to be generous; we want to give it away.

It is happier to give than to receive because of the wonderful satisfaction that comes in blessing others. Frankly, it feels good! It feels good to give away. It feels good to help others. It feels good to worship God with something that costs us something. It feels good to be generous. It feels good to sacrifice. It feels good to make a difference in the name of Jesus.

Imagine you are about to take a Christmas journey to a far away place called the year to come. There you will meet a poor family with a young child; you will see people threatened by powerful and ruthless leaders; you will encounter 10,000 different needs. You are not sure you want to go. There is so much uncertainty. There are so many risks. But you feel compelled. You feel drawn. It is like following a bright star that God himself has set into your sky.

Before leaving on this journey you must pack up whatever you will need and whatever you will give away. What will you pack? What will you take? What will you give?

This Christmas begins a journey into tomorrow. As you embark, I challenge you to go as a giver. Give encouragement to those who are down. Give support to those who are criticized. Give love to those who are hated. Give help to those who are poor. Give the Gospel to those who are spiritually lost. Give time to those that are lonely. Give generously. Give royally. Give sacrificially.

Give . . . because you have received. Give . . . because you are a Christian. Give . . . because it is happier to give than to receive!

But most of us don’t give as much thought to conflicts across the globe as we do to our own personal struggles. We have conflicts at work and at home and in our marriages. The one sure antidote to these conflicts is the baby born at Christmas who is called the Prince of Peace.

Jesus has a completely different approach to the peace process from that of the world. The human way is to change the circumstances on the outside, hoping that will bring peace on the inside. But Jesus, the Prince of Peace, brings peace on the inside that’s independent of the conflict on the outside.

We humans have limitations, but God is infinite. His infinity means that he never began and that he will never end.

One of the true miracles of Christmas is that this infinite, eternal God chose to reveal himself to us at a moment in time – by sending his son, Jesus, to earth.

As Christmas approaches, I am reminded of Mary -- an unmarried pregnant teenager. Her pregnancy created enormous difficulties, but also presented her with enormous divine possibilities because God was at work in her. When the angel appeared to Mary and explained that she was going to become pregnant with the Son of God, she didn’t understand virgin birth any more than we do. Yet she responded in faith, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.”

Mary’s trust in God brought hope to us all.

Who is this Christmas Christ and what does his coming mean? Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah written 700 years before Jesus was born:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

In describing Jesus, the Bible says: In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Darkness is the opposite of light. It’s hostile to light. But all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish a tiny candle flame, much less the brilliant light that is Jesus!

How appropriate that the birth of the Light of the World was heralded by a supernatural star. No matter how great our darkness may be, the light of Jesus will prevail!

Part 5 of 6 on Psalm 100

Psalm 100:5

It was one of God’s favorite ideas. He decided to make for himself a pair of humans: one male; one female. They would be a lot alike, but clearly different. They would be a lot like God although distinctly different.

God carefully designed every part from their hair to their toes. He planned on ten fingers and ten toes. He crafted organs that would work like miracles and last forever. He delighted to weave a soul into their bodies that would permanently link him with them, sort of a supernatural modem of divine connection. He made them reproducible, not only so that they could make more humans, but so they would enjoy the process and so that it would be an intimate and indescribable expression of their love for each other.

And there had to be a place for them to live. God would hold back nothing good. Their home would be a paradise filled with pleasure and devoid of pain. There would be no terror or tears, no fears or failures, no sickness or sadness. It would always be ideally comfortable, filled with wondrous beauty, loaded with creative opportunities. It would be God’s perfect place for his perfect creatures.

When God finished making everything he had planned, he was delighted. He stepped back and sighed to himself that everything had turned out great. It was very good! Of course it was very good because God is very good and everything was full of God.

Adam and Eve were a truly happy couple. They literally had it made. Nothing could be improved upon. There was nothing that they lacked. They had an empire that was bigger than anything Alexander the Great ever conquered. They had a home that far exceeded Bill Gates’ $60 million dollar home in California. God was good. They were good. Their home was good. Life was good. To paraphrase a commercial, “It doesn’t get any better than this!”

Except they decided that it wasn’t quite good enough. They thought it would be a better place and their lives would be much happier if they could add just onemore fruit to their breakfast menu.

Most significant of all, they decided that God really didn’t know what was best for them. They decided that God wasn’t as good as he made himself out to be. “If God were really good,” they thought, “he would let us eat that luscious fruit that would make us so super smart that we would not only know what is good but also know all about evil.”

God had warned them. He told them that if they went for that forbidden fruit they would get sick and miserable and die. But they wouldn’t listen because they had decided that God was not good enough. So they took the fruit and they tragically discovered that God was right. They were wrong. They changed the whole world and our entire human family forever.

You would think that they and we would have learned an enormous lesson from this: the lesson that God really is good, even when it seems otherwise to us. But it’s thousands of years since Adam and Eve and the collapse of Paradise, and we struggle with the same decision every day. We have to decide whether God is really good or not. What we decide about the goodness of God will shape every detail of our lives. It will determine if we are happy or sad, miserable or content, bitter or grateful, generous or greedy.

The decision of the poet in Psalm 100 was clear: “The Lord is good!” But before we routinely agree with the psalmist, let’s consider the options.

If we believe that God is not good, we are deciding that we know better than God. It sounds outrageous for us to claim that we know better than God, but it is a very common belief. All kinds of people all the time decide that they know better than God about all kinds of things. Ask the couple that is living together: “God says that what you are doing is sin. It’s not good. So why are you two living together and not married?” The answer may come in different forms, but it is basically this: “because we think it’s a good thing to do.” Any time we know what God says and decide our way is better, we have decided that we know better than God what is good for us.

If we believe that God is not good, then our whole view of God is changed and we begin to fear him. We fear that he will make a mistake. We fear that he will not do us good. Many people live in frequent fear that God will zap them with bad things. God may punish us with sickness or trick us into losing the family business. He may make me move to a new job where I will be unhappy, cause my child to die or otherwise bring calamity on my life.

Anyone who believes that God is powerful but that God is not always good should live in fear. This is precisely the way most of the world religions work. They are built around images of God that are unpredictable and take delight in causing human misery.

It is a terrible thing to live in fear. It is the sad consequence of either not believing in God at all or believing that God is not always good. In either case, we are perpetually afraid of something bad happening to us and that there is not a dependable God to do us good.

If we believe that God is not good, we begin to look for evil in everything that happens. It’s true that evil is powerfully present in our world, but those who do not believe in the goodness of God easily find the evil and seldom find God’s good. These are the people who always expect the worst and are rarely disappointed because they will always interpret whatever happens as an example of evil. It becomes difficult if not impossible to trust. Trust is based on the assumption of good intentions and the expectation of good outcomes. But, if God is not working in everything for good there is pervasive pessimism that turns distrust into cynicism or despair.

If we believe God is not good, we are ungrateful. Only someone who believes in God and good has anything to be thankful for. If what we have did not come as a gift from God, we can only assume that we earned it or deserved it ourselves. Then there is no one to thank. Instead of lives of gratitude, we live lives of pride.

The final product of disbelief in the goodness of God is selfishness and self-centeredness. How else could it be? If God is not the center of our lives and if God is not good, what if left for us? We either become self-centered or we make someone or something else the center of our lives. It doesn’t take long to discover that we become disappointed with anyone or anything else that tries to replace God at the center of our lives.

Consider the alternative. If we believe God is good then we decide that God knows what is best. If God tells us to be truthful, we believe truth is better than lies. If he tells us that he designed us for sexual union only within a marriage relationship, then we do what God says. If he wants us to forgive those who hurt us, we forgive them even though it’s hard to do. We believe God is good and that what he wants us to do is good even if we don’t fully understand it.

If we believe God is good, we trust him to bring good into our lives. We do not expect the worst. We truly believe that God is looking for every opportunity to bless and help us. We are convinced that he always has our best interests at heart. We think and behave in ways that always count on God to be dependable. He will never trick us. He will never take unfair advantage of us. God will always be on our side. If we believe that God is good, we begin to look for his good in everything that happens. Every circumstance of life is interpreted in terms of the goodness of God.

I know lots of people who do this all the time. They lose football games and see God building their character. They get surprise phone calls and consider it an interruption from the Lord for good. They meet new people and are convinced that God has brought them into their lives. They suffer a broken relationship and trust God to give supernatural comfort and peace. They receive unexpected money and see it as God’s way of providing cash to help someone else. Instead of looking for a demon behind every bush they expect God to show his good through every circumstance. These are wonderful people who truly live by faith. From everything I can tell, they are among the happiest people I ever meet.

If we believe God is good, we become grateful. Gratitude always goes with belief in God’s goodness. The words of Psalm 100:5 are repeated often in the Bible, and almost always with gratitude:

Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. (Psalm 106:1)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. (Psalm 107:1) Praise the Lord, for he is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. (Psalm 135:3)

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All you have made will praise you, O Lord. (Psalm 145:8-10)

God is good and that brings gratitude. When we believe and see and feel and experience the goodness of God everywhere in our lives and everywhere in our world, we are grateful. We want to say thanks to God. We want to show it in every way possible. We want to “Shout for joy to the Lord.” We want to “give thanks to him and praise his name.”

The key indicator of whether we believe God is good is gratitude. It’s almost impossible to disguise. Those who truly believe in the goodness of God are grateful. Those who don’t truly believe in the goodness of God are not grateful.

If we believe God is good, we desire to be like God. In other words, we want to be good. God has an interesting system of motivation. Some people motivate negatively and some people motivate positively. One boss will try to make you into a good employee by giving you praise and a raise. Another boss will try to make you a good employee with threats of salary cuts and firing. Some parents try to shape their children’s lives with compliments, others with criticism.

God goes with good. His generosity and grace are outrageous. He goes farther than I could go. He is kind to people who are mean to him. He gives money to people who refuse to give any back. He helps people who don’t deserve any help at all. He just never gives up. He never quits. He’s just good, good, good.

The way God figures it, his goodness to us will make us want to be good. He gives good jobs and lovely possessions and a thousand other blessings to Christians who turn around and treat others just the way God treated them. They pay their employees well, are kind to others and are generous to church and charities. They desire the very best for others whether they deserve it or not. They are forgiving, patient, thoughtful, courteous, loving and good like God.

Why do you believe? Which list best describes you? Don’t try to fake it because that’s impossible. Don’t try to live like a believer if you really don’t believe because it will never work. Behavior follows belief. Believe that God is good and all the rest will follow.

Do you remember the famous story by Victor Hugo entitled Les Miserables? It is the account of a Frenchman who was cruelly sentenced to prison for stealing a loaf of bread. He escapes and finds refuge in the home of a Catholic bishop. The man has had a rough life. He does not believe God is good; nor is he good. He rewards the kindness of the bishop by stealing the bishop’s silver candlesticks. When he is caught it is a sure sentence back to prison and probably death. But the bishop takes compassion on him and refuses to charge him. He insists that he gave the candlesticks to him.

The bishop was forgiving; he was kind; he was merciful and good . . . just like God. Not only is the escaped convict set free, but his life is transformed. His view of God is changed. He, too, becomes a believer, and a good man.

God is good! Believe that with all of your heart. Make it the basis for interpreting everything in life. See God’s goodness. Be grateful. And be transformed to be like God.

Think about it! Mary and Joseph cradled in their arms the one who created the universe.

Think about it! King Herod ordered the death of the one upon whom Herod’s own life and destiny depended.

Think about it! The one who made us became human like us so that we could be reborn and become like him!

And that’s the Christmas story. The creator became a creature and he did it for you and for me!

Jesus’ virgin birth was the bringing of God to earth – the son of God who was heavenly became earthly. He who was deity became humanity. And he did these miraculous things for us, so that we could have a future and that future could be with God.

In much the same way, some of us are wired for more faith than others. Although most of us have never carried even a fraction of the faith that God designed us to carry, all of us are able to connect directly to God. And God is infinitely more powerful than 110 volts.

Instead of worrying about how our faith compares to someone else’s, let us focus on the stunning privilege of living by faith – plugged into God and getting our power from him.

In our day-to-day lives, God is there whether we see him or not. He’s there when we experience success and he’s there when we’re in deep despair. Two people can look at the same page of history; one sees God and the other doesn’t. But God is always there and always making a difference.

Our slogan should be, “START SEEING GOD!”

“How can you be so sure?” I asked her. She explained that she had faith.

The divorce went through and shortly thereafter her former husband died. So what about her faith?

The value of faith is not in faith itself, but in its object. Think of faith like the cord on a toaster. If you plug it into your ear instead of an electrical outlet, the toaster won’t toast. It’s not having a cord that counts, it’s where you plug the cord.

Having faith in faith isn’t enough. The faith that matters is faith in God, because it connects us to the greatest power in the universe.

Part 4 of 6 on Psalm 100

Psalm 100:2

The President of the United States is arguably the most powerful person in the world. But in addition to power there are many perquisites such as fame, a guaranteed place in history, access to all kinds of celebrities, lifetime income and free use of a nice house on Pennsylvania Avenue. And, if you have watched the returns on election night and seen the facial expressions of any man who has been elected president, you have seen great gladness.

Some people have considered the price of a presidential run—severe scrutiny of their personal life, disruption of their family, harsh criticism on every position taken, constant threat of attack or assassination—and decided it was not worth it. The presidency was not worth the price.

There is a clear connection between worth—what we are willing to make a significant sacrifice for—and worship. We worship what we consider to be of great worth. The object of worship may be a high political office, a new home, a cherished child, a great job, a lover or even God. In every case worship begins with belief. We have to really believe in someone or something in order to consider that person or thing worth worship.

Veteran's Day is set aside each year to honor men and women who believed in their country enough to fight and to die for it. Every year couples are united in marriage, publicly declaring their love before family and friends saying, “It’s worth it to behave in this way.”

When the Hebrew poet wrote the words of Psalm 100 saying, “Worship the Lord with gladness,” he assumed that those who would sing his words were believers in God and that they considered God worth their worship. There is no way any of us can really worship without belief, much less worship with gladness!

The determining question for every one of us is, “Do you believe in God?” Only those who believe in God can really worship God. Otherwise worship wouldn’t make any sense.

However, believing in God means much more than believing that God exists. There is this fascinating line in the New Testament in James 2:19 that says that even the demons believe God exists and they shudder before him. But they don’t worship God!

To worship God requires believing that everything God says about himself is true. Belief includes God's greatness and God’s goodness. It is believing that God really loves you and is watching out for you. It is believing that no matter what happens in your life, God is merciful and kind and will make everything right.

Those who truly believe in God can worship him in chronic pain. Those who really believe in God can worship him through severe difficulties such as depression, unemployment, disappointment, poor health and even death.

Do you believe? Do you believe God is great and God is good? Do you believer that he loves you and constantly works for the best in you life? Do you believe all this about God even if the circumstances of your life are not what you would like them to be? You do believe? Great, because worship begins with belief!

Do you recall the story of Job in the Old Testament? This wealthiest man in the world was filled with happiness. He had a marvelous family with ten grown children. But one day he received word that all ten of his children had died on the same day, that his entire fortune was lost and that he was on the brink of losing his health as well. Do you recall what was his first response to those terrible difficulties? The first thing he did was to worship God. You have to really believe in God to be able to do that. You have to be convinced that God is greater than the circumstances. You have to interpret the circumstances by God rather than interpret God by the circumstances. You have to really believe to worship him when things go terribly wrong.

What exactly is worship? Some people mistakenly confuse worship with music or with church services, but that is neither biblical nor accurate. The Hebrew word that is translated worship in Psalm 100 literally means “serve” or “minister”. So worship means service.

There is an interesting conversation between Jesus and the Devil in Matthew 4. Jesus had gone out into the Palestinian desert for forty days. He fasted for nearly six weeks so he we really hungry. Then Satan showed up and suggested that Jesus miraculously change a few rocks into loaves of bread so he could eat. Jesus refused. So Satan whisked Jesus into the city of Jerusalem to the highest point in the city, part of the ancient Temple, and told him to jump off and have his angels catch him. Jesus refused. The last test of Jesus is reported in verses 8-10:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”

When Satan told Jesus to worship him, what do you think he meant? Did he want Jesus to sing to him? Of course not! He wanted Jesus to serve him, to do what Satan said.

The way we worship God is to do what he wants us to do. He wants us to hate evil and love good. He wants us to be kind to others. He wants us to forgive, to be compassionate and generous to those that are poor, to love him and to tell him that we love him.

One way I worship God is that when I first awaken in the morning I tell God that I love him and that I will try to serve him that day any way I can. I tell him to just let me know what he would like me to do and I will do my best to do whatever he asks.

Talk to a loyal employee of almost any company and ask about his approach to his job. Many will say, “I just try to do whatever the boss wants me to do. In a sense, my job is to make my boss look good and that’s what I want to do.”

Worship is much like that. We worship God by doing what he wants us to do. We live to make him look good because we believe in God and because we think he is worth it.

To worship God is to believe in him, to love him and to serve him. Imagine approaching every day with that agenda. Imagine telling him every day, “God, I believe in you. Not just that you exist but that you are everything you say you are. I love you. I want to do whatever you want me to do today.”

One of the ways we can serve and worship God is with songs. Worship through “joyful songs” is much like singing love songs to God. We can and should sing to him alone, but there is something special about singing to him together.

When we gather in a meeting that has worship music, it is not to entertain us but to love and to serve God. The audience is never on the platform or in the pews. We have an audience of One, and that One is God! The singers up front aren’t singing to us, they are singing to God for us and we are listening and sharing. The group songs we sing together aren’t primarily for our pleasure but for God’s enjoyment.

Psalm 100 invites us to “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” There is a repeated emphasis on joy and gladness. Apparently God desires gladness with worship. That makes sense. After all, God is a person. He enjoys glad worshippers rather than worshippers who are grouches and grumps.

Think about your co-workers. Do you have some fellow employees who complain and criticize every time they talk to you? It’s not that their problems aren’t real, but they always have a negative attitude. Compare them to those coworkers who come to you with gladness. They can always find something good to share. They are encouragers. They are grateful and have attitudes of gratitude. QUESTION: Who do you most enjoy having around?

Don't misunderstand me. It’s not that God doesn’t want to hear about our hurts and our needs. But God also wants to hear our joy and gladness. He wants to be encouraged by the difference he has made in our lives. He wants to know that we are really happy to have him in our lives, to be loved by him, to have our sins forgiven, to have eternal life. God delights to have us come before him with smiles on our faces, gladness in our hearts and joy in our songs.

Over fifty years ago Americans poured into the streets of our cities to celebrate the end of World War II. There were parades and speeches, bands playing and flags waving. Patriotism ran high. Among those who celebrated were young soldiers and sailors who were glad to be alive when so many others had died. There were veterans marching on crutches or riding in wheel chairs—casualties of war. And there were mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, wives and husbands of those who had died in that war. They also celebrated, not because they had lost those they loved but because the war was over and America had won.

It is strange but true that sometimes the greatest celebration grows out of catastrophe. After almost every natural disaster there are TV interviews with survivors who thank and praise God. Following the Oklahoma City bombing there was a citywide worship service for the people of Oklahoma City with Billy Graham as the speaker. It's strange, but sometimes we are more likely to worship God out of adversity and war than out of prosperity and peace.

As Christians, we worship God in every circumstance. We believe in him even though others are filled with doubts and anger. We love him whether we are experiencing pleasure or pain. We are glad, not because of what is happening in and around us but because of God himself. In him we find love, peace, satisfaction and hope. Our heart’s desire is to serve him and make him look good.

“Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs!”

The same goes for being a member of the family of God. The Bible says, “to all who received [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” If we believe in Jesus we become part of God’s family and that gives us the privilege of instant prayer access to God himself.

While we often measure our child’s height, we don’t think to measure our faith. What would a growth chart for your faith look like? Are you growing in your trust in God? The way to make your faith grow is by choosing to trust God one choice at a time.

Some Christians are like that car. Something’s lacking and they stall all the time. One minute they believe and the next they don’t.

It seems to me that two crucial factors in our lives are circumstance and choice. God allows us in a multitude of circumstances – it might be sickness, job loss or divorce. In each of these circumstances we have the choice of either dealing with them with our own faltering resources, or dealing with them in faith, by trusting in God.

The way to keep from stalling out is by trusting God.

The way I got into that country club is the way that we are able to get into heaven – not on the merit of who we are or what we’ve done, but on the merit of someone else, Jesus. Trusting Jesus is what gives us access to heaven some day. We are getting in on Jesus’ number.

One time on an airplane I had an unexpected reminder to be thankful for God’s preservation. When I’m flying, I like to sit in an aisle seat, but I often look across my seatmates out the window while we are landing. On this particular flight I noticed the man in the window seat cross himself as the wheels touched the ground. I thought to myself, “That’s not a bad idea. This guy is grateful to God for getting him safely back to earth again.” What I had seen as routine, he had turned to praise.

The Bible is filled with praises to God for preservation. But sometimes it’s good to be reminded not just to thank God for what went right, but also to thank him for all the things that didn’t go wrong!

Part 3 of 6 on Psalm 100

Psalm 100:3

What do you predict for this winter’s weather? Do you think this will be an unusually cold winter? Or do you think it will be warmer than usual? Do you agree with the forecasts of the commodities industry or the National Weather Service? If you’re an investor in heating oil futures the decision of which predictor to believe could make millions of dollars of difference.

USA Today ran a special section on the science of forecasting. It dealt with weather, the stock market, retail sales, political elections and the direction of interest rates. The conclusion of the article seems to be that the best of forecasters are wrong more often than they are right. The newspaper reviewed economic forecasts from interest rates to Gross Domestic Product to the Dow Jones Average and S&P 500. Basically all the prognosticators missed the mark. The explanation for all of the errors was simple. Forecasters only have the past upon which to base their predictions, but the future has variables that the past did not have. There are too many changes the forecasters could not have known and did not include in their calculations.

We live in a time of so many changes. We belong to a generation that lacks certainty. Relativism reigns. Absolutes are denied. New countries are emerging. Old diseases are returning. Lifetime employment is disappearing. Families are wobbly. Many people are scared.

In the midst of all of this what we need is something certain, something sure. We need absolute truth that never changes and that can carry us through anything we will face. More than ever we need the certain declaration of Psalm 100:3: “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

There are three transforming truths in these lines, and if we get all three we can face anything that comes our way in life. We can face every circumstance with certainty, with worship and with shouts of joy!

If we can actually “Know that the Lord is God” we are well on our way to living a transformed life. We need to understand that there is an intellectual side to knowing God. It is the rational belief in the reality of God. But faith is more than mental assent. To know God is to have an inner acceptance of who he is.

We often hear that belief in God is simply a matter of faith, and that’s true. But never think that faith is to be uninformed or anti-intellectual. Christianity is a thinking person’s religion. Christianity is not afraid of careful thinking or scientific evidence or critical questions. The truth is that Christianity has a long tradition of leading intellectuals from around the world and throughout history who have diligently searched before coming to the conviction that “the Lord is God.”

Psalm 100 was first written in Hebrew. The word that is translated “Lord” is the Hebrew word “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” which is the primary Old Testament name for God. The word translated “God” in Psalm 100:3 is the word “Elohim” which was the ancient word for god or gods. At times it can even refer to the gods of false religions. And so the Bible acknowledges that there are many persons and things that claim to be god or are presented as gods. Travel almost anywhere in the world and you can see huge idols and shrines that are objects of worship for millions of people. They believe that these creations of their minds and hands are real gods.

But Psalm 100:3 urges us to know that Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is the only real God. Belief in Yahweh therefore means renouncing every other god as false and acknowledging that the God of the Bible is the one true God.

Throughout the Bible the Lord, or Yahweh, is presented as absolutely amazing. He is without beginning or ending. There was never ever a time when God did not exist. There will never ever be a time when God does not continue to exist. He is not like us. He is not human; he is not mortal; he does not change. He knows everything and can do anything. God is absolutely perfect. He is absolutely loving and generous and kind. God is willing to do anything for our good, including sacrificing his own son for us. God makes everything work together for good, no matter how long that may take and no matter how impossible it may seem.

Knowing that the Lord is God means that the Lord is in control of the world and that he is in control of our lives. We may not always think that way. We may think it’s really politicians or parents or enemies or our critics or an employer or cancer or AIDS or the economy. But none of these or anyone or anything else is greatest and most powerful in our lives or in our world. “The LORD is God!”

Knowing this Lord as the only true God is a life transforming truth. We are confident that the Lord is in charge. We know that what he says is true. We have a fixed point in the universe that is always dependable and always good. Everything else can be defined and understood in terms of him. “Know that the Lord is God!”

The second transforming truth is to know who we are. When we know ourselves and understand how we fit into this world we are powerfully enabled to have self-definition and self-confidence. There are a lot of people who spend their entire lives trying to figure out who they are and what is the meaning of life. It can be a frustrating and destructive journey of self-discovery. And if I can’t figure out who I am there is little chance that I can find purpose in life or happiness or be much good to anyone else.

According to the Bible, we are creations of God. “It is he who made us and we are his.” If that is true and if that is believed then all of life has immediate and eternal meaning.

God made us in order to love us. The Lord certainly didn’t create us in order to hurt us. He didn’t create us in order to hate us. He didn’t create us in order to make us miserable. There is great self-identity in knowing that God made us.

We continually identify people and things by their source of origin. I was born in New Jersey. Although I’ve lived far longer in Minnesota than I ever lived in New Jersey I will carry the “made in New Jersey” label all my life. Volkswagens are made in Germany. Volvos are made in Sweden. Harley Davidsons are made in the USA.

It is transforming to live life realizing “I was designed in heaven and made by God!” That gives me a worth that is far greater than a label that has to do with New Jersey, Germany, Sweden and the United States combined. But, especially important is that it tells me who I am.

God created us and God owns us. Actually he doubly owns Christians. God owns us as our Creator but he also owns us as our Redeemer. We humans are notorious for wanting our independence. We have rebelled against God’s ownership and control of our lives even though our Creator has every right to do with us whatever he wants. That independence is called sin. Sin rots and ruins our lives.

I read an interesting story about a man who owned a 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible when he was a teenager. He loved that car. But, as he grew out of his teenage years he sold it and lost track of it, and the car was resold many times. When he reached his forties he wanted his ’58 Chevy back again. He hired a private detective who found each owner through interviews and motor vehicle registrations. He tracked the car across thousands of miles through multiple states and finally found it in a junkyard. It was wrecked and rusted.

When the detective found the car he called the man who had hired him. The man then traveled across country to the junkyard and bought the wreck. He invested thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars rebuilding and restoring his once beautiful 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible. He wanted to make it the beautiful car that it once was. And eventually he did. It was as good as new. He had given it his best. He just loved that car. It became a car twice loved and twice owned.

God has done far better than that. God first owned us as our Creator. When we wandered away our lives became wrecked and ruined. Some of us ended up in the junkyard. But God does not easily give up. God tracks us down. He finds us and works on us. He rebuilds and restores us through Jesus Christ. He makes us the way we were meant to be, no matter how long it takes.

So, who are we? We are those whom God has made and we are his. His ownership is not a bad thing; it’s a good thing. His ownership is not burdensome. As Christians we do not resent it. We know that he made us and he loves us. We are proud to wear his name and get our identity from him. In the words of the psalmist, “Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his.”

Knowing who God is and knowing who we are leads to the third transforming truth about our relationship to God: “We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

God could have defined our relationship with him in slave terms, but instead he chose to use shepherd terms. It is technically and legally true that God created us and he owns us, so we are totally subject to his orders. “We are his people” and he can do anything he wants with us.

While this is not the primary emphasis of the Bible, it is one that we shouldn’t forget. The Lord is God and we can never overpower or overrule him. Sometimes we as humans act as if we are God and can tell God what to do. But we can’t.

God is God. He owns us. He can love us or hate us. He can give us life or he can give us death. That’s why it’s wise for us to remember who God is and what our relative position is and that we follow the Bible’s advice to “fear the Lord”. But fearing the Lord can have different definitions. If we are Christians with hearts for God, that fear of him is really enormous respect and admiration. But if we are rebellious and antagonistic against God, we should fear his anger and our consequences for our rebellion and sin against him.

God’s emphasis is not on controlling us as slaves but on caring for us as sheep. “We are the sheep of his pasture.” Shepherds love their sheep. Shepherds care for their sheep. The safest and best place any sheep can be is in the shepherd’s pasture. The pasture is where it’s easy, where there is plenty of food, where dangers are fewer and, most of all, the pasture is where the shepherd is always close by.

There are some marvelous words in the Old Testament in Isaiah 40:11 that tell us: “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs with his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” It’s the description of a shepherd with sheep. It’s the description of God with us.

That picture is carried over into the New Testament where we read that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Think about that. We are his sheep. Jesus the shepherd loves us enough that he actually died on the cross for us.

All of this is God’s way of saying that our relationship to him is to be the very best. He has done and he will do everything to keep that relationship as close and as good as can be. God is watching out for us with love in every detail of our lives during every day of our lives.

Put all these truths from the Bible together. Drive them like pilings into your life so that you are able to sustain hurricane force winds or mountain moving earthquakes. Memorize these truths. Repeat them a dozen times or more every day. Know who God is. Know who you are. Know your relationship.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

A historian analyzed 3,100 years of recorded history and found only 286 years without wars – that’s less than ten percent.

When the Bible says, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way,” it’s not defining peace as the absence of strife. God’s peace is a deep inner confidence independent of outside circumstances. In fact, we can experience the peace of God in the midst of war.
Even when our world is filled with conflict, God offers us “peace at all times and in every way.”

Dealing with a wayward child is one of the hardest things about parenting. If a beloved son or daughter shows up at home only to ask for money or calls from jail asking for bail, the parents may say “yes” the first few times. But eventually they conclude that granting the requests further enables self-destruction. The hard but kind thing to do is to turn a deaf ear.

God takes his relationship with us very seriously. He desires to win our hearts and allegiance with generosity. But when that approach fails, God often says no until we recognize the importance of a right relationship with him. He has no desire to be an impersonal vendor of favors. It’s when we repent and give him our allegiance that our prayers can be heard and answered.

How would you define prayer? My own best short definition of prayer is communion with God. Communion is more than communication. Answering machines and voice mail are communication. Communion implies a direct, close relationship. It’s the wordless communication between a mother and her baby; it’s the private conversation between a man and a woman deeply in love.

Prayer is the expression of the close relationship between the person who prays and God. That close relationship is built through daily prayer in the midst of all of life’s circumstances. When we make a request of God, we are expressing our relationship, not just seeking favors. The love relationship comes first and prayer is the communication channel for that relationship.

Many times I have driven through the Rocky Mountains in western Colorado where the terrain changes frequently. Sometimes you go through green valleys and the road has wide shoulders, but soon there’s a steep upgrade with hairpin curves and switchbacks. You may find yourself at the edge of a road where there’s no shoulder or barricade to separate you from a thousand foot drop.

I think that life is a lot like driving in the mountains. There are all different kinds of terrains and turns in the road. What God gives to us is peace and a sense of his presence. God’s peace enables us to soar to the highest heaven and not be proud. His peace also enables us to walk through the deepest hell of circumstances and not fall into despair. It’s the peace that passes all understanding.

Some years ago there was a massive earthquake in Soviet Armenia. Large apartment buildings crumbled like sand castles. In hindsight it was determined that the tragedy was magnified because of the poor construction of the buildings. They were constructed simply of concrete, without reinforcing steel rods. They looked fine from the outside, but when the tremors came, the unreinforced buildings began to crumble.

In the Christian’s life the peace of God is our steel reinforcement. If you were to compare a group of Christians and non-Christians, you probably couldn’t see any difference in their external appearance. The “concrete” on the outside would look the same. But it’s when the earthquakes of life come that you discover whether or not you have the peace of God acting like reinforcing steel rods, holding your life together.

Part 2 of 6 on Psalm 100

Psalm 100:4

As a college student I spent a summer studying and traveling in Europe. It was during the Cold War when tensions between the Communist bloc and western nations were at their height. One of the places I visited was Berlin. Several other college students and I traveled by bus through the long corridor in what was then Communist East Germany to West Berlin. Later we crossed through the Berlin Wall into East Berlin. While it was an interesting experience, it as eerie and ominous. There was a sense of fear and evil. It felt like I didn’t belong there.

At the end of our brief visit we walked through the re-entry point called “Checkpoint Charlie” and into the American sector of West Berlin. The soldiers were Americans. The Stars-and-Stripes flew over the gatehouse. It was a great feeling of “coming home”.

Imagine how much better it is to pass through a checkpoint called Christ and to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; (to) give thanks to him and praise his name.” It must be the ultimate sense of “coming home”. And while we won’t fully experience this until we enter the gates of heaven itself, we can experience that sense of God’s presence here and now.

Psalm 100 is the thanksgiving Psalm with three great invitations. The first invitation is to come to God's place and presence: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” How wonderful and amazing to be invited into the presence of God! We might compare it to the privilege of being invited to the home of another person. To each of us home is a special place, that private place most closely connected to who we are. To be invited to someone’s home is to be considered special.

God has invited us into his place. Ultimately that means his heaven. Immediately it means into God’s spiritual presence and those places he most identifies with himself. For the ancient Jews who first sang Psalm 100 that meant the Temple in Jerusalem. After all, they were called “God's chosen people”. As God's chosen people they had access to the designated place in the world where God was to be met and experienced.

But there were limits. Ordinary Jews were allowed only in the outer courts of the Temple. They were not permitted to go into the Holiest Place where God’s presence was greatest. It was open only to the High Priest and then only on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Anyone else or any other time meant certain death.

The Jews worried that the high priest might have a heart attack and die as a result of the awe of standing in the presence of God. If he died, how would they get his body out since no one else was allowed in? So they tied a rope around the high priest’s ankle so they could drag out his body if he died in the Holiest Place.

I don't sense that the people were offended that they could not go there. They were satisfied that they could have the outer courts. To them being that close to God was itself so awesome that no one expected anything more or better.

Several years ago our family vacationed in Washington, D.C. While there we were the guests of lifelong friends Bob and Lynn Dugan, staying with them in their home. Months in advance we made arrangements through our local congressional office to get six tickets to tour the White House as part of our visit. It was a big deal. It was fun and exciting. We were grateful for the experience.

At the end of the day we went back to the Dugans’ house to stay overnight and we told them about our tour of the Executive Mansion. Then I said to Bob, “What did you do today?” It was then that we learned that he, too, had been to the White House that day, having a private lunch meeting with the president!

I was not envious; I really wasn't! I was still grateful for where we had gone and what we had seen, although we had not made it as far inside or as close to the president as did our host.

That's the difference between the way we read Psalm 100:4 and the way the people of ancient Israel read Psalm 100:4. They were only allowed to go through the gates and into the outer courts. But as Christians we are allowed to go all the way into the Holiest Place.

Do you remember the story of Jesus' crucifixion? At the instant Jesus died the long thick veil that kept everyone out of the Holiest Place ripped completely in half from the top to the bottom. When Jesus died it was as if God shouted to the entire human race, “Come on in!” No restrictions! No limitations! No distinctions based on race or gender or status. Everyone is invited into the presence of God now and into God’s place forever. It's no wonder that those who enter his gates and come into his courts are filled with thanksgiving and praise!

There is something that we dare not miss, even though it is very subtle. This fourth verse from Psalm 100 is linked to the first verse. The psalm starts out, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!” God’s invitation to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise is an open invitation to everyone on the earth. But Israel was content to be God's special people. They never learned to invite other people into God's Temple or into God’s presence. What a sad commentary on those ancient people that they were unwilling to share what God had given them.

Major US airlines periodically have “companion fares” that allow passengers to take along anyone they want for little or no expense. Airline employees can also fly stand-by for little or no cost. Imagine being able to fly anywhere in the world for little or no fare and to be able to take anyone you choose along with you. Who would you take? A family member? Someone from work? One of your best friends? Your neighbor next door who treats you rotten?

God has companion fares into God's presence and into God's heaven. You can invite anyone you know to come along with you. And not just one person, but as many as you choose.

That's what evangelism is. That's what Wooddale Church is all about. Every week we gather together and worship and praise God. We enter into his presence with thanksgiving and praise. Then we spread out for the rest of the week to invite our friends and relatives to join with us. We are “inviters” on the best companion fare that’s ever been offered: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”

When we enter God's gates, thanksgiving comes to our minds and to our mouths. Anyone who thinks should thank; the two always go together. It is so obvious that God has done great good things for us and given lots of great gifts to us. We have life when others are dead. We who are Christians have eternal life while others will die forever. We each have long lists of God's gifts, and no two lists are alike. For some the list includes a good job, good health, friends, marriage, children, parents. Other lists contain education, wealth, nice clothes, a lovely home, musical talents, emotional sensitivity. Still other lists include divine healing, deliverance from terrible addictions or the promise of an absolutely terrific future.

The tragic mistake some make at the gate is to ignore their own blessings from God and look at others’ blessings. They forget what they have and envy what others have. The results are a bitter heart and a saddened God.

If you're a parent, you know how carefully you choose Christmas gifts or birthday gifts for your children. Imagine how you would feel if your son or daughter totally neglected your gifts and complained about not getting the gifts you gave to others. Would that make you angry? Probably it would make you sad.

God has feelings too. God, who wisely and carefully chooses the gifts that he prepares and presents to us, wants us to be delighted with the choices he has made. His choices are far wiser than anything we could make for ourselves.

I suggest that everyone regularly make a thanksgiving list. Put down everything you have received from God. Think hard about it; be as complete as you possibly can be. When the list is finished remember that you probably have forgotten more than you have included.

Recently I left my office and was driving down the highway when I saw a truck cut over into my lane without signaling. One car a little ahead of me was nearly run off the road. It was close. I thought that if I had left the office three seconds earlier I could have been where that truck swerved and it might have taken my life. I thanked God for what didn’t happen.

Thanks lists are for everything that God has done. They are not only for what we have, but for what we don’t have as well. There are items that could be included in our list that we don't even remember, much less think to record. I'm convinced that the Bible is true when it says that every good and perfect gift that we have comes from God. I also believe that an attitude of gratitude has comparatively little to do with the specifics of what we have received. I know people who are deeply thankful to God even though they seem to have very little while others are as ungrateful as can be even though they have so much.

Come to God; that is the first great invitation. Thank God; that is the second great invitation. Praise God—the third great invitation.

There is a difference between thanking God for what he has done and praising God for who he is. In reality the two are tied together so tightly that it is practically impossible to split them apart. But, for learning purposes, let’s try to make a distinction.

All of us want to be loved and respected for who we are, not just for what we do. Many adult children struggle with questions about their parents' acceptance and approval of them. Childhood memories too often center on moms and dads who seemed to give praise and love only when we worked hard, behaved well and received good grades in school. Often we have interpreted that to mean that we would not be loved or praised if we made a mistake, did something embarrassing to our folks or failed a class in school. We know how much those memories hurt and how important it is to be accepted and loved for ourselves.

God has feelings, too. Surely he loves to hear us say “thank you” for the good gifts he has generously given to us. But God also wants to be loved and praised just for who he is. He wants to know that we will love him no less if we don’t get what we want. We will admire and honor him even if he does things we would not choose or do not like. God wants us to praise him for who he is. He is God. He is loving. He has impeccable integrity and consistency. He is truthful. He is kind. He is the best there can be!

Have you ever stood outside on a dark cloudless night and admired the stars? You were awed by how many there were. You were amazed at their beauty. Their vast expanse was dumbfounding. But they have never really done anything for you. They don’t feed your children. They don’t warm your home. Unless you are a sailor they probably have never helped you find your way. You just admire them for themselves.

Let us also admire their Creator—just for who he is; just because he is God; just because he is beautiful; just because he is the best there can be. Admire him. Praise him.

A short time before Jesus died his friends were getting really stressed at the idea of his leaving and all the uncertainty that included. So Jesus took them aside and spoke to them the words that are recorded in John 14:1-3:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Jesus was predicting that future day in heaven when every Christian would literally “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” It will be a fabulous experience, better that anything anyone can imagine in advance.

Right now is the rehearsal. This brief life is our time to experience the God who has come to us before we go home to him. Now is the time for us to try out our thanks. Now is the time for us to practice our praise.

Do it! “Give thanks to him and praise his name!”

I read an article that quoted Einstein as saying, “God doesn’t play dice.” Then the author added, “but God does play chess.” In other words, God, like a skilled chess player, has a long-range strategy. God is looking three, four or more moves ahead for us with a strategy for winning the game. It’s not a roll of the dice that rules our lives. Even if the current move entails a significant or painful loss for us on the chess board, it’s part of God’s brilliant strategy for ultimate victory. God will not be checkmated. He will not lose.

What a difference it can make if we, in faith, adopt this perspective. Believing that God is able to take yesterday’s lost piece or today’s board position and strategize ahead for victory and for our good, will transform our faith!

To give you an idea of how bad it was, a godly pastor named Martin Rinkart, conducted 5,000 funerals in one year for the people of his parish. In the midst of that misery, he wrote these words:

Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
In whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms,
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

Martin Rinkert lived in a time of seemingly hopeless circumstances yet he trusted God. And that trust is the secret to thankfulness.

Notice that we aren’t being asked to give thanks for all circumstances, but to give thanks in all circumstances. In other words, we are to give God thanks even in situations that we hate!

Difficult? Yes, it's difficult to have that kind of faith. But I can tell you from experience and from the Bible that the best way to discover the true meaning of Thanksgiving is by giving thanks “in all circumstances.”

I don’t say that to make us feel guilty. But we should be grateful for all we have. And may our gratitude make us want to be like Jesus – concerned with the needs of others. When Jesus fed the five thousand the Bible tells us that they all ate until they were satisfied and there was food left over. Jesus not only was compassionate for the hungry crowd, but he was generous.

May we welcome others, feed others and help others – trusting God to take what we offer and use it to bless others in Jesus’ name.

The same goes for faith. Unless someone first becomes a Christian, there is no faith to grow. Many Americans think they are Christians simply because they’ve been born in a Christian family. But that’s no more true than being born in a garage makes you a car. Becoming a Christian is based on personal faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. There needs to be a point in time when you believe.

Remember, in order for faith to grow, there must first be a beginning. Plant your seed of faith today so it can grow!

Part 1 of 6 on Psalm 100

Psalm 100:1

Researchers designed a survey to understand human happiness. The project included such multiple variables as different ages, social classes and cultures. They concluded that there is very little correlation between circumstances and happiness. Some people have comparatively good circumstances in life and are miserable people, and others have terrible circumstances and are surprisingly happy.

One area examined in the survey was money. The researchers wondered if more money made people happier. The answer was somewhat complex. If more money provided the basics of life like food, shelter and clothing, that money did make people happier. However, beyond the basics in life, money was not a significant factor in determining personal happiness.

What about the person who won the lottery, received a huge raise or was the beneficiary of a large inheritance? The research showed that the benefits of the new money did make a person somewhat happier for up to three months. But after three months most people return to their previous level of happiness or misery.

About three thousand years ago an unknown songwriter, full of happiness and joy, wrote some of the most famous musical lines of history. It is Psalm 100 in the Old Testament. Jewish worshipers sang it originally as they marched through their streets in festivals of celebration and worship of God. But the words are so good that they have transcended time and culture and are as relevant today as they were three millennia ago. They say:

Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Joy is one of the most frequent words in the Bible appearing 218 times. Joy was repeatedly the mark of Old Testament believers and New Testament Christians. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the “Good News” of Jesus Christ. When he was born the angels announced that his coming was to bring “great joy” to the world.

Joy is a great distinctive of Christianity. Most world religions are based on fear. Christianity is based on grace and joy.

There is a difference between joy and happiness. Although joy often makes Christians happy, joy is really a deep inner sense that everything is good because of God. It is like the ocean; even though there are hurricanes raging on the surface, there is calm and stability underneath. The intent of God is that the joy on the inside determines how we respond to the circumstances on the outside rather than that the circumstances swirling around us become the determining factor for who or what we are on the inside.

Christian joy comes from knowing that what is most important of all is God and his relationship to us rather than circumstances. Christians live by faith that God exists, God is wonderfully good, God forgives sin, God gives eternal life, God is powerfully in charge of everything that happens, God is intimately involved in our lives and God will make everything turn out right and good in the end. So we believe that no matter what happens to us in life that God knows, God cares and God makes everything eventually okay.

Anyone who really believes and knows this is transformed. Life’s meaning and feeling is not based on physical appearance, job, possessions, other relationships or anything else. All these things are temporary and comparatively unimportant.

Several years ago I wrote a book that began with these words: “Joan Hollister is the happiest person I know.” Joan, a part of the Wooddale Church family for many years, had been diagnosed with cancer. It was the beginning of what would be a long and sometimes painful journey, a journey that not only included cancer for her but for her husband, Jack, as well. Their cancer would eventually take both their lives, Jack first and then Joan. I watched them move from health to sickness to death. They were joyful throughout! Their lives were fixed on Jesus Christ, and they were amazing.

Joy is meant to be expressed, and there are thousands of different ways to express Christian joy. It can be expressed in prayers of gratitude and trust in God. It can be in an anthem that a choir sings. It can be through acts of kindness to others. Sometimes it is simply through a smile. Or it might be as powerful as calmness in crisis.

One of the best ways to express joy is with noise. You can be noisy alone, but it’s more fun to be noisy with others. If you’re a football fan you know that there is a big difference between cheering a touchdown alone in the living room and being in a stadium with 60,000 fans.

For thousands of years believers have gathered together to celebrate. In ancient Israel they marched through the streets singing the words of Psalm 100 as they went. For two thousand years Christians have gathered to sing the same words.

Now, I'm not a shouter by nature and I'm certainly not much of a singer. I don't usually scream at baseball or football games. I don’t do somersaults when I get good news. But I love to praise God with other Christians. It is this wonderful experience of saying and singing joy to the Lord that has a way of getting me out of myself. It lifts my heart.

Many times I have gone into gatherings with other Christians in a whole variety of moods. Then I watch and listen and share in praises to God and I feel my spirit soar. It brings the joy to the surface.

Sometimes I like to look around at others who are expressing their joy. I love to see people’s faces and connect to their celebration when they sing and when they praise God. It is this marvelous thing to see that lifts my heart together with others.

There are many reasons to enthusiastically share in worship together. I encourage every Christian to attend church every Sunday possible and be sure to arrive on time. The Bible commands it. It is an appointment with God. But those are sort of “heavy duty” reasons. The best reason of all is to worship God and to express Christian joy and commitment with other believers. The purpose of the gathered church is to worship God and to shout and sing and express our Christian joy together.

There is only one true source of Christian joy and that it the Lord. No other person or thing can give true inner joy and contentment except God himself.

The people who learn this best are often those who lose everything else. Have you known Christians who were minimally joyful for years when they had good health, stable families and dependable income? Then they lose their jobs, their families fall apart or severe health problems arise. Just when you would expect that person to be miserable and bitter, she is full of joy and talks often about God. He suddenly has a peace and happiness that was never there before.

We are tempted to give psychological names to this appearance of joy. We say it is denial or bargaining with God. Except those who have lost so much and are so joyful say, “No, this is for real. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like it before. I just sense God’s control over my life. I trust him for everything. I really am filled with joy.”

I've seen this many times. I have gone to visit patients in the hospital, dreading the visit. I’ve wondered what to say. I realize that my words can seem so hollow and empty. But I walk into the room and immediately sense the joy. And often I have driven away thinking how much I have been benefited and blessed because I have witnessed powerful, deep Christian joy.

But we don't have to wait until everything else is stripped away to experience this joy that comes from the Lord for it is available to anyone who truly bases life on God. It is available to anyone who loves God and lives for God and trusts God. It is a personal choice. It cannot be made by anyone else. There is no sermon that will do it for you. There is no church program or counselor who can make it happen.

Do you want to try it? How about praying a prayer to God that goes something like this:

Lord, I want this kind of joy so I choose for you to be Number 1 in my life starting today. You will be more important to me than anything else. I really mean this. If you want to, you can take away everything else in my life as long as I have you. You can have my job, my money, my health, my family—everything. As long as I have you, I have all that I need.

Would you be willing to pray that prayer to God? Would you be willing to write it down with today’s date, sign it and save the paper? And would you be willing to tell other people what you have prayed?

If we are honest, many of us are thinking, “I can never pray a prayer like that! What if God took me up on it and I lost all my savings? What if it cost me my house? I could lose my job or marriage or children. I’d be too scared to ever pray a prayer like that.”

We know what we're saying, don’t we? We're saying that our joy in life is really not in God but in someone or something else.

I'll tell you what I want. I want the joy of the Lord. More than anything else! Not that I want to lose the other things in my life that are extremely important and that I value. But I don’t want them to come before God. I want the basis of my life to be nothing but God himself. Because I believe that God alone is more than enough to have the greatest joy possible, I want to trust him enough to make that decision for me.

When you are excited about something good, you usually want to share it. You want other people to celebrate and shout along with you. Think about the last time you had some really good news. It could have been a new job or a new baby, a raise in salary or a benign biopsy report. What was the first thing you did when you heard the news? You probably called home, went to tell a friend or co-worker or found a complete stranger on the street to tell what happened. Exciting good news always has to be shared!

Anyone who has the joy of the Lord wants to shout about it, but not alone. We want our friends and family to join in with us. We want the whole earth to join the celebration. I’m excited about that day that’s promised in the Bible when an uncountable crowd of people from every tribe and language and people and nation will join the shout of celebration and joy for the Lord. But until then, here is the best advice you can get for today:

* Find your joy in the Lord!
* “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.”

Jesus’ first disciples made a similar decision when he asked them to leave their jobs and follow him. Rather than following a church, a doctrine or a program; they decided to follow the man – Jesus.

When asked the question, “What is a Christian?” there are many who will say that a Christian is someone who reads the Bible and prays, or is someone who goes to church and does good to other people. But these are wrong answers! These are things that a Christian does, but not what a Christian is.

A Christian is someone who has made a deliberate and far-reaching decision to follow Jesus. It’s a radical choice but it’s worth it!

When the realities of our day-to-day lives do not match up to our five-year plans; it’s good to stop to consider that they may be God-given opportunities. God is never surprised. He knows the end from the beginning and he sees how all the pieces fit together. I suspect that he takes great delight in surprising us.

For centuries Christians have inserted the phrase “God willing” in their letters and conversations. You still hear, “See you next week, God willing.”

It’s a reminder that we are to hold all of our plans open to whatever God has in store for us.

As I was thinking about this afterwards, I couldn’t help but wonder if the people they were serving had any idea who this couple was and what they’d left behind. I don’t know about you, but I have to confess that I like to be recognized for what I’ve done. But I think that this couple would not have wanted the people they were serving to know who they were. They had chosen to follow Jesus in a revolutionary way.

Jesus served others with humility and obedience. He didn’t need anyone to know how important he was. He just wanted to serve.

Did you know that our character reacts in much the same way? If we decide to forgive, it makes us more forgiving. If we decide to give when previously we’ve been stingy, it will make us generous.

Who we are determines what we decide and what we decide shapes who we are. And that’s where God fits in. It’s when we receive God’s powerful love into our lives that we begin to behave in a more loving way. The presence of God’s love enables us to make the decisions that change our character.

Part 5 of 5 on Sermons People Want to Hear

Everyone wonders about the future. Will I marry? Who will that person be? Will there be children? Where will I live? Will I be rich? Will I be healthy? Will I be happy? Who will win the election? Will the stock market go up or down? When and how will I die?

Most of the time most of these questions are not answered in advance. As Christians we learn to live by faith—that is, we trust God for the direction and destiny of our lives. God knows what we don’t know and he controls what we can’t control.

But there are some things about the future that God has chosen to tell us in the prophecies of the Bible. Biblical prophecies are not given to satisfy our curiosity. Prophecy is given to teach us that God controls history and that history is going somewhere. God was the Lord of yesterday. God is the Lord of today. And God is the Lord of tomorrow. He is the sovereign king of the past, present and future. They are all connected.

Sometimes we may think that human history is chaotic nonsense. It has come from nowhere and is going nowhere. But that’s not true. God has a plan. God’s plan is all coming together, even the parts that seem like nonsense all fit into God’s plan! Biblical prophecy should give us great hope and comfort. We can trust God to make everything work together for good in the end. Even though we cannot control the future, we can trust God for complete control and for great good.

In a survey of “Sermons People Want to Hear” the topic of Bible prophecy was high on the list. So let’s take a look at what’s up for history-to-come.

First of all and most important of all is the really big event—Jesus’ return to earth. By far, this is more important than anything else predicted. Every other Bible prophecy connects to and is dependent on Jesus’ return, but every other prophecy is dwarfed in comparative importance. Never get caught up in overemphasis on anything else. There may be uncertainty and differences of interpretation on all the lesser and more obscure biblical predictions about future events, but not this one. The return of Jesus Christ to earth is Number One.

Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection it was time for him to go home to heaven. Jesus and his followers gathered together on the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem. The record of what happened appears in Acts 1:3-11:

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them, “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Just as the first coming-to-earth of Jesus was predicted thousands of years in advance, so the second coming of Jesus was predicted thousands of years in advance. Here’s what we know:

1.) It’s a sure thing. It is a biblical promise from God.
2.) The date is unknown to us. According to Jesus, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” (1:7). God has deliberately kept the date a secret. We’re not told why. Perhaps it would have been bad for previous generations to know that there would be a 2000-year wait. Maybe God wants it to be a surprise. Just be sure to never believe anyone who tells you that they know what Jesus says they can’t know. There have been a lot of badly mistaken teachers and preachers who have claimed to know the date, and every one has been wrong. Never believe the date-setters because they are clearly unbiblical and contradicting Jesus.
3.) Jesus’ return will be like his departure. Jesus’ departure was simple, public and visible. His body left the ground on top of the Mount of Olives and he ascended until he disappeared. While every detail may not be exactly the same, Jesus’ return will be similar. He will physically come to earth from heaven. It will be a public event. If you are around and have a camcorder you will be able to record it on videotape.
4.) Last time Jesus came as a poor peasant; next time he will come as a conquering king.
5.) The purpose of Jesus’ return. He will reunite with Christians. He will right the injustices caused by sin. He will judge evil. He will take over the ruling of the world. He will tie up the loose ends of history. He will fulfill the purposes and plans of God.

The expectation of Jesus’ return makes a difference in the way Christians live right now. We are
to live good and godly lives in anticipation of Jesus coming back. In Titus 2:11-14 we read:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

As Christians we can and should live godly lives now and look forward to Jesus coming back to earth. This is the really big event of all of future history and Bible prophecy. If you don’t understand or don’t remember any of the other future predictions, remember this one. And never even think about making the other predictions anything close to as important as Jesus’ return!

The Bible predicts that near the really big event of Jesus’ return to earth are two significant but less important events—the Rapture and the Tribulation. Bible scholars and students differ on the chronological order of these nearby events. Some insist that the Rapture precedes the Tribulation; others insist that the Tribulation precedes the Rapture. Personally, I don’t think that the Bible clearly explains the order. It’s good enough for me to just know that they will happen.

The Rapture is the amazing future event when Christians will go to meet Jesus and welcome him back to earth. We will all be members of the welcoming committee for Jesus. It will be similar to biblical times when a king went out to war with his army. When they returned home in victory, the citizens of the city would all leave home and go out to meet the king and his army. Then they would all march back into the city together.

Since Jesus is coming from heaven to earth, we’ll all take a supernatural journey into the air to meet him there. Exactly how this works we really don’t know. It promises to be a fabulous experience. And, since we don’t know when Jesus is returning, we need to be ready to welcome him on a second’s notice. He could return today—and Christians could be raptured to meet him at any time. The Apostle Paul explains this in I Thessalonians 4:16-17:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

It will be thrilling. It will be better than a tourist trip to the International Space Station. But the most wonderful and exciting part of the Rapture is not the journey—it’s Jesus!

The other significant event near the return of Jesus will be the Tribulation. This is a period of about seven years when the problems of our world will really heat up. God’s restraint against evil will be lifted. Evil enemies against God will become political and religious leaders of the world. One of these leaders is called the Anti-Christ. God will pour out unprecedented judgments against evil people and governments. It will be absolutely frightening and literally earth shaking. There has never been anything like it before and there will never be anything like it again. You really don’t want to be here for these worst years in human history.

Some of the awful details are described in the book of Revelation. Righteous saints will be severely persecuted by the enemies of God. At the same time, these same saints will be preserved against the wrath of God that is zapping the unrighteous. It will be worse than any science-fiction movie imagining a war of the worlds. This will be all-out war between good and evil, between God and Satan.

The descriptions of the Great Tribulation are peppered throughout the Bible. Jesus gave us one of those descriptions in Mark 13:19: “those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.”

Sometimes Christians worry about the Tribulation, but I don’t think we should. God promises in Romans 8:1 that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We may trust God that he will never harm us. However, there is never a guarantee that we are exempt from the evil behavior of others.

Recent stories from the People’s Republic of China report terrible persecution of Christians by the anti-Christian Communist leadership. These stories reminded me of a communication that come out of China years ago when Christians there asked American Christians when the Great Tribulation began so that they could estimate how long it would last.

The Great Tribulation will be a great clash between good and evil when God will clobber those who are bad and give special grace to those who are good.

Remember, the really big event is the return of Jesus to earth. Near this return will be the Rapture and the Tribulation. After the really big event will be the Millennium.

The Millennium is a 1,000-year period when Jesus will rule as king of this world. The Bible doesn’t give all the details, but it promises to be the best time in a long time. There will be a world government. It will be a monarchy. Jesus will be the absolute sovereign king. Christians will hold government posts. There will be a direct link between heaven and earth. The way I understand what the Bible teaches and anticipate what will happen, we will be able to return from heaven to earth to share in this amazing millennium.

It won’t be heaven. It will still be earth. People will be born. Sin will be a choice. Even though Jesus will be on earth and run the earth there will still be the option of not believing in him or following him as Savior and Lord. In other words, all our concerns about government will be gone. Satan will be locked up and unable to corrupt our world. But people will still have the choice to sin and many will exercise that choice.

At the end of the Millennium Satan will break free and will find plenty of recruits willing to rebel against Jesus. He will lead a final cataclysmic conflict between himself and God called the Battle of Armageddon. God will win and this long great era of earth’s history will be over.

This is described in Revelation 20 at the very end of the Bible. It is what is called apocalyptic writing and it is often symbolic and sometimes difficult to understand, but you can get the idea of what to expect. St. John is writing based on a vision of the future that was given to him by God. We find this vision explained in Revelation 20:1-10:

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

After the Millennium and the final defeat of Satan comes the next predicted event—the Great White Throne Judgment. It is the final judgment by God to determine the eternal destiny of humans. Not too many details are given, but it is clear that the actions of this life determine our eternal destiny in the next life. There is a double basis for God’s sentence: human sins for which sinners may be condemned; and being named in the book of life because of personal faith in Jesus. Here’s what Revelation 20:11-15 says:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Does this short version of Bible prophecy answer all our questions? Probably not! Scholars have studied the Bible for centuries trying to find all the answers. The truth is that God hasn’t given us all the answers. God wants us centered on him, not the future!

I like the way one Bible student approached the return of Jesus. He said, “I’m not on the ‘Time and place committee’. I’m on the welcoming committee.” God wants us to look forward to welcoming Jesus back to earth and then trust him for working out the details that we cannot fully understand.

One thing is for sure—a Christian never needs to be troubled by fear of the future. When we read and talk about the future we should be encouraged and comforted, but not afraid. We are Christians if we have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives. Then we can trust God for the present and the future.

St. Paul wrote in I Thessalonians 4:16-18:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

It doesn’t say, “scare one another with these words;” it says, “comfort one another with these words.” Be comforted. Be blessed. Be assured that the future of every Christian is in the trustworthy hands of a good and loving God!

Jesus told his would-be disciples that they should count the cost before deciding to follow him. It isn’t easy to be a fully committed follower of Jesus. It can be costly to tell the truth, to live a moral life and to keep our promises. Doing what is right by God and by God’s book, the Bible, can be pricey for us. But even though becoming a follower of Jesus comes with a price, it’s eternally worth it.

These findings suggest that it’s the presence of stress and pressure encountered by Olympic champions that enables them to win the prize.

Almost two thousand years ago the New Testament used the Olympics as a metaphor to make a similar claim about Christians, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because when you have stood the test, you will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

In other words, it’s the tough times that prepare us for our future good.

In her latter years she specified that when she died she be laid in her casket with a fork in her hand. As people filed by her casket she wanted the fork to remind everyone that “the best is yet to come.”

The Bible says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because when you have stood the test, you will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

In other words, whatever your circumstances, hold on – for the best is yet to come!

Crowns make us think of kings and queens, but when the Bible was written, a crown was also the reward for winning. In the ancient Olympic games, the winners didn’t receive gold medals as they do now, they were crowned with a wreath of olive leaves. It was the highest honor and was worn by the victors long after the ceremony was over as an expression of their pride in having won.

The Bible tells us that God has promised a crown of life at the end of life’s race to those who love him. This “crown of life” is better than a wreath and better than Olympic gold for we get to wear it for the rest of eternity.

This principle is true for our relationship with God as well. God calls us to accountability for what we do with what he has entrusted to us. While it’s tempting to compare ourselves to others and say, “She has more than I have” or, “He gets all the lucky breaks,” the real issue is accountability. It’s not what we’ve got but what we do with what we’ve got that matters to God!

Part 4 of 5 on Sermons People Want to Hear

Some people have an especially great influence on us. They shape our lives in ways that no one else does. They are our role models. They are the ones we look up to, the kind of people we want to be like.

I suppose if a survey were taken on who has most influenced us, for many it would be a mother. Some of us would say that our mothers have been like angels sent from God as special gifts in our lives. It is a high compliment to call anyone an angel because angels are among the most wonderful and magnificent of all of God’s creation.

The popularity of angels has soared in recent years. They even have their own television programs now. They’re on the covers of news magazines and best-selling books. Sixty-nine percent of Americans say they believe in angels, but you’ve got to guess that 100% of Americans talk about angels and have angels as part of their vocabulary. Maybe that’s one reason why questions about angels were among the top choices for sermons that people wanted to hear.

There are thousands of reports of people’s encounters with angels. Sometimes in school, sometimes driving down the highway, sometimes in the midst of an automobile accident or in the emergency room or the operating room or in a family situation. If you don’t have an angel story of your own you certainly can tell the story of someone else. There are lots of angel stories because according to the Bible there are lots of angels. Let me share with you a sneak preview of heaven from a report by St. John in Revelation 5:11-12:

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

“Ten thousand times ten thousand” is a hundred million angels in one place at one time! And that’s not all of them. So obviously there are more angels in heaven and across God’s universe than we could ever begin to count.

There is so much angel talk, fact and fiction, mixed together that we need to see just what the Bible really says about angels. Just because somebody says something about an angel or guesses something about angels does not mean that they are right or that what they say is true. So we do what we always do, we go to God’s book, the Bible, as our source of authority to find out what we want to know concerning angels. And there’s a lot of information there. There are 165 references to angels in the New Testament alone; and there are over 100 references to angels in the Old Testament. So let’s start out by trying to figure out just who angels are.

Martin Luther defined angels as “spiritual creatures without a body, created by God, for the service of Christendom and the church.” So, angels are created beings. We know that because the Bible teaches that in the beginning there was only God and he created everything. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” In others words, angels are God’s good idea. He thought them up in the first place. He made them and he made a lot of them!

So angels are not our dead ancestors. Angels are angels. They’re not something that was once something or somebody else and then somehow evolved to become what they currently are. Angels are what they were created to be, beings specially designed by God.

We also know that they were and are spirits. Hebrews 1:14 tells us that angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation.” That is to say that angels don’t have bodies; angels are invisible; angels are like God. Angels are like our own souls or our own spirits. But it doesn’t make them any less real because they don’t have bodies. Spirits are as real as real can be. They are more a part of the spiritual universe than of the physical universe.

But someone might say, “Wait a minute! What about the stories of people who say they have seen angels, physical angels? And I’m sure that I’ve read many stories in the Bible where angels were physically present. How do you align that with the idea that angels are spirits?”

The Bible teaches that angels can take on different physical forms in order to accomplish the purpose God intended for them. But that’s not essentially what they are. I suppose you could compare it to the clothing that we wear. We can look very different depending on how we’re dressed, but the clothing does not determine who we are essentially as persons. Angels are spirits who occasionally take on physical appearance. The goods news is that angels can be very helpful to us in accomplishing God’s purposes whether we see them or not.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be invisible? Most children think about that; in fact, some are convinced they are invisible! What if you could do whatever you wanted to do and nobody could see you doing it? There would be some disadvantages, but there would be some enormous advantages as well.

Angels are spirits without bodies. But very significantly, angels are supernatural. They are above our idea of what is natural or normal. Psalm 8:5 says that God made man “a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” Another way of saying that is that God made angels and heavenly beings a little higher than he made humanity. Angels can do things we can’t do; angels can know things we don’t know; and angels can go places we can’t go. But angels are not God! Loads of Bible stories tell of angels doing supernatural acts—miracles—from miraculous announcements all the way to taking a rock that probably weighed about eight tons and rolling it back from the grave of Jesus in the Easter story.

Now we start to put all of that together and we begin to get at least a basic idea of what the Bible teaches about angels. We learn that there are millions of them, that God made them, that they are spirits who can instantly go anywhere and that they have supernatural power. No wonder people are so interested in angels and especially so interested in having angels help us.

But the next obvious question is: what do angels do? The basic answer is that angels do whatever God wants them to do. The Greek word from which we get our word “angel” is “angelos”. It was a common everyday term meaning “messenger”. So an angel is a messenger of God. An angel goes where God wants, does what God wants and obeys what God wants. Psalm 103:20 says, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.” It is really important to understand that angels don’t work for us. Angels work for God. They do what God tells them to do. That doesn’t mean they don’t help us. It doesn’t mean that they are not influential in our lives. The truth is that angels do all kinds of good things to bless and help and strengthen and encourage us. But they don’t take their assignments from us. Angels are not genies in bottles that we rub in order to get what we want. Angels do what God wants whether we like it or not.

What God wants is for them to worship God. That is their Number One job description. To worship God means to acknowledge God’s greatness, to acknowledge God’s goodness. It is giving praise and adoration to God for who he is and all he does. Psalm 148:2 says, “Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly host.”

So there are a hundred million angels surrounding the throne of God and worshiping him. They’re thinking about God. Even when they are not present in heaven, God is the center of their lives. They sing songs; they praise him; they do his beckoning; they do whatever he asks. That is the essence of worship: to speak words of truth concerning God’s greatness and to obey God and do whatever he asks to be done.

Except some of us want to say, “Now wait a minute. If that’s what heaven is all about, just telling God how great he is and doing whatever he asks us to do, that doesn’t seem like a very interesting thing to do for a long period of time.

Allow me to illustrate. If there is someone you really love, a husband or a wife or a parent or a child, someone you really care about, and you go to an activity that is centered on honoring that person, you know that you’re the first to clap and the last to stop the applause. While everybody else can be totally bored, you are absolutely fascinated when wonderful things are being said about the one you deeply love and care about. It totally changes your perspective.

And so it is with angels in heaven. They so love God and are so committed to him that they take delight in an infinite amount of time of praising, worshiping and acknowledging him. That’s what the essence of heaven is for us, too. And angels will be there with us leading in that praise.

Now, the good news for us is that God, who gives his assignments to these millions of angels, gives them assignments that are for our benefit. And one of the top assignments that God gives to angels for our benefit is to watch out for us. That’s because God has our best interest at heart. He wants us to be protected. He wants us to be cared for. So he orders his angels to guard those who are his children. In Psalm 91:11 we read, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” That verse is one of the places in the Bible where we get the idea that God assigns “guardian angels” to guard and protect and take care of those who are his and those whom he loves.

Stories of supernatural protection involving angels are easy to come by. One story tells of a group of three missionaries in a remote area who suddenly found themselves under attack by hundreds of people bent on taking their lives. At the last instant, the attack ended. Their attackers suddenly disappeared and everything was fine.

However, the next day the attackers came back and again the missionaries thought they were going to die, but at the last moment the attack ended. The same thing happened the third day, but again the attack stopped.

A year later one of these missionaries was with the leader of that attacking tribal group. The leader of the attackers brought up what happened in that three-day sequence and said, “We were determined that we were going to kill you, but when we saw those hundreds of soldiers standing around you to protect you, we knew that we could never win.” What the three missionaries couldn’t see but their attackers could see were apparently angels.

Another story tells of a woman who was running across a city bridge being pursued by attackers. In this case, too, her attackers turned and ran the other way. When they were caught and questioned they said that they had seen a pair of men in white robes with swords standing nearby to protect her.

One Christian tells the story of riding in a train on an overnight journey and being in a sleeping car. There were a number of other Christians on that particular train. During the night the train came to a screeching halt in an isolated place where there was no station. Everyone awoke to find that a farmer had flagged down the train and had stopped it only a few yards from a washed-out bridge that would have brought disaster and death probably to everyone on the train. He was questioned as to why he had come out that night to stop the train, something he had never done before. He explained that a stranger had awakened him in the middle of the night and told him to go and stop the train at that place.

Or, a more recent story of a woman who was awakened in the night when she heard her front door creaking open. It seemed strange to her in many ways and frightening since that door was seldom used because it was so warped it was almost impossible for even a strong person to get it open. She went downstairs and found the door wide open. As she went outside, there was her little boy. He explained that a stranger had come into his room and had taken him outside through the front door. The mother then discovered that the child had been playing with matches, the curtains had caught fire, the room was filled with smoke and her little boy’s life had been saved by that stranger who had opened the door that the child couldn’t open.

“For he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.”

Not only do angels guard us, they also guide us. One of the most famous examples was in the early life of Jesus. You may remember that after the wise men came to see Jesus Herod the King determined that he was going to have executed every male child under the age of two in the district where Jesus lived. So Joseph and Mary and Jesus became refugees, leaving Palestine and going to Africa and staying there throughout the rest of the life of Herod. But an angel came to Joseph and told him that he should relocate back to his homeland and that the purposes of God in the life of Jesus could then be fulfilled as God prepared Jesus for all he had for him to do. The story is told in Matthew 2:19-21:

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

Discovering God’s direction for our lives is exceptionally important. One of the ways God shows us where to go and what to do is through angels. God orders angels directly or indirectly to get to us the messages that we need so that we can have God’s direction in our lives. Usually those messages come through the Bible, but they may also come through dreams or circumstances. God will use whatever means are necessary to communicate his direction to us.

So what else do angels do? Well, they also encourage us . . . at least that’s what God did in the case of an Old Testament prophet named Gideon. Gideon lived at a time when the enemy of his nation was the Midianites. The Midianites were vicious in their attacks. They destroyed all the crops; they destroyed all the livestock; and they threatened to kill all the people. The people of the nation of Israel were absolutely frightened and so deeply discouraged that they were not likely to mount much of a defense against the invading armies.

The leader at the time was a man named Gideon. He, too, was discouraged, deeply discouraged, until an angel came to him. We’re told in Judges 6:12, “When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’ ” You know, at that moment he didn’t think of himself as a mighty warrior; he thought of himself as a hopeless failure. But the encouragement that the angel gave and the message from God were sufficient for Gideon to rise up and to lead the nation of Israel to victory.

I understand that because I get discouraged, too. In fact, one of the items on my daily prayer list is for God to give me encouragement. You know that when you work with people, when you live with your own frailties, when you encounter people who deeply discourage you, sometimes it’s just hard. It’s hard to go to work; it’s hard to stay at home; it’s hard to go on with the next day. It’s hard to cope with the things that get us down. It isn’t that we don’t have a lot of things going for us. It’s just that we can’t muster up the spiritual power to deal with all that life throws our way. So God sends encouragement. He sends encouragement to us as he did to Gideon through angels and messages to keep us going.

When we’re really in trouble God uses angels to deliver us from disaster. That’s what happened with St. Peter. He was imprisoned and his life was at risk. In a sense, he was on death row in Jerusalem. But God had more for him to do. He intended for Peter to be one of the founders of the church and it wasn’t his time to die. So Got sent an angel into the prison. He took Peter’s shackles off and walked him past all the guards through locked doors in order to set him free. The story is told in Acts 12. In verse 7 it reads, “Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shown in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.” So God delivered him from disaster.

God often delivers us, too. My guess is that many of us can actually recall stories where God has sent an angel or two to deliver us from present or potential disaster. But I am also sure that there are probably scores if not hundreds and thousands of times when God has done exactly the same thing, but we tend to focus on the difficult things not the multitude of times when we had the near-misses that we didn’t even know about where God delivered us from things that could have been far worse.

Well, last on the list for now is that angels strengthen us. Luke 22 recalls the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion when an angel from heaven appeared to Jesus and strengthened him. If you recall the story, Jesus was anticipating the trials and the crucifixion that were ahead in the next twenty-four hours. The weight of the physical threat and the spiritual trauma that he is going to go through were so overwhelming that Jesus was dying on the night before his crucifixion. If the angel of God hadn’t come and given him strength, he might never have made it to the cross.

Once again it could be that we need angelic strength because the demands on us are many. Sometimes people are hostile; we face situations that are difficult; we feel exhausted and we need help. And God knows that. God has committed to intervene and give to us the strength we need, and angels are significant messengers of the strength that God communicates to us.

Let’s do some quick Q&A of a few other questions. Question: If angels are so helpful, wouldn’t it be good to pray to angels and ask them to help us? The answer is an unquestioned “NO”! The Bible is absolutely clear that we should pray directly to God, not to angels, not to saints, not to anyone else. I Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” So if God has said, “Pray directly to me, don’t go through somebody else,” why would we want to offend God and take any other approach? It’s actually an affront to God to pray to angels or anyone else when he has told us to pray directly to him.

Question: Are all angels good or are there some angels who are bad? The answer is that there are plenty of both. Angels who are bad angels in the Bible are called demons, and angels who are good angels are called the messengers of God. The Bible explains that Satan is an angel. Satan is a demon and this is why it is so critically important that we understand what the Bible has to say and that we have our spiritual defenses up. The Bible explains that Satan will sometimes dress himself up as a good angel in order to deceive us. We see that in II Corinthians 11:14 where we read, “ . . . Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

Question: With all this information, how am I then supposed to relate to angels? And the answer is: Like them, they’re very likable. Be grateful for them. But don’t focus on angels. Focus on God. It would be a misplaced focus to make angels central. No good angel ever seeks to be the center of attention or to receive the praise or the glory. God is always first for every good angel. Good angels honor God and help us.

If you receive a gift in the mail, something that you had hoped for and dreamed of, are you more pleased and excited about the giver or the messenger? If you get a fabulous love letter from your fiancé, normally you don’t kiss the mail carrier. If your parents give you a check that you desperately need, normally you don’t jump over the counter and hug the bank teller. And if you get a telephone call from your boss saying you just got a promotion and a raise, you don’t hold your cell phone in front of you and say, “Thank you, cell phone, I really appreciate that.” The focus is never on the messenger; the focus is on the one who sends the message.

Understand that angels are messengers of God, but in James 1:7 we are told, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” So, pray to God; trust God; love God; center God on God; and thank God for his grace to us.

Lord, we’re enormously thankful for angels and all the good they accomplish in our lives. They are one of many evidences of your blessing and generosity to us. So, Lord, we thank you, and we pray that the angels of God may touch our lives, that your messages may clearly come through and that your blessings will be great. And may we receive them with praise and gratitude to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Anyone can start a race, but it’s finishing the race that really counts. It’s getting back up when you stumble. It’s sticking with it through the hard times that are part of every life’s experience.

When I complete all the things that God has called me to be and do, and then when I die, I don’t particularly want God or anyone else to talk about how well I started. They can even skip the part about what I’ve done along the way. For me, the best thing of all would be for others to say, “He finished well.”

It’s important to understand that wisdom is not knowledge or intelligence. The wisdom being talked about here is the ability to apply knowledge and intelligence and to make decisions in the best possible way – it’s understanding how God would make the same decision if he were in my situation.

We face lots of dilemmas where we don’t have the wisdom that we would like to have; but all we need to do is to ask God! Imagine what a difference it would make in all of our lives if we would always ask for wisdom and then act as God would in our situation.

The obvious answer was that the plane had been tested at that speed. It wasn’t good enough to have engineers figure it out on paper. A test pilot had flown it at different speeds and conditions to see if it persevered.

The Bible says that Christians are tested as well. It’s not enough to say we are Christians in theory. We’re tested in different altitudes and under different conditions as we fly in the storms of life. These tests of faith develop the perseverance we need so that we can be what God designed us to be.

Slaves have no rights. They go where they are sent and do what they are told. Their only job is to please their master. None of us would choose to be a slave, yet that’s how James, one of the authors of the New Testament, referred to himself. For him, the greatest honor was to be called “a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

How do you like people to refer to you – as rich, good looking or young? Consider just once that there’s a title and a position that’s better than them all. It’s to be the slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Almost immediately, a stranger stopped to help. He drove us into town, connected us with a mechanic and took us to a motel. When I offered to pay him he refused and said, “Someday you help out someone else.” And that is the essence of Christian sharing.

Part 3 of 5 on Sermons People Want to Hear

Most of life is about relationships. If relationships are good, almost all of life is good and happy. If a relationship turns sour that can contaminate just about everything else in life.

If you are walking through a park and see someone seated on a bench sobbing, your first thought is not that this person is in pain or that this person has just lost a lot of money from a bad investment. Probably your first thought is that some relationship has gone wrong, perhaps through a divorce or through death.

Relationships touch our lives in special and wonderful and difficult ways. As Christians we want to get those relationships right. We want to do relationships the way God wants them done. That’s why the Bible says so much about relationships, especially the most important relationships of life. The Bible includes examples of how people have done it right and how people have messed it up. So let’s look at what the Bible says about five of the most important relationships that we have.

The first and most important of these is the relationship between God and us. This relationship includes three essential ingredients: love, acceptance and love. God loves us; we respond positively and accept God’s love; we love God back again.

Probably the most familiar and most quoted verse in the entire Bible is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Unfortunately, this verse is so familiar that familiarity often breeds neglect. But what it says is astonishing. It says that God passionately and completely and irrevocably loves us. He loves us on those days when we think he doesn’t. He loves us completely at those times when we think he is distant. God is there for us every day, in every situation, and he loves us more than we could ever possibly love ourselves.

The question is: how do we respond to that astonishing love? John 1:12 tells us that “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” In other words, we have to say “yes” to this love of God. And when we do, we become his daughters and his sons.

However, not everybody wants to be the son or daughter of God. Some people prefer to keep God at a distance. But for those who want this relationship with God, the way to get it is to accept the love of God through Jesus Christ, and then love God back again. Jesus said it well in Matthew 22:37: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” God loves us; we love God. He loves us so fully that he was willing to give his Son for us, and we love him so fully that we willingly give our hearts and souls and minds to him.

Ah, but some will say: I knew that; in fact, I did that. I even remember the time and the circumstance where that happened. But as weeks and months and years have passed the distance between us seems to grow larger and the relationship has become cold and dry. But I’d like to get back to where it used to be. I’d like it to be what it’s supposed to be right now.

The truth is that a relationship between God and us is developed with the same essential ingredients along the way that it began with: love, acceptance and love. We must be convinced that God loves us. Then we can bask in the power and the brightness of that love. We say ‘yes’ to that love and we love God back again.

The second of life’s most important relationships is the one between wives and husbands. Ephesians 5:21-33 says it well:

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Now if you’re a husband and what you just heard is that your wife is supposed to submit and respect you a whole lot better than she does, or if you are a wife and what you just heard is that your husband is supposed to do a much better job at loving you . . . you weren’t listening! We’re not supposed to be so much eavesdropping on the instructions to someone else as we are supposed to be listening to the instructions that God has given to us.

Unfortunately, this wonderful counsel from God is being ignored by a lot of people because our modern human defenses tend to rise over this “submitting” stuff. Within one generation Christians have gone from reading these words routinely in weddings and including these concepts in marriage vows to the virtual exclusion of this concept from almost all marriage vows. The issue is that we’re not going to vow to submit to or obey someone else.

That raises some serious issues on what advice from God means and whether it is for all cultures and times or whether we can accept and reject on a personal basis what God has to say. So here are some points that I think can help us understand this.

Understand that the clear teaching of the Bible is that husbands and wives are both supposed to love each other, but husbands need to give extra-special attention to the way they love their wives. The Bible also clearly teaches that wives and husbands are both supposed to submit to each other, but wives need to give extra attention to the way they submit to their husbands. The point here is never that husbands are supposed to demand submission and respect or that wives are supposed to demand that their husbands be better lovers. We must listen to the advice that God has for us.

We also need to understand that this teaching is for everyday life. It is not a remedy for those difficult times when a relationship has reached meltdown and needs severe and serious intervention. I suppose you could compare it to going to the physician and saying, “I want to be a healthy person and I especially want to have a healthy heart.” And the doctor says, “Okay, then there are three things I want you to do: eat a low-fat diet, take an aspirin every day and exercise regularly.”

But you totally ignore that advice and ten years later you have this feeling like a large animal is sitting on your chest and pains are going down your left arm. Someone dials 9-1-1 and you are rushed to the emergency room of the local hospital. There a team of physicians and nurses surrounds you and tries to save your life. And the cardiologist says, “There are three things that I’d like you to do. I have a salad and an aspirin here that I’d like you to eat. Then run around the hospital twelve times and I’m sure you’ll feel a lot better.” It’s kind of late for that advice. You should have been doing that for a long time on a daily basis. Now it takes something far more dramatic if, in fact, your life can be saved.

What we’re talking about here is routine daily practice to preserve the relationship between a husband and wife in order to avoid the disaster that might come later. It is not suggesting that when that relationship has reached a meltdown this kind of advice is going to become a sudden and instant cure. Instead, every day we must love each other, submit to each other and respect each other in order to grow a strong marriage relationship. But husbands especially, love your wives; and wives especially, submit to and respect your husbands.

Third on this list of life’s five most important relationships is the relationship between children and parents. By the way, that is one of the most durable relationships of life. It begins at birth and extends for a lifetime. If a child dies or a parent dies, in many ways that relationship continues to significantly impact the life of the person who survives the death of the other.

Ephesians 6:1-4 says:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—“that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

God tells us all of us as children to honor our parents, to treat them with respect to their faces and to build them up rather than tear them down when they’re not around. We are to be good and kind and gracious toward our parents.

Some parents wonderfully deserve that kind of respect. They are the best you could ever dream for them to be. Therefore, that kind of respect comes pretty easily. Then there are other parents who rarely warrant much if any respect or honor. To show them honor is an extremely difficult thing to do.

There’s a theme that runs through all the Bible’s teachings about relationships and that is that the way we behave is not dependent upon the other person. Whether someone treats us well or treats us poorly, we are to respond in a way that is most representative of the way God treats us. Therefore, no matter what, we should treat parents with honor and respect.

For young children that is especially the case in terms of obedience. But even if we are adults and our parents are old, the principle of relationship is the same. We are to do the best we can in terms of honor and respect. If our parents are dead we are to show honor and respect toward them and their memories.

God tells parents, especially fathers, not to exasperate their children. Frankly, some parents—and some fathers in particular—are good at exasperating their children. They’re too demanding. They’re too controlling. They’re manipulative. And, tragically, they don’t offer very much encouragement. We need to understand that a word of praise from a father is one of the greatest blessings that someone can receive in a lifetime. It is enormously powerful.

Benjamin West was an American-born artist in the 1700 and 1800s. He was born in the United States, although he moved to Europe and become quite famous, especially in England. He became the artist of history, appointed by King George III, and was the co-founder of the Royal Academy of Arts and the second president of the Royal Academy of Arts.

When he was a young boy, one day his mother left him at home in charge of his little sister. As children often do when they are without adult supervision, he started exploring. He opened the desk drawers and there found bottles of colored permanent ink. He took them out, found some paper and decided he was going to paint a portrait of his baby sister, Sally. In the process, he splattered the permanent ink over the furniture and carpet and made a colossal mess.

When his mother came home and saw the mess she had to make a parental decision. She picked up the paper on which young Benjamin had been drawing and she said, “Why, it’s Sally!” Then she bent over and kissed her young son. For the rest of his life, Benjamin West said, “My mother’s kiss made me an artist.”

She got it. She understood the power of encouragement rather than exasperating. That’s not to say that parents should condone what is wrong. It’s not saying there should be no discipline. But it is saying that a right parent/child relationship needs to be guided by God. That no matter how old you are, children, honor your parents; and parents, encourage your children.

Fourth on this list of life’s most important relationships is the relationship between employees and employers. In the first century in the Roman Empire that was mostly a relationship between masters and slaves.

Please understand that the Bible does not promote slavery. Never! However, it does recognize that slavery was a tragic part of that and other cultures. What the Bible often does under such circumstances is to give instruction and advice on how we are to live even in situations that should not be. So it is in that context that I come to the conclusion that if this will work in slavery, it will certainly work in North America in employee/employer relationships.

Ephesians 6:5-9 says:

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he’s a slave or free.

And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

In other words, God doesn’t recognize human slavery and he makes no distinction between a slave and a master.

When we translate this for today it says that when you go to work, do what your boss says. Do a terrific job. Be a good employee whether the boss is looking or not, whether the boss ever finds out or not. Have a good attitude in your heart. Even if the boss is like a slave master, you still have a good attitude. And the way to do that is to go to work every day and think, “I’m really working for Jesus Christ. He’s my real boss. I’m doing this for him.”

Sometimes it’s hard to show respect to a boss who doesn’t warrant respect. When the Minnesota North Stars hockey team was moved from Minnesota to Dallas, Charleen and I attended the last North Stars game at the old Met Center. It was a chapter in Minnesota sports history when there was a less than positive attitude toward the owner of the North Stars. In fact, there was a chant that used his name with a very derogatory word attached to it. Throughout that last North Stars game thousands of people continuously shouted this derogatory chant.

At that time there were a number of North Stars families who were Wooddalers and they didn’t want to move to Dallas. Their roots were here; their relationships were here. But they didn’t have any say because the owner of the team just decided and did it. The wife of one of the North Stars was driving her car filled with her children and their friends when they broke out into this chant, saying his name and this derogatory description. She turned to them and asked them to be quiet. She said that the person whose name they were speaking is the employer of her husband and the employer of the children’s father and that in that car and in that family his name would always be spoken with honor and with respect. She got it right! Even slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

But maybe you’re the boss and you’re a Christian. Then treat your employees well. Do not threaten them since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and there is no favoritism with him. Don’t ever think that you’re better than somebody else because you’re the boss. That’s simply not true. Remember that God is the ultimate boss and always treat those who work for you with respect, even if they don’t deserve it.

Now there’s something I think needs to be interjected here. Maybe you know this and maybe I don’t need to say it, but I’m afraid that somebody might not get it. What if your boss asks you to do something that’s illegal or immoral or something that obviously a Christian should never do? Are you supposed to do it just because you know you should do what your boss tells you to do? Well, of course not!

The same goes for parents and children and husbands and wives. None of this is license for someone to demand of us something illegal or immoral or totally inappropriate. Yet, we still treat other people with respect even when they don’t deserve that respect. We bend over as far as we can in order to comply with their expectations. We do our very best. We are willing to go the distance in order to do what is right to make a relationship good.

Last in our list of life’s most important relationships is between citizens and government. If you’ve heard all that has gone before you probably don’t need to hear what is said in Romans because it’s consistent in all these relationships. Don’t worry about what the other person does; treat others the way God has treated you. Do what is right! Romans 13:1-7 says:

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also because of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

These words were written to people in the first century Roman Empire who were under a government where women had no rights, where infanticide was legal, where every day babies were routinely left outside to die, especially female babies. It was a government that condoned and enforced slavery. Sometimes slaves were treated horribly. This was a government were divorce became so rampant that marriage, as an institution, virtually disappeared in many parts of the empire during the first and second centuries. And taxes were often excessive and unjust. And this is the advice on how to live under those circumstances?

Is this saying that we are supposed to condone the Hitlers and the Stalins of history? Of course not! Yet Christians are encouraged to give to the government and to politicians the benefit of the doubt, to give respect and honor and payment of taxes. Christians are not those who bad-mouth the government and politicians. We are the best citizens that we can possibly be.

And if we as Christians are part of the government—routine today, but a rarity in the first century—we need to listen up because God is saying that we are his agents to accomplish what is good and right in our country and within society.

God and us; wives and husbands; children and parents; employees and employers; citizens and government: now we know what God wants us to do. But we still have questions. How does this fit with my situation? Where do I start? We start by doing what God asks us to do. And after that he will explain to us what to do next.

But what if we don’t know where he wants us to start? How are we going to get to the next place we need to be? God wants us to have the best possible relationships, so we begin with what we know God is asking us to do in order to have the relationships that God calls us to have.

Father, I pray that you will bless us in all of our relationships. Be our teacher, our strength and our helper. I pray especially for those who are in difficult relationships, who are facing the hardest of times. I pray that you will give to them your extraordinary grace. And may we be totally Christian in all the relationships we have. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

We might think our lives look pretty good compared to others, but God doesn’t measure our righteousness by comparing us to other people. He compares us to himself. And that’s why we need the forgiveness that Jesus offers to all who believe in him. Then we can become white as snow!

Today we may not believe in blood letting, but there are other supposed truths that are commonly believed. Our society tells us that the more you have, the better off you are; and when that message is everywhere, it’s hard not to believe it.

Jesus was telling the real truth when he said that our lives do not consist of the abundance of our possessions. Just as blood letting was harmful to Washington, the desire to acquire more and more riches can be our greatest enemy.

In much the same way as a wise parent, God our heavenly father knows that we don’t always know what is good for us. He loves us too much to allow us to have easy lives. He says “yes” to enough of our requests to keep us from being discouraged, and “no” to enough requests to keep us from turning into spoiled brats! When God says “no,” he hasn’t rejected us; he knows what is best for us and is doing it for our good.

Getting to know God is a lot like that. It’s an ongoing process that just gets better and better as you learn more and more. Listen to how the Bible describes it: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord.”

You see, the more you know God, it just gets better and better – and that’s something to boast about!

The good news is that Jesus isn’t turned off by our doubts. He’s not frightened by our questions or angry because we have them. You can tell him all about your doubts straight out. You can ask him, “Jesus, are you the one, or have I been following the wrong person?” and he won’t be offended. In response to your sincere questions, Jesus will point you to the evidence that you need. He will give you all the explanation you require to chase your doubts away so that you can come to him in faith.

Examine his evidence. Listen to his explanations. And believe.

Part 2 of 5 on Sermons People Want to Hear

You are a Christian. You have committed your life to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It is your heart’s desire to do what is good and right in your life. But it’s hard.

It’s hard when your child is the victim of a schoolyard bully and the teacher doesn’t seem to understand and the principal isn’t sympathetic. It’s hard when your neighbor’s yard is a disaster and your house is up for sale. Weeds are growing, the paint is peeling and the stereo is loud twenty-four hours a day. When you talk to your neighbor about it he laughs and makes an obscene gesture.

It’s hard when your rich brother gives you advice on an investment that turns terribly sour. You lose just about all your savings and he doesn't seem to care. To him it isn’t that big a deal. It’s hard when your boss is incompetent and you get blamed for things that you didn’t do and for which you are not responsible.

It’s hard when your father has molested you and when you tell your mother she calls you a liar. It’s hard when your church abandons you when you’ve been loyal to the congregation for years. They don’t much care. You don’t seem to matter. And the list goes on because we live in a bad world that is filled with injustice and discrimination, with violence and evil and pain.

We sometimes feel like giving up or giving in because we don’t think we’re going to win anyway. We try to live right but we come to the point where we just don’t know how. We become terribly discouraged. Perhaps that is why, in a survey asking what sermons people want to hear, so many people listed either specific or general situations of harsh circumstances wondering how we, as Christians, can live a good life when we are surrounded by evil.

The Bible is filled with stories that are as vivid as the front page of today’s newspaper and are as harsh as anyone could ever experience. Some people responded in bad ways while others responded wonderfully. Specifically there is advice that comes from the lips of Jesus in the New Testament that rises to the top as the lead advice for good living in a bad world.

Advice Number One is to please God first. II Corinthians 5:9 says, “ . . . (we) make it our goal to please (God).” Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:33, “ . . . seek first (God’s) kingdom and his righteousness. . . .” In other words, pleasing God is a decision. It becomes a mindset for everything that we do and everything that we think.

Perhaps the power of this principle is best understood when contrasted with other alternatives to top priorities in our lives. If, for example, I put money before God then profit is my greatest goal. Every week, every month and at the end of every year I need to be farther ahead financially than I was in the beginning of that time period. And I’ll do whatever I need to do to be financially further ahead.

But the Bible says that while that is a common priority, it’s a bad priority. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have.” In I Timothy 6:10 we read, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” So we understand that some people have money as Number One and others have God as Number One.

If I put pride first then I’m most concerned about my own reputation. I want to win the favor of others and will do anything to advance my cause. If I put career first I’ll step on other people in order to get ahead in my chosen profession. But by contrast, if I put God first the constant question in every situation is: What would make God happy?

Pleasing God first may result in different answers for different people. The issue is what will please God in a given situation. As Christians, we need to take a long hard look into our hearts and into God’s Word and ask what God wants us to do. Jesus tells us in the Bible that when we do this there will be two results. One: God will meet our needs; and two: we will not have to worry about tomorrow. So, please God first!

Advice Number Two is to think good stuff. Philippians 4:8 says, “ . . . whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” In other words, what we think about is a significant factor in how we deal with the evil that is in our world.

I heard a story about a man who worried about bad things all the time. One day he was sitting at his desk and he worried and worried and worried until he passed out. He slumped to the floor with a loud crash. People came rushing into his office thinking that he had suffered a heart attack only to discover that he was so worried that it had rendered him unconsciousness.

Some of us may argue that we can’t control what we think. But that’s obviously not true because the Bible is telling us that we should think about good things.

Most of the time I fall asleep very quickly and easily. Usually I’m sound asleep in two or three minutes. Actually, I can go to sleep almost anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances. Here, I’ll show you! But once in a while, sleep just doesn’t come. I lie there watching the numbers pass on our digital clock. And I think.

Sometimes I think about bad things. I think about something that someone said. I imagine that they’re going to act negatively toward me. And like an upside down pyramid, these negative thoughts keep getting bigger and bigger. It doesn’t help me get to sleep!

So I stop, and I realize what I’m doing. Then I think about other things and I choose a different direction. I think about something good: “ . . . whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” It’s a formula for good living in a bad world.

Very different but equally important advice comes from Romans 12:9 where it says, “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” As Christians we need to be careful that we never condone what is wrong. And most of us—most of the time—know what is wrong. Lying is wrong. Stealing is wrong. Murder is wrong. Adultery is wrong. Idolatry is wrong. Sexual harassment is wrong. Racial discrimination is wrong. Injustice to the poor is wrong. The trouble is we live in a culture that gives very high value to tolerance. The attitude is to let people do their own thing. Nothing is wrong as long as it doesn’t hurt somebody else. And sometimes we even go so far as to say that even if it does hurt somebody else it is still not wrong.

By contrast, previous generations said abortion was wrong or pornography or sexual relations outside of marriage. Today’s generation says that’s a matter of choice and personal preference. Having a tolerant attitude means we keep quiet and look the other way. We shut up and mind our own business. But the Bible says that we should hate what is evil and we should not condone anything that is wrong.

Let us also understand that while we cannot and should not condone sin, we do have to pick our battles. When Jesus was here on earth he was surrounded by thousands of people who did all kinds of things that were wrong, but he could not possibly confront all of them. He had to pick the ones he would confront.

There’s a difference between not condoning and confronting. We need to be careful not to become so condemning of other people’s sins and so confrontational that we become self-righteous nitpickers. We must be careful not to lift ourselves up as better than everyone else.

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:3-5 Jesus asked:

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

In other words, we shouldn’t be so condemning toward others that we forget about our own sinfulness. Clearly, don’t condone sin, but also don’t become totally focused and confrontational on the sins of others.

Advice Number Four is that we must believe that God is greater than evil. This is really important, but it takes a lot of faith to believe and follow this advice. The Bible teaches that there is this horrendous war going on between Satan and God, between evil and good. At times the layers are peeled back and we get a glimpse of the horrors of this great spiritual war. It shows up in things like the atrocities in Auschwitz or the slaughter of a half million people in Rwanda, the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic or the events of September 11.

But more often we see the battle between good and evil in things like road rage or rape or marriages ending in unnecessary divorce or dishonest business deals or political rivalries or sick and dying children, children who have done nothing wrong.

But the Bible has some very good news. In I John 4:4 we are told that the Holy Spirit, who is inside of every Christian, is greater than the enemy, Satan, who is in the world. So when we are tired and beaten and discouraged we need to remember that God is going to have the ultimate victory. When it seems that the worst of evil is going to triumph we must believe from the bottom of our hearts that the Holy Spirit of God who is in us is greater than any evil enemy that is in the world.

All of this leads to a fifth and final piece of advice from the New Testament and from the lips of Jesus. It is that we treat other people well in the midst of whatever circumstance and situation we face for it is our treatment of others that especially distinguishes us as Christians. When we love our enemies, when we are kind to those who are unkind, when we forgive those who intentionally harm us and don’t even want to be forgiven we show that we are really more like God than we are like those who do what is wrong.

The counsel of Jesus in Matthews 7:12, “do to others what you would have them do to you”, has been dubbed The Golden Rule. As Christians, we treat others on the basis of the way we want to be treated and on the basis of the way God treats us not on the basis of the way they treat us. At least we try!

I try to do this. And I find that it can be wonderfully productive, although not guaranteed. When people criticize me I try not to criticize them back. When somebody writes something that is unkind, I try to respond with a call or a letter that is loving and gracious. When we go to a restaurant and the server treats us badly, as a Christian I try to be unusually generous to that person because our generosity is based not upon that person’s behavior but on how I would like to be treated and how God has treated me.

Except, you say, some people are just impossible to get along with. When I treat them well, they treat me poorly. Sometimes I treat people with kindness and they interpret the kindness in some negative way. What are we supposed to do in those situations?

God tells us in Hebrews 12:14, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy.” What if it doesn’t work? In a parallel teaching in Romans 12:17-18 we are told, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” So, as Christians, we do everything we possibly can to live at peace, regardless of what the other person says or does.

If the other person wants a lawsuit, make every effort to avoid it and to settle another way. If the other person wants a divorce, do everything you can to reconcile the marriage. If the other person wants to fight, do everything you can to avoid a fight and to live at peace. It is the Christian principle to do what is right no matter what the other person does. Be like Jesus!

Some months ago a single engine aircraft was flying at a surprisingly high altitude as it crossed the border into Peru along the Amazon River. A reconnaissance plane, owned and operated by the American Central Intelligence Agency, spotted the aircraft and reported it to the Peruvian Air Force. Fighter jets scrambled and, for whatever reason, didn’t check the numbers and identify the aircraft to find out who was in it. They failed to find the filed flight plan for that plane. They were on a different frequency and didn’t hear the radio contact between the pilot and the control tower. They attacked and riddled that aircraft with bullets. They shot the pilot in both legs, disabling him significantly. One of the bullets went through a young mother named Veronica Bowers, instantly killing her and continuing through her body into the head of her seven-month old daughter, killing her as well. The plane, still under attack, went into a steep descent and crash landed in the Amazon River where the pilot of the fighter jet continued to riddle the plane with bullets. He finally left.

Those who were in the place awaited rescue. There was the pilot who was bleeding profusely and a young father trying to console his eight-year old son while holding the body of his wife and baby daughter. After about forty-five minutes a dugout canoe with an outboard motor came to their aid. They weren’t drug runners. They were Christian missionaries.

The funeral service for Veronica Bowers and her baby was held in Muskegon, Michigan. Her husband, Jim Bowers, spoke at that funeral. He said that he spoke for both himself and his wife Ronnie when he declared his love and forgiveness for that jet fighter pilot and the crew.

These missionaries hadn’t done anything wrong. They were wounded and killed in a war between good and evil. They were casualties in a battle where all kinds of things went terribly wrong in a bad world. But they were Christians, and as Christians they believed in God and were committed to Jesus Christ and that led them to good living in a bad world.

We all have our situations. We had our situations last week, and we’re going to have different situations next week. Some of us have been dealing with the great difficulties of harsh situations that have lasted for years and year and years. Who’s been trying to shoot you down? Where are you in the midst of this conflict? What is going terribly wrong? Whatever it may be, remember to please God first and think good stuff. In the midst of whatever your situation, please do not condone what is wrong but believe that God is greater than any evil that you’re up against. And through it all, trust God to enable you to treat others well.

Our God, I pray especially for those who are in a ferocious battle, who are discouraged, downtrodden, wondering whether they should give up or give in. Give your special grace and your special strength to live Christianly. Help them toward good living in a bad world. Assure them of the Holy Spirit inside who is greater than he who is in the world. Give to them strength and victory through Jesus Christ. Amen.

In Jesus’ time, persons suffering from leprosy were ostracized. They were banned from public places by law. The Bible tells us that a man with leprosy came to Jesus and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” The leper was breaking the law by coming into a crowd and risking his life because they might stone him.

I’m impressed by this unnamed man with this terrible disease. He didn’t blame others, although he certainly must have gotten the disease from someone. He didn’t complain, but he took action. He brought his problem to Jesus.

Make as much as you can,
Save as much as you can,
Give away as much as you can.

Let me put it another way: make use of the opportunities and abilities you have; be responsible with what you have; and be generous with what you have.

When God gives us gifts, we should share them. We shouldn’t be greedy. It means giving our money to help others; opening our homes to guests; lending tools to a neighbor and not getting upset when a child accidentally breaks something. It means that we look for every opportunity to give away.

If we are truly appreciative of the things that God has given us, our motto should be, “As we are blessed, let us bless others.”

You see, the best way to solve our problems is to share with others whose problems are bigger than ours.

These things may imply that sharing is beneficial for selfish reasons – that we should share so we can get something in return. But I would like to suggest an even better reason to share of ourselves and our finances – and that’s so that we can be like Jesus!

My lab partner wondered what would happen if you used a larger piece. He sneaked up when the teacher wasn’t looking and lobbed off a big chunk. When he plopped it in the water, it took off like a Fourth of July rocket and shot straight through the chemistry lab ceiling!

I remember very little about high school chemistry; but I do remember that sodium is an unstable element.

Jesus used the same method to teach us how to live the Christian life. Rather then just telling us, he showed us.

Even though transferring ownership of a winning piece was against contest rules, McDonald’s decided that in this case they would pay. Because an anonymous donor had decided it was better to share than to be a millionaire, St. Jude Children's Hospital received one million dollars from McDonald’s.

That story of enormous generosity is nothing compared to the story of Jesus sharing his riches with us. The Bible says, “though [Jesus] was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

Jesus is the ultimate example of sharing!

Part 1 of 5 on Sermons People Want to Hear

Each of us will one day face death. Maybe that’s one reason that the topic After Death Experiences is among the top subjects chosen in a survey of Sermons People Want to Hear.

Thousands of people die every day. Just turn on the television, listen to the radio, read the newspaper. Except for maybe the very youngest among us, every one of us knows someone who has died, so every one of our lives has been touched by death.

For some, death comes quickly with the shot of a gun or a car crash. For others death may follow a long, painful illness. For some, it is when young. For some, it is when old. But the truth is that every single one of us has thought about this. We wonder when we’re going to die. We wondered how we’re going to die. What will it be like? Maybe we’ve also wondered about what’s next. What happens a minute or two after we die? What will that be like? Will we experience heaven or hell? Will it be eternal bliss or maybe nothing at all?

What happens when we die has to be one of the more important subjects of life because if we get this one right then all the rest of life can fall into place behind it. But if we get this one wrong, then we have made a tragic eternal mistake. What happens when we die is at the center core of Christianity, for the Bible and Christians have long taught that Christians die differently, that we die with an assurance and a hope that is not available to others. But let’s talk first of all about death itself, that great transition.

II Corinthians 12:9 presents one of the most wonderful promises of the entire Bible when it quotes Jesus as saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Grace is a synonym for the word gift. So what we have here is the assurance that no matter what we ever face in life, God will provide gift resources for us to deal with it. It could be the best of times; it could be the worst of times. It could be the things that we have dreamed of; it could be the things that we have dreaded most of all. No matter what it is that we face in life, God is there for his children and God provides. He gives to us the customized gifts that we need in order to deal with life. Interestingly, the darker the circumstance, the brighter the grace of God shows. He says that in our weakness his grace is most apparent; it is sufficient. And there’s no time when we are weaker than when we are dying.
The moment before death is a great equalizer. It doesn’t matter how old we are or how young we are or how healthy we have been. It doesn’t make any difference if we are rich or poor, if we are people of fame and influence or if we are people that no one has ever heard of. When the physician looks us in the eye and says, “I’m sorry, but there’s just nothing more that we can do,” it doesn’t matter how much money is in the bank or who can be called. Then we face our moment of greatest weakness.

Millions of Christians over thousands of years have experienced dying grace. That is the special loving, caring, powerful, helpful strength that God gives to a believer when going through this great transition of death. Dying grace is different for every Christian. God customizes it for every one of us. So you can’t look at somebody else and see God’s dying grace in that person’s situation and then anticipate that that is the way it will be for you because it will not be.

Nor do we need that grace now. We may be troubled and anxious as we anticipate death but grace does not come until it is actually needed. Our faith is not in what will happen; our faith is in God. We’re convinced that God will be there for us and will give to us whatever we need for that moment of death. It is wonderful grace.

Death is the separation of the body and the soul. Since God created both our bodies and our souls, he knows better than anyone else what that is like and what we will need. Without God’s dying grace, death ought to be feared. It ought to be dreaded. But with God’s dying grace, we are assured that he will carry us through the great transition.

There are many, many examples. One of the most interesting is the biography of Stephen in the New Testament book of Acts chapters 6 and 7. Stephen is there described as a man full of God’s grace and power. He powerfully and significantly communicated the gospel of Jesus. The result was that a mob formed that was determined to kill him, and the form of death they chose was by stoning.

When you start thinking about different ways of dying, stoning has to be among the absolute worst. A person is trapped in a circle of people who won’t let him get away. There’s deep antagonism and animosity, even hatred. They pick up the largest stones they can hurl and throw them at the victim resulting in lacerations, bruises and broken bones. The person tries to fight off the rocks, but it’s impossible because they are coming from every direction. But it doesn’t make any difference because before long the person falls to the ground and, if the blows of the rocks don’t kill, the crushing of the pile of rocks soon will.

We’re told that when Stephen was dying God gave him special grace. In his case, the grace was a picture of heaven where he saw Jesus Christ standing next to God the Father welcoming him to heaven. So when Stephen died, the focus of his attention was not on the horrors that were surrounding him on earth but on the anticipation of what was next going to be his in heaven. God gave him dying grace, but not the same as he’ll give to you or to me or to others. It was customized specially for Stephen.

Much closer, but very different, was my own recent encounter with dying grace. Not too long ago, Charleen and I were packed to go on a three-week trip to India. The trip had been scheduled two years in advance, but shortly before the Sunday that we were scheduled to leave we received a telephone call that her mother was hospitalized in New Jersey, apparently with pneumonia.

Charleen had just been there a few days before and had a wonderful time with her mother. They had gone sightseeing; they had eaten in restaurants; they had played games; they had reminisced. But now she was sick and we didn’t know if we should take the trip. So we prayed for God’s wisdom.

On that Sunday morning, at the last minute, the decision was made to go to Newark instead of to New Delhi. We unpacked the suitcases and repacked them for a different destination. When we arrived in New Jersey we went directly from the airport to the hospital. Her mother seemed fine. She was coherent. She was interactive. She was engaged in the treatment that she was receiving. That was Sunday night. By Tuesday she was diagnosed with leukemia and in less than 72 hours she died.

During those final days, her family gathered from near and far and engaged in an around-the-clock vigil, praying with her, talking with her, holding her hand, providing family support during what turned out to be the final hours of her life. During the last hours of her life, her children and grandchildren sang Christian hymns for five consecutive hours. The last hymn that was sung was the hymn Blessed Assurance. When the last words of the last verse were finished, the line went flat and she died.

What do you call all of that? The week had been set aside two years in advance. The decision to alter the trip was made without adequate information. The family gathered from around the country and united in the singing of hymns and the praying of prayers at the end of a long and godly life. What do you call that? Do you call it “good luck; it ended pretty well”? Do you call it “wonderful circumstances; isn’t that great?” No, I think you call that dying grace. God gave special grace for that special time.

She died at 3:15 on Friday morning. So what did she experience at 3:16 on Friday morning? The Bible teaches that the best comes next, that life after death for the Christian is even better – in fact is always better – than life before.

Perhaps you remember the conversation that Jesus had with the man on the next cross during the crucifixion. He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” When this man died, one minute he was in the agony of crucifixion and the next minute he was in paradise with God in the presence of Jesus Christ. That is absolutely astonishing, and certainly far better than anything he could ever have experienced in all of his life up to that date. After is better than before!

But if that’s true, then why don’t we all just want to die? Why do we hold on to life so tenaciously? Why do we treasure every breath? Some of the answers to those questions are in II Corinthians chapter 5. I would encourage you to read this chapter for yourself. There you will discover that God designed us to live in these bodies that he gave us. God created us to be this way. That’s why we want to live. That’s why we hold on to life. And that’s good. That’s right. It’s the way God intended for us to be.

But at the same time, we look forward to heaven because this life is hard and because heaven is better. God has designed us and wired us that way, too. So we hold on to life, but we anticipate the next life. We’re caught in a tension, a tension that God designed for us to have.

In the meantime, God gives to us the Holy Spirit, who is God himself, who then resides inside us and gives us the power for living. But more than that, God gives to us a deposit, a down payment, a preview of what heaven will be like in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Our job is not to choose how and when we’re going to die; our job is to live now the way we anticipate that we are to live then and that is by pleasing God.

So we leave to God the decision of when this great transition will take place. We’re convinced that God wants us to live but also that God has something better for us and that our goal in the meantime is to please him. II Corinthians 5 says, “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”

Here’s what to expect. God will give to us grace for dying. When we die God will instantly welcome us into his heaven, a paradise better than anything we have ever experienced on earth. When we get to heaven, we will love it. We will be right at home; we will not need to adapt. We don’t have to worry about a thing. It will be an instant fit because that’s the way God designed everything to be.

If this were a classroom, hands would pop up all over because there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered. Like, when we get to heaven will we recognize people we knew on earth? Every indication from the Bible is that we will. Not only will we recognize people that we knew on earth, we will recognize characters from the Bible and others that we didn’t know on earth. But be careful here because what makes heaven heaven is not our friends and family that we will be reunited with, nor is it the beauty of heaven or the absence of sin or pain or death. What makes heaven heaven is God! He’s the big attraction. He is what heaven is all about.

When we get to heaven will we know what’s going on back on earth? Will there be HNN or something like that so we can keep up on everything that’s happening here? There are some hints in the Bible that we may have some partial information, but probably not much. There are no promises about information from earth. We should not think that heaven is mostly about earth because it’s not. Earth may be most about heaven and looking forward but heaven is the destination, it’s not about looking back.

Will there be sickness or pain or death in heaven? Absolutely not! Will we understand then and there what we don’t understand now? Indeed, we will. In I Corinthians 13:12 we read, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” In other words, in heaven things that don’t make sense to us now, that seem contradictory or inappropriate, will hang together. Then we will have an understanding that we don’t have now.

What about coming back to earth? Do we die and come back as somebody or something else? Do we get recycled and then die and live and die and live all over again? This is called reincarnation and on that the Bible is quite clear. In Hebrews 9:27 we’re told, “ . . . we are destined to die once.” We have one life and then we have eternity.

Ah, but where will we live and what are we going to eat and drink in heaven? Do we eat and drink in heaven? And if so, what’s on the menu? Will we have pets? What language will we speak in heaven? I need to study up so that I’ll be quick to understand everything that’s being said. The answer to this and ten thousand other questions is this: “We don’t know; there’s no way for us to know.” God has chosen not to tell us either because he doesn’t want us to know or because we wouldn’t understand. What we need to do is trust him. True, it’s fun to guess about some of these things. But we need to be cautious that we don’t put words into God’s mouth that God never intended to be there.

We need to focus upon what we do know. And what we do know is that when we die we’ll go to heaven, but also that our situation will be temporary. Temporary, you say? Isn’t that sort of a new twist? Not at all! We need to understand what happens after death in terms of sooner and later, in terms of before and after the resurrection.

You may want to read for yourself I Corinthians chapter 15 because that is the single greatest concentration of information about life after death in the entire Bible. There and elsewhere we are taught that we all have two parts: physical and spiritual or material and immaterial. We have a body and a soul that began when we were conceived and were there when we were born and have stuck together through all of our lives. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Death is so traumatic because it’s a tearing apart of what has never been apart before and what God intended to always be together. It’s because of sin that we have death and it’s because of sin that our body and soul are separated. Death is so tough because it’s the pulling apart of body and soul.

But the good news is that God promises that he’ll put us back together again. God will someday reassemble our dead bodies and reconnect those bodies with our souls. That’s called the resurrection. It’s much like the resurrection of Jesus. He died on Good Friday; his body was laid in the grave; his soul ascended to heaven; and on Sunday morning his soul came back to earth being reunited with his body. He was alive again! And the same thing is going to happen to us. That’s what we may expect.

But wait a minute. How is God going to do this? Jesus was dead for only a few days. Some people have been dead for thousands of years and there are no bodies to resurrect. Some people died in explosions; their bodies were blown apart and the pieces are all separated. Some people’s bodies were cremated; there are just ashes left. How can God make a body out of that?

Then the really curious people start going in all kinds of directions. They say, “What if somebody drowns at sea and a fish eats the body and somebody catches the fish and eats the fish? Now how is God going to put that person back together again?”

The answer to all these questions has to do with the power of God. God is able to do what seems impossible to us, what may not even fully make sense to us. He is the God of the impossible. Somehow he will figure it out and do it. When he does, our reconnected or resurrection bodies will be similar to what we have now only different. They will be like Jesus’ body after his resurrection. People recognized his voice; they recognized his face; they examined his hands, his feet, his side. They ate with him. It was exactly the same Jesus. Only different! Different because he could enter a room where they were assembled behind a locked door without unlocking or opening the door. He could ascend to heaven without going through death. The same, but different!

The analogy that’s used in I Corinthians 15 is of a seed, perhaps of wheat. The seed is put into the ground and grows up and becomes something that looks a whole lot different. At first it may seem that there’s not much of a connection, but there’s a direct connection. You can even check out the genetics of the plant and discover that the seed and the plant are connected to each other. But while they are similar, they are also dissimilar. And so it will be with our resurrection bodies. There will be clear connections—the same genetics—but definitely different.

These resurrections are future. There are actually two of them. One is for Christians; the other is for those who are not. One is to eternal life and the other is to eternal death. Until these resurrections take place and our souls are reunited with our bodies, we’re in a temporary holding pattern. Which raises the question that if death separates our bodies and souls and we don’t get our bodies back for a long time, what happens to those who are dead and waiting? And what will be my experience?

Again we don’t fully know the answer. We do know that we will be in paradise. We do know that we will consciously be there. We do know that we will be in the presence of God. We do know that Jesus Christ will welcome us. We do know that everything will be great, but we don’t know exactly how it works. Perhaps we will have some kind of a temporary body, but the truth is that we just don’t know.

What we are taught in I Corinthians 15 is that our resurrection is clearly connected to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that our resurrection bodies will be both similar and dissimilar to the bodies that we now have. Similar and dissimilar, but always spiritual and supernatural and wonderful! I Corinthians 15:42-44 says:

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

There is so much more that could be said, so many more questions to ask, so many more answers in the Bible. But the bottom line is that death is a glorious victory for Christians and a disastrous defeat for unbelievers.

In the media there are stories of people who have near-death experiences. They are portrayed as seeing a bright, white light that is warm and attractive and Jesus is there welcoming people into heaven. What is under-publicized, but equally documented, are those who have near-death experiences with darkness rather than light and with visions of hell rather than heaven.

The powerful message of Jesus is that he wants us to believe in him and thereby to die well and have eternal life. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” So believe in Jesus. Have your sins forgiven. Become a Christian. Get eternal life that starts right now and be assured that God will give you dying grace for when your great transition comes so that when you die the best will be next. Then life after death will be better than anything you have ever previously experienced and you will someday have a resurrection body that will be much like the body of Jesus and will last forever.

Our Father, thank you for the truths that you tell us. Help us to trust you for the questions that remain unanswered. But most of all, thank you for Jesus Christ through whom we have the assurance of eternal life and in whom we have the promise of our own resurrection. Hear us as we declare our belief in faith. In Jesus your Son and our Savior we pray. Amen.

Does that mean that money is bad? No, but building our lives around the pursuit of riches is a risky thing to do if we hope to be close to God; for it is what we don’t have that tends to draw us closest to God.

Did you know that prayer operates in much the same way? Jesus said that there’s an extra effectiveness and power when we pray together. Apparently there’s a compounding and multiplying effect to our prayers when we pray collectively. We know that private prayer is good, but it appears that praying together is even better!

Perhaps the reason that we didn’t want to explain our “no” to them was that the bike was going to be a present or we were planning a trip to the amusement park as a surprise. Sometimes parents say “no” for very good reasons that just can’t be explained.

It’s not so different when God says “no” to our requests. Sometimes he reveals the reason and sometimes he doesn’t, and that’s his choice to make. If we can trust him for the big things like heaven and hell, surely we should trust his ability to decide how to best answer our prayers – because he’s the Father!

In thinking about that process, I was reminded of the relationship between our prayers and God. Jesus told us to pray this way, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, we’re asking God to do his will, not ours.

When we pray it’s not to change God to do things our way, it’s to change us to do things God’s way. Every day we need to be realigned with God.

It is like that with prayer. Jesus told us to pray using his name. When we pray “in Jesus’ name” it gives us access to God in a way that otherwise we wouldn't have. It demonstrates to God that we have a relationship with Jesus, his son. You see, prayer is not reciting magic words, it’s communication with God that is based upon relationship.

Part 4 of 4 on the Theology of Money

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” according to Genesis 1:1. Psalm 24:1 tells us, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” It is repeated in I Corinthians 10:26, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” And in James 1:17 it says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

A cardinal doctrine in the theology of money is that God owns everything. If God owns everything, then all we have belongs to him. And, if everything belongs to him, we are simply “stewards” who take care of what is God’s.

Stewards are those entrusted with the possessions of someone else. As stewards, we do not really have any money. We don’t own stock or cars or houses or clothes or anything at all. Everything belongs to God and we are the temporary managers of his possessions. The sooner we understand stewardship and operate accordingly, the smarter we are.

Also, God may give or take away items on the basis of our faithfulness in stewardship. However, whether we give or keep should not be motivated by how much we have or don’t have. Our motivation should be to please the owner. Our motivation is to please God.

There are many ways that this whole matter of stewardship may be expressed. None, of course, is greater than that of giving. Giving is a constant reminder to us and an expression to God that it really doesn’t belong to us. Whenever we keep something, we act as if it belongs to us. When we give away according to God’s guidelines, we act as if that something is God’s.

But there is a far more important reason to give than that. It is because God is a giver. That is his standard approach to his possessions. He gives them to others. Since we are stewards of what is God's, we should treat God's possessions the way God treats them, and that means we give them away!

Many Christians do not give! The giving proportions in American churches are stunning. Surveys show that 20% of the people give 80%. The remaining 20% is given by an additional 30% of the people. And 50% of the Christians in America give nothing. That has frightening implications. Either most people who claim to be Christians are not Christians or they do not know they are stewards or they sinfully treat what is God’s as if it is their own!

To those of us who are committed Christians and committed stewards the issue is not willingness but information. We need to know God’s theology of how to manage and how to give away what we are convinced really belongs to God. And there are several key biblical principles to guide us.

The first principle is that stewardship is always responsive. God first gives to us and then we give what he has given us to others. The initiative never begins with us. It always begins with a generous Lord. II Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

Our giving is always in response to his giving. Thus, we are not primarily motivated by need but by grace. I give to missions because God has given me the gospel. I give to the poor because God has given to me so that I am not poor. I give to the church because Jesus Christ has given the church to me as a wonderful blessing and fellowship.

Whenever we try to figure out what to give, we must always begin with what we have been given. If God has given us a lot, we should want to give a lot. If we believe God has given us very little, then the appropriate thing for us to do is to give very little. Of course, the truth is that God has given us everything we have—including his Son! That ought to “motivate the socks off us”! God has given us everything!

God gives! We respond.

The second principle is that God’s giving to us is directed. Therefore, if we are to give as God gives, then we also are to direct our giving to others. In other words, it is not just giving for the sake of giving, but it is giving that is directed somewhere specific to do God’s good.

In Paul’s stewardship writing to the Corinthians he speaks of a specific giving target to which money was to be directed. It was to relieve the poverty of the “poor saints in Jerusalem.” Paul introduces the need in I Corinthians 16:1 and then mentions it again in II Corinthians 8:4 when he talks about “the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”

There are numerous specific giving targets mentioned in the New Testament. Jesus observes and commends a widow giving her mites at the Temple. Paul argues in I Corinthians for the financial support of apostles, pastors, teachers and missionaries. Much mention is made of giving to help the poor.

Rarely, if ever, is directed giving individually decided. It is always a collective decision. The church decided together that their offerings would go to the poor saints in Jerusalem. This is a powerful principle. Christians are not lone rangers in spiritual growth, in ministry exercise or in financial contributions.

What does this mean practically? It means we should know where our giving is going and that its ultimate use will clearly bring glory to God and please him. We should make sure that the person to whom we give money has a genuine need and that the organization is credible.

We should also avoid unilateral giving. That’s why we have the church. That’s why we should all participate in the building of a budget. That’s why church leaders and Christian organizations must be held accountable. We’re representing God!

The third and most practical principle has to do with “how much”. Knowing that all belongs to God, how much of what is his does he want us to give away and how much does he want us to retain and work with?

Many Christians believe that the answer is a tithe, or 10%. If it is a simple guideline or starting point, I think that 10% of our gross income is an okay place to start. In fact, Jesus even affirmed that in Mathew 23:23. However, if it is perceived as a strict rule to be legalistically followed—that is not New Testament stewardship. It is law, not grace, and we might perceive that God has been paid off and the remainder is ours to do with as we please. Tithing is basically an obsolete Old Testament practice that combined taxes and offerings in a law-based theocracy.

The New Testament theology of money calls for proportionate giving. For example, in II Corinthians 8:3 we read, “ . . . they gave as much as they were able.” In other words, if they had a lot, they gave a lot. If they had a little, they gave a little. That may have been measured up and down from 10%. In II Corinthians 8:12 Paul says, “ . . . the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.”

The practice here is not very hard to figure. If we have a lot of money we should give a lot of money. If we have little money we should give a little money. The combination will come out in balance according to II Corinthians 8:13-15. In other words, if you have above average income, give more than 10%. If you are below average give less than 10%. If you are very poor, give very little. If you are very rich, give very much. One very wealthy man gave 90%! The important point to remember is that everyone should give, even if it is only a penny.

The fourth principle is that giving is voluntary. Each of us must voluntarily choose if we will give and how much to give. Since it is an evidence of spirituality and stewardship, it cannot be and should not be externally determined. It’s something that has to be decided on our own. Others must not tell us how much to give or manipulate us into involuntarily giving money or possessions.

In II Corinthians 8:3 Paul says that the Macedonian churches “gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.” And II Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” The Greek word here is hilarion, which means “hilarious”. God loves a hilarious giver. So, it should make you want to laugh out loud when you write a check to put into the offering plate. That’s the way it’s supposed to be!

The practical part of this point is obvious. We need to inform and encourage one another in giving, but we should never coerce or enforce giving.

Occasionally I am told that I should lean harder on people to give more money at Wooddale Church. I am reluctant to do that. Instead, I believe that I should call us all to a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. II Corinthians 8:5 says that the Macedonians “gave themselves first to the Lord” and then stewardship followed. I would rather have the church shut down than in any way be supported by involuntary giving.

According to II Corinthians 8:2, giving is to be a joy. Let us not do anything that will detract from that joy. But, let us lift up giving for the joy and thrill and cheerfulness that it is!

A fifth, and final, principle is that giving should be planned. The Apostle Paul invited the Corinthians to plan in advance what they would give. Giving was not to be a spur-of-the-moment emotional act. It was to be thought through a year in advance and then the plan was to be deliberately and diligently followed.

II Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give.” That means that there should be a thoughtful and a prayerful decision made concerning what to give, and that should be done before the gift is given. Plan ahead!

In I Corinthians 16:2 Paul writes, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will . . . (send) your gift to Jerusalem.” They took Sunday collections for a year. The people gave a week at a time as they had planned in advance.

Today, some people give, but they do not commit in advance. I am grateful for their gifts, but I believe that they are not following the New Testament! Advance planning and commitments are the New Testament way!

Personally and practically, I am very deliberate! Charleen and I decide at the end of the year what to give during the next year. We make a list of all of the next year’s Sundays and the amount to be given each Sunday. Then we write the weekly checks throughout the year.

This ends our series on the theology of money. Although we’ve covered a lot, we haven’t addressed even a small fraction of all the Bible says about money. But the basic topics have been addressed.

Our purpose has been to help us develop our own theology of money. My prayer is that this may be just the beginning of new adventures in living out our commitment for Christ in the attitude and actions of our finances and possessions.

I conclude with what for me is a favorite verse and a wonderful reminder from II Corinthians 8:9:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you
through his poverty might become rich.

Then one day he fell overboard and his shipmates shouted, “Dump the gold! Empty your pockets!” But he couldn’t let go. He chose to drown rich rather than to live poor.

Suppose this were your story. If Jesus were to name one thing that stands between you and him, would you be willing to let it go? Whatever it is, you’re far better off letting it go so you can live eternally with Jesus.

In much the same way we can learn about God by careful observation of his creation. In the Old Testament the Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Explaining further in the New Testament, it says, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities…have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” In other words, when we study God’s creation, we are learning about God the creator!

Baldwin brought great change to Maui. He not only showed the people how they could be saved from smallpox, but also how they could be saved from sin. His medical training provided the tools he needed to be greatly used by God. Like Baldwin, we need to ask God to prepare us for how he wants to use us.

Jesus said these words to a man who was young, powerful and rich, and although the Bible doesn’t say it, I’m sure he was thin as well. But he wasn’t satisfied; something was missing from his life.

Jesus knew that this man could never follow him until he unloaded his wealth, because he loved his possessions. There’s something about money and possessions that suck us in until they become most important in our lives. But Jesus wants to be number one in our lives. If we let go of things and make Jesus number one, he gives us in exchange, eternal life and the wealth of heaven forever.

God performs some of his greatest miracles at the most unlikely times. He often speaks to us or reaches out and touches our lives at our least convenient time.

It’s an important lesson for us to learn. We are so prone to want all the circumstances to fall into place, for the timing to be exactly right. The truth is that anytimeGod chooses to work in our lives is the best time.

Part 3 of 4 on the Theology of Money

A reporter once asked John D. Rockefeller, “How much money is enough?” And that extraordinarily rich man replied, “A little bit more.”

I have met many people who say they don’t have enough money. But I have never met anyone who claimed to have too much money.

We live in a country with only a small percentage of the world’s population. Yet our country consumes the largest share of the world’s goods. We have extraordinary wealth, yet our government cannot live within its means.

This all raises a key question, and that is, “Just how much is enough?” How much wealth, how many possessions, how much of this world should a Christian own? I don’t know the answer, but I suspect that most of us have enough and that most of us want more.

This topic is one that I would prefer to skip. While I know it needs to be addressed as part of our “theology of money”, I feel somewhat uncomfortable. Let me tell you why.

For starters, I am embarrassed by my own prosperity. I have tried not to be a materialist, but I feel my own failures in that area. I have tried to be generous in what I give away, but I see how much more I have kept. I have always tried, as a pastor, to practice what I preach, but I fear preaching about “how much is enough” because I’m not really sure I want to practice it.

But I also feel uncomfortable with the topic because I find it to be something of a hopeless task. Our society is so materialistic. The values of this generation have so permeated the life of the church. The desire for more is so ingrained into our thinking . . . I wonder if any of us is likely to change.

And, finally, I feel uncomfortable with this topic because I recognize that it defies mathematical definition. There is no dollar amount that is enough and there is no dollar amount that is too much. I sense that those who are at or below the poverty line don’t have enough. And I sense that those who have millions beyond their needs have too much. But I cannot argue from the Bible that any particular number of dollars is where the line should be drawn.

Now with all of those confessions laid out on the table, let’s get on with the topic. I would like to list from the Bible three suggestions for us to answer the question, “How much is enough?” They may not fully answer the question but at least they will contribute to the building of our theology of money.

The first suggestion is to compare to some economic baseline. That’s based on the assumption that all systems of measurement must have some reference point. For example, temperatures are based on the boiling point and freezing point of water. Altitude is calculated from sea level. Age is measured from the date of birth.

In developing this economic baseline, according to Philippians 4:19 we must begin with “need”. Paul there writes, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” That means that in the mind of this author of the Bible there is a distinction between a “need” and a “want”. Therefore, the economic baseline must be in terms of “need”.

Our needs are really quite minimal. They are those things that are absolutely necessary for life. However, “needs” may vary. A baby “needs” milk, but an adult does not. Minnesotans “need” heat to survive the winter. Those who live in the tropics do not need extra heat. In Africa the drugs to combat malaria may be counted as a “need”, but probably not in Alaska.

One Christian tried to sort out between needs and wants in all of his purchases over a year. He concluded that 85% were wants and 15% were needs.

A second consideration in establishing this economic baseline is “provision”. This is found in I Timothy 5:8: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than a nonbeliever.” This, of course, is not speaking of someone who is willing but unable to provide for a family. Rather, it is referring to someone who is unwilling to provide for a family.

This subject is open to broad interpretation because some would count provision for the family to include designer clothes and ballet lessons. Others would include insulin for a diabetic child. Assuming that the “provision baseline” and the “need baseline” are closely related, then provision means “needs” not “wants”.

If we really want to get specific we should look at I Timothy 6:8: “ . . . if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” This refers to the essential protection from the elements and essential nutrition. Some may argue that food includes balanced diet and clothing extends to the latest styles, but that is stretching the teaching beyond it’s original intent!

I am not arguing that we should live at the baseline or minimum. That’s probably not reasonable or likely. And I admit that the baseline is somewhat subjective. Bare minimum needs are perceived and measured differently.

What I am suggesting is that our theology of money should seek to draw the baseline somewhere. We need to have a reference point for measurement. And that reference point should never be other people because they will invariably lead us into either pride or covetousness. For example, we look at how much money someone else makes or what car they drive or the house in which they live and we measure our contentment and worth as to whether we have more or less. That is a tragic way to approach the whole topic.

Once the baseline is established, we then determine where we are in relationship to that baseline. This gives some kind of a measurable answer to the question, “How much is enough?”

A second suggestion for trying to answer the question “How Much is Enough?” is to decide what gives life meaning. The Bible is very direct in answering “How much is enough?” in terms of the essential meaning of a person’s life. Let’s look at Jesus’ words in Luke 12:15: “Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ ”

This absolutely contradicts the monetary message of our society where advertisements, magazines, newspapers, TV and our daily conversations constantly tell us that the measure of a person’s life IS in the abundance of possessions. Life is defined in terms of what we have.

In the following verses in Luke 12 Jesus tells the story of a man who didn’t know what to do with all his wealth, so he built bigger and better barns. His life was defined by his possessions and he wanted more and more. On the night the barns were completed, he died. God called him a fool!

Next Jesus compares the birds and the animals and points out that God provides food and shelter and all that’s necessary for them—he provides all their basic needs.

All of this leads up to what should give meaning to life in Luke 12:31 where Jesus says, “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” In other words, we must decide if the meaning of life comes from material things or spiritual things. Are we living for this world or are we living for Christ’s kingdom?

Another Bible author, John, writes in I John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Strong words indeed!

The things of the world are addictive—as addictive as cigarettes, alcohol or cocaine! It is incredibly difficult to get unhooked when we become materialists. We want more and more and more. We rationalize that it’s good for us. We actually convince ourselves that bad is good.

God challenges us to find life’s meaning in terms of him and his kingdom. How much we have, what we earn, the car we drive, the clothes we wear are all comparatively unimportant.

Let me suggest something here that makes me squirm just to talk about it. It is that we, as Christians, have been infiltrated by the world’s values. For many of us it is important what we have, how people think of us, the house in which we live . . . those things that are essentially materialistic. Perhaps we should operate on the assumption that we are dominated by the world’s system and the world’s materialism—unless we can demonstrate otherwise. In this case, I think the safest assumption is that we are guilty until we can prove ourselves innocent!

There is a fascinating story behind the Nobel Prizes awarded for achievement in literature, chemistry, physics, economics, medicine and peace.

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist who made his fortune through the invention and licensing of explosives. His brother died and a newspaper mistakenly thought it was Alfred Nobel so they prepared and published his obituary.

The obituary identified him as the inventor of dynamite and the man who made his money through weapons of destruction. Nobel read this and was profoundly impacted by it. It became THE turning point in his life as he realized what his life meant. He didn’t like it. Instead, he devoted his fortune to the establishment of awards for achievements that would benefit the human race. As a result, few, if any, of us today ever think of Nobel in terms of explosives. We associate the name with peace and literature and science.

How will you be remembered? As the woman who lived in the brick house? As the man who drove that particular car? As the person who dressed so extraordinarily well? Or, will you be remembered as the one who lived for God? You see, the answer to the question, “How much is enough?” depends on what we decide really gives meaning to life.

A third suggestion for trying to answer the question, “How Much is Enough?” is to calculate God’s reputation. In I Corinthians 10:31-32 the apostle Paul gives a powerful principle that is applicable to money. He says:

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

Here Paul establishes two criteria for his behavior. One is the glory of God—the reputation of God in the world. To bring glory to God means to enhance his reputation, to make him look good. The other is witness—Paul’s testimony that leads others to God.

This may be hard to understand, but please think with me. How much money or possessions we have and how we handle that money or those possessions should make God look good and should be a witness to bring people to Jesus Christ. That means that our money should not communicate extravagance or bring embarrassment to Jesus Christ.

So what does that mean practically in terms of extravagance? Suppose that a Christian woman draws attention to herself with the jewelry she wears. Or suppose that a man is perceived as extravagant because of what he buys. The question is—does that extravagance enhance the reputation of God in a needy world? Does that make God look better and make people think more highly of him?

And, what about embarrassing Jesus Christ? Think of a couple that charges so much that their credit card can’t be paid or the authorization is rejected. Or picture a family that purchases to the point that checks bounce at the bank. What happens to their witness? What do the people at the bank or the store think of the Savior and of the power of God in a Christian’s life?

It is far better to try to do with less than to damage the name of the Lord with either extravagance or embarrassment. It is far better to give money away than to be a negative ambassador of the Lord.

We have come to the end—and maybe we’re all kind of glad! If all this makes us uncomfortable, then I think I have probably succeeded. But, if we’re serious about our theology of money we must face the issue of “how much?” I’ve suggested that most Americans are likely to be over the line rather than under the line. So let’s seriously weigh these three suggestions:

A.) Compare to the economic baseline.
B.) Decide what gives life meaning.
C.) Calculate God’s reputation . . . and enhance it!

In America our culture encourages us to think that what we want and what seems best for us as individuals takes precedence over any other relationship we have.

Such individualism comes at a very high price. The Bible teaches that if we are responsible in our family relationships, it will go well with us. But when we live simply for ourselves, and devalue the relationships that God says are most important, we may find ourselves desperately alone and missing out on God’s best for us.

There are no perfect parents. There’s not a one of us who can’t remember a time in our childhood when we were offended or hurt by our parents. Sometimes the offences of parents are so unspeakable that the only way their children can survive is by trying to forget them.

As adults, what are we to do when we have suffered as a result of our imperfect parents? The honorable thing to do is to forgive. The Bible tells us to, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

There’s a supernatural power to forgiveness. For when we forgive others, we are more like God than at any other time.

Your relationship with yourself is unique in that it lasts for a lifetime. Other relationships can end or be broken off. You can outlive your parents, you can divorce a spouse. but you can’t end the relationship with yourself.

It’s when we come to terms with who we are and how God made us, that we can be all that we were meant to be. Accepting our race, our gender, our bodies and our intelligence as God’s design for us, forms the basis for us to have healthy, satisfying relationships with others.

Once when I was going out of town for several days I left a note for my wife that said, “Don't forget: I love you!” I called her each night and when she picked me up at the airport the first thing we said to each other was, “I love you.” And then, even though I was anxious to get home, I took her out for dinner. I did these things because I want our love to be strong and I know that love needs to be nurtured and developed.

It’s the same in our relationship with God. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” When we love God with heart and soul and mind, our relationship with him becomes stronger and better each day.

And it’s the same way with calling on God our Father in prayer. God loves to hear from us – any time, any place, any topic. We can ask him for help, plead for comfort or just talk about what happened at the office during the day. God loves us and wants to hear from us.

So don’t ignore him. Don’t worry that you don’t know what to say or how to say it, because God listens to our hearts even more than our words.

Part 2 of 4 on the Theology of Money

I Timothy 6:10

Life without money is impossible for all but the very few. The President of the United States and the Queen of England don’t carry cash. Comatose patients in long-term nursing facilities don’t deal with money. But the rest of us can’t live without it. First graders need cash for field trips to the zoo or for milk at lunchtime. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies must write checks to the IRS just like the rest of us.

There is simply no escaping money. It is an essential part of life. Good or bad, rich or poor, Christian or not, we all deal with money. The question is: “What kind of a relationship to money do we have?” Do we love it or hate it? Does it control us or do we control it?

In I Timothy 6 we find four possible relationships to money. The first is contentment. I Timothy 6:6-8 establishes the baseline for a relationship to money. The apostle Paul writes, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

Contentment is acceptance of a situation with peace and without regret. In other words, we adjust what we want to fit what we have instead of trying to adjust what we have to fit what we want.

Contentment does not come naturally. It is a discipline that must be learned. That’s why the apostle Paul told the Philippians, “I have learned to be content.” The clear implication is that there was an earlier time in his life when he was not content.

Paul’s theology of money, which he is here sharing with Timothy and with us, establishes a minimum baseline for contentment. He explains that we were born with nothing and we will die with nothing. All we have in between is more than we started with or will end with.

More practically, he specifies that “if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” Assuming that clothing may include shelter, he is saying that all we really need is a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear. Anything beyond that is extra.

Many have experienced a back-to-basics life. Henry David Thoreau moved into a shack by Walden Pond and enjoyed the contentment of living with little. The Great Depression in the 1930s forced millions of Americans back to basics whether they liked it or not.

What does this mean for us? We may or may not have to live on a baseline minimum. But whether we do or not, we can resolve to seek contentment in our theology of money. To be content is to accept what we already have as adequate to meet our material needs and live at peace. Such contentment promises great joy, less anxiety and enormous economic freedom.

But, such contentment is hard to come by in our culture. We face enormous pressures to be discontent and to continually acquire more and more.

Since contentment is learned, those who want it must try it and practice it. For example, drive your present car another year rather than buy a new one; wear that coat one more winter; if the television quits, be content to get by for at least some period of time without replacing it. Be at peace with that which is basically and minimally adequate.

The second possible relationship in Paul’s theology of money is found in verses 9-10, and it is an awful tragedy by comparison. He writes:

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Look at the words Paul uses to describe this second relationship. In verse 9 it’s “want to get rich.” In verse 10 it’s “the love of money.” And, again, in verse 10 it’s “eager for money.”

Here is a person whose life is so focused on money that money has become a driving desire, a deep passion and a primary motivation in life. This person works mostly for the money. Everything has a price, including friendships. If it came right down to a choice between money and friends, money would be chosen because you can get other friends. This person is always looking for ways to get more money. He or she defines success and worth in terms of money. This person feels good when money is gained and feels bad when money is gone.

The Bible says that this love of money stands at the root of many of life’s evils. Crime, divorce, depression, sickness and all kinds of sins have at their root the love of money. This is serious stuff! The desire to be rich, the craving for cash, the love of money is a major generator of all the sins in our lives and in our world!

Let’s be honest. Many of us love money. Of all the relationships to money listed in I Timothy 6, love has been our most frequent relationship. And it doesn’t take much money to love it. In fact, it doesn’t take any!

The wisest and best approach to an evil love affair with money is the same as a sexual extramarital love affair. Admit it. Break it off. Build barriers against ever doing it again.

The third relationship in Paul’s theology of money is in I Timothy 6:11-16 and is seemingly unrelated. In fact, some Bible scholars label most of the paragraphs of I Timothy 6 as “miscellaneous concluding admonitions”. The contention is that they really are not related to one another. I disagree. The paragraphs before and after are about money, so I assume that the paragraph in between is about money, as well. See what it says:

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Money is not mentioned at all. But the third relationship to money is powerfully addressed. It is the relationship of godliness. Godliness focuses on righteousness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness in verse 11. In verse 12, godliness focuses on faithfully fighting for Jesus Christ and upholding a Christian witness. In verse 14, godliness is living a life that is unstained and free of reproach. And in verse 16, godliness is honoring the Lord. And yet there is no mention of money, although money precedes it and money follows it.

The “theology of money thesis” of this paragraph is simple: godly Christians don’t focus on money . . . instead they focus on righteousness, faith, love, endurance,witness, testimony and honoring the Lord Jesus Christ. Money is not a consideration. It is important only in terms of living for Jesus Christ.

What does that mean practically? When money is gained—through an inheritance or an investment or a bonus or the sale of something or a paycheck—the issue for the godly Christian is how to please God in that gain. And, when money is lost—through theft, unemployment, a loss in investments or perhaps through some great calamity—the godly Christian focuses on how to honor God in the loss. In either case, God is always central and money isn’t.

In I Timothy 6:17-19 the apostle proposes a fourth possible relationship to money: riches. Here he speaks specifically to those who already have riches and not to those who are seeking riches. Here is what he says:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Paul’s instructions on how to relate to money are several. Number One: “don’t be haughty.” Don’t become proud, pompous and arrogant. Don’t think that you are better or more important than anyone else simply because of how rich you are. This is stated because it can be a major pitfall of the rich. Don’t think you are exempt or different. Don’t be haughty.

Second, don’t set hope on uncertain riches. Another likely possibility is to find security in money. Don’t do that! Set your security in the Lord who gives us everything to enjoy.

A third instruction is to do good. Assume that your purpose in life is to do good to others, especially through liberally and generously giving from you riches.

The pastor of a well-to-do church in Beverly Hills, California, once told me that from his years of observation, the more money most people have the less they give until they eventually have so much that they give nothing!

Paul’s theology of money neither commends nor condemns riches, as long as those riches are not loved and as long as they are rightly related to.

So, we have four different possible relationships to money: contentment, love of money, godliness and riches. But there are actually seven different combinations that one might come up with in terms of those four relationships. For example, it is possible to have contentment and be at peace with just the bare necessities of life, to genuinely not love money, to perhaps be broke and not have any riches, but also be ungodly.

A second possible combination is to really love money. However, if you really love money, it is very difficult to be content, so that’s excluded. And, if one really isin love with money then godliness is also very difficult, if not possible. Actually, it is possible to love money and not have any, but still have our lives totally built around the love of money.

A third possible combination is to have riches and not love them yet still not be godly. It’s possible to have riches and not be content. Riches merely stand alone.

Combination number four is to have godliness and contentment. As Paul explains, this is a wonderful combination. This person is focused on the Lord, is honoring him and is content to live at the economic baseline of food and clothing, and may, in fact, have no riches at all. If a person is godly and content there is no place for the love of money in that person’s life.

There is a fifth possibility and that is to have godliness and contentment and riches. Of course, that would exclude the love of money because if you have godliness and contentment with your riches, you surely could not love money. That could not be the primary focus of life.

A sixth possibility is to love money and be rich. In our society, that is the quest of life: to really love it and to have it. That, of course, excludes both contentment and godliness.

Or, it’s possible to have a seventh combination, and that is to have contentment and riches. There are many people who think that’s the best way to do it. Don’t be in love with money, but care about God. So, have money and be at peace with the money you have.

Which of these seven combinations would you like to describe you? Some will surely say, “I choose Number Five. I’d like to be godly, content and rich!” That’s okay if you are already rich. But if you not already rich and you choose Number Five then you are really in love with money and have actually selected Number Two. You love riches, and that excludes both contentment and godliness. That is the greatest loss of all.

The best choice is to focus on godliness, choose contentment and accept riches if and when they come as a powerful but dangerous tool to be used for the glory of God.

Jesus told the messenger to report back the things he’d observed Jesus doing: healing the blind, the lame and the deaf. These things were powerful evidence that Jesus was the promised Messiah and they were sufficient to remove John’s doubts and restore his faith.

Today we have the Bible and the millions who have trusted in Jesus before us – powerful evidence, but not proof. And that’s where faith comes in. John had to choose whether or not to believe that Jesus was who he said he was; and so do we.

Most of us will never suffer from leprosy, but we still might feel like outcasts. Perhaps you feel abandoned by others because of illness, or the color of your skin, or poverty, joblessness or addiction – whatever label you bear. The good news is that even though society may keep its distance, or your friends or family may forsake you, Jesus cares about you. He wants to reach out and touch you.

Like a pilot, God’s perspective is from above. He sees everything that’s happening. When we’re in the heat of life’s conflicts and say to God, “There’s no way we can possibly win,” God replies, “There’s no way we can possibly lose.”

The Bible says, “The Lord Almighty has purposed and who can thwart him?” If we’re on God’s side, even though it may seem that there’s no way we can possibly win, the ultimate victory will be ours because the victory is God’s.

The Old Testament book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom and it says, “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.” In other words, honor your parents by listening to them. Find your father’s wisdom in his stories. Don’t ignore your elderly mother as though she has nothing important to say.

Let us never think that we are so much smarter or wiser than those who have given us life and gone before us; for there is much to learn and great wisdom to be gained by listening to what they have to say.

Do you know who he invited as honored guests to his inauguration? – his former wardens and jailers from his long years in prison. Nelson Mandela followed the command of Jesus, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

These words put Christian ethics to the ultimate test. Loving your enemies is one of the most difficult yet transforming things you’ll ever do.

Part 1 of 4 on the Theology of Money

Very few of us even pretend to understand the complexities of today’s economics. I certainly have no prophetic notion whether we are in for economic expansion or economic disaster. If I did, I suppose I could become very rich selling the information.

As Christians, we should seek to understand and then apply God’s view of money to our personal as well as national finances. That may sound simple enough, but be assured, it is not easy to develop a theology of money.

While the Bible says a great deal about money, Bible scholars and Christian economists who are well informed struggle to come up with consistent teaching concerning the Bible’s theology of money. Some claim that Jesus says more about money than any other topic, with the sole exception of the kingdom of God. In many of the parables there is a connection between the teachings about the kingdom of God and the Bible’s teachings about money.

Yet, committed Christians differ drastically on their theologies of money. Francis of Assisi grew up in a very wealthy home, but he gave up everything to become poor for Jesus’ sake. His father thought he was crazy and disowned him. He took a vow of poverty and literally lived that vow, going door-to-door and begging alms. When he found someone poorer than he, he would take his coat off and give it to that person. He believed that as a Christian he was called to be the poorest of all.

By contrast, modern “health and wealth” teachers claim that God wants us to be rich and something is spiritually wrong if we don’t name it and claim it. They say we have a rich God who wants us to share in his riches.

Reformed and Puritan theologians take the focus off money and put it on work and frugality. They say it doesn’t matter whether we get money or not. Ironically, many with this view have ended up being pretty wealthy people because they worked so hard!

Liberation Theology is a strong system in the Third World, especially in Latin America. With strong Marxist influence, the liberation theologians argue that the oppression of the poor is because of the money of the rich. Money should be used to overthrow the rich and redistribute the money to the poor and to do it in the name of Jesus Christ.

Missiologist Ralph Winter has a mission-based theology of money. He argues that we should use money to win the world to Jesus Christ. He has come up with some interesting ways of attempting that. He has suggested that Christians in America who are seriously committed to Jesus Christ should live on a missionary’s income and give the rest to support missionaries. He is a Presbyterian who has figured out that if every Presbyterian in the United States lived on the average Presbyterian pastor’s salary there would be $2 billion more for missions. That is more than three times what all Americans give to missions!

The Bible has a lot of bad things to say about money, as well as a lot of good things to say about money. Let’s look at three basic tenets to at least begin the structuring of an overall system or theology of money.

Tenet Number One is that money is a means. Again, the Bible speaks both positively and negatively about money. For example, you remember Abram in the Old Testament, later named Abraham. Abram, the great godly patriarch of the Old Testament, is described in Genesis 13:2 as “very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.” This would indicate that richness and godliness are compatible with one another.

In Deuteronomy 8:18 we’re instructed, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” My, that sounds like a clear endorsement in terms of wealth coming as a gift from God.

But then we go to the New Testament. Remember the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and asked, “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus told him to keep the commandments, and he said he did. Then Jesus added, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your\possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” One of the saddest verses in the Bible then follows in Matthew 19:22, “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

It would be interesting to have Jesus try the same test on some of us, particularly those of us who have accumulated great wealth. What would we say if Jesus asked us to sell everything and follow him? Might we, too, go away sad because we have “great wealth”?

It’s later in Matthew 19:23-24 that Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Or, later in I Timothy 6:10, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

When comparing the Old Testament and the New Testament, it appears that money is spoken of much more positively in the Old Testament and much less positively in the New Testament. Perhaps that is why those who like money prefer to build their theology more on the Old Testament than on the New Testament!

These and other verses lead me to a theological premise that money itself is primarily a means to something else. It is intended by God to be understood as a means and not as an end. This premise has numerous implications. It implies that money may serve positive ends or money may serve negative ends. And, it implies that money must always serve some end.

Let’s pause on this third implication. Many people want money just for the sake of having money. This is making money an end rather than a means, and this is wrong. God never intended money to be an end in itself. To desire money for its own sake is to love money, and that is a root of all kinds of evil.

There are days when I would like to have a lot of money. I have fanaticized about it. I have imagined what it would be like to have hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. I have imagined winning it, inheriting it, receiving it through a clever business transaction or a best-selling book. Who knows? Maybe even a record album! Some imagination! But such fantasies are seldom tied to a purpose. I want riches in those fantasies for their own sake. Biblically, that is wrong because it makes money an end in itself rather than a means to an end.

However, all that being said, I fear there really is a subtle but unstated purpose, and that purpose is power. I imagine that if I have great wealth I will then have power over other people. I can buy and sell, hire and fire, influence others and seem better than my neighbor.

That is absolutely contrary to what it means to be a Christian. Jesus has called me to be a servant, not a lord. He wants me to be humble and not haughty. To desire money as a means to exercise power over others is totally contrary to the example of Jesus in Philippians 2:5-7:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Let me tell you candidly, many of us as Christians have a defective theology of money. We view money as either an end in itself or as a means to power over other people. That defective theology of money then ricochets through our lives until we become tempted to greed, covetousness, selfish ambition and a host of other sins.

What then are the legitimate ends to which money may be a means? Well, our primary zeal should be to glorify God, to enhance his reputation. This may be expressed in proper provision for our families, care for the poor, evangelism and even in the enjoyment of God’s gifts to us, including the gift of life.

So how do we put this into practice? I suggest that every Christian who is serious about developing a theology of money sit down and decide what is the purpose for the money I have? What am I saving for? What are my goals? What do I spend my money on? For example, I may be saving for a house or for a car. Why? Is there a God-centered reason for owning a house or having a car? I believe there may well be!

Too often we begin in the wrong place. We try to decide on a budget, on how much to owe or not to owe, on whether to save or give. These are not the first questions. The first question should begin with God: what is my purpose for God that money can fulfill? A clear theology of purpose will control our budget, it will direct our response to financial losses and gains and it will give meaning to money that is not humanly-centered, but is divinely centered.

Well, let’s move on to a second tenet in trying to build this superstructure of an initial theology of money, and that is that money is a stewardship. If Tenet Number One was hard to understand, Tenet Number Two is hard to accept. That’s because we live in a culture where the possession of private property is basic. One sure word in a two-year-old’s vocabulary is “Mine!”

Charleen and I went for a walk in the woods awhile back. We were on a public path near a park and some neighbors had posted signs that said, “Private Property, Do Not Trespass”.

I even see this territoriality at church. When people come to church and find someone else in “their” seat there’s a tension between trying to get that seat and trying to display Christian virtue at the same time. It’s a real struggle for many of us because we have this sense that something is mine. It’s possession. It’s territoriality. Yet, that’s not what the Bible teaches.

In Job 41:11 God tells Job, “Everything under heaven belongs to me.” In Exodus 19:5 God said to Moses and to the people of Israel, “ . . . the whole earth is mine.” David writes in Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” And, in II Corinthians 6:10 St. Paul describes himself as “having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” He knew that he may have hold of things as temporary possessions, but he didn’t own them because they were God’s.

Legally, we own whatever is in our name. It may be money in the bank, the car in our garage, the furniture in our home or a house to which we have the title. It is ours!

But theologically, we own nothing. Everything we have belongs to God and we are merely temporary caretakers. Everything is his!

Stewardship is using and caring for that which belongs to another. Obviously, we treat something differently when we know it’s not ours. We may even enjoy it more because we know we have it only temporarily.

A few years ago someone backed into my car. Only the door was dented so I wasn’t in a hurry to get it fixed. A friend was going away on a trip and said I could use his car while mine was in the shop. His car was a brand new Porsche. It was great - - - except when I drove it to church one Sunday during a series of sermons on stewardship. After that I parked several blocks away and walked.

I treated that Porsche differently because it wasn’t mine. I drove more carefully. And I think I enjoyed it more because I knew I would have to give it back.

In our theology of money we should believe that everything we have is God’s. It is ours to manage for a while, but whenever he wants it back, it’s his to claim. We’re accountable to him. What we have is not ours. Furthermore, it must always be used in a way that is consistent with who he is and what he wants. This is an extraordinarily freeing concept.

When John Wesley’s house burned, he exclaimed, “The Lord’s house burned. One less responsibility for me!” When we believe that money is a stewardship we are free to give God the responsibility. We don’t hold the ultimate responsibility for our investments or our cars or our houses. We don’t have to impress anyone but God. We are liberated from greed.

Charles Finney was one of America’s great 19th century theologians and preachers and the President of Oberlin College. In 1835 he published a series of lectures on revival in which he gave instructions to young Christian converts. Here’s how he started: “Young converts should be taught that they have renounced ownership of all their possessions, and of themselves, or if they have not done this they are not Christians.”

Wow! Those are strong words! But they are words worth hearing. Stewardship!

This tenet needs a great deal of reinforcement. Perhaps we need to write on every piece of furniture, on the inside of our cars and on every stock and bond - - - “This belongs to God!” We need to constantly be reminded that nothing that we have is ours. We are simply stewards. Essential to any biblical theology of money is the firm belief and commitment that MONEY IS A STEWARDSHIP.

A third tenet, and maybe the most controversial of the three, is that money is a god. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus made an astonishing statement: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Jesus here personifies money as if it were a person, or, more specifically, as if it were a god. Money is a god that is in competition with the God of Heaven for our allegiance.

Some may say, “That’s stupid. Money isn’t a god. It’s just paper or metal or plastic or computer data. It’s not a god like the God above.”

But money is a god. Money is as much a god as the carved images of the Old Testament or of modern India. It can be loved, worshiped, trusted and lived for. It has extraordinary spiritual power. It is the basis of trust for healing illnesses, solving problems, making happiness and giving meaning to life.

Married couples really believe money can solve their problems. Those who are depressed believe money can lift their mood. Money can buy forgiveness for certain types of sins like breaking the law. Money is a reward for doing what is right and good. In fact, money may be an easier god to understand and relate to than an unseen Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Think this through. Money is the god of a materialistic society. It has extraordinary power and influence to the point that it can and often does control our lives.

You may think this is farfetched, but there is a sense in which money has become the religion of our country. It has its temples called banks, its clergy called financiers, its numerous religious publications and its multitude of liturgies. We take it with us wherever we go. We value one another according to how much money we earn and have. It’s frightening!

Because of this, money must be theologically perceived as more of an enemy than a friend because it is often THE primary competition for our spiritual allegiance to the lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Martin Luther observed that “there are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, mind and the purse.” Luther understood that money is a competing god from whose power we must be converted.

The pressure to live for and worship money as a god is extraordinary. It takes a deliberate spiritual commitment to serve Almighty God rather than the almighty dollar.

Quick review:

Money is a means.
Money is a stewardship.
Money is a god.

God has been great in his faithfulness to us. Let us resolve to live his theology of money in faithfulness that honors him!

In order to make friends and keep them, it’s important to view friendship as something more given than gotten. Relationships are undermined when they’re primarily based upon our desire to get something from the other person. But if we seek to give in our relationships, we discover a blessing that we otherwise would never have known.

If you want to have friends, look for someone who needs a friend. There’s no shortage of people who are lonely, who have needs and are looking for friends. That’s precisely what Jesus did. He didn’t seek out the popular or the powerful, he befriended sinners, tax collectors and outcasts. Jesus gave of himself to them and they gave themselves to him.

The overarching principle is that God made everything and God owns everything. Therefore, anything that you and I have is really only on loan to us. The house, the car, the computer – it all belongs to God! He’s just letting us use it.

So how does that play out in our lives? We should be thankful for God’s gifts, use them wisely and always remember where they came from.

However, how we define ourselves is more important to our well-being. Some people identify themselves as victims, some by their possessions. Others define themselves by their occupation, achievements or family. But money and position can be lost; people can fail us.

The Bible offers us a different understanding of ourselves that no one can take away. It says that we’re created in the image of God. We can be disfigured by an accident or we can lose everything, but the image of God in us cannot be touched.

If we know God’s image is in us, we can walk down the street with our heads held high!

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Now I can't speak for you, but I know for me, it's very difficult not to trust in possessions and wealth. For example, before a trip, I always make sure that I have enough clothes, sufficient cash and at least one credit card. It's easy to trust those things to be sufficient to get me through any difficulty.

But the Bible is reminding us that we can't trust money or possessions – only God. The gifts are to be enjoyed, but it’s the Giver who is to be trusted.

But when we study the life of Jesus we see that he showed us a different way. He told us to love others no matter who they are and what they do. The way he lived his life made many people uncomfortable.

Jesus was kind to the hated Roman soldiers. He welcomed women into his closest core of disciples at a time when religious teachers weren’t even supposed to speak to women. He touched those with leprosy who were shunned by everyone else.

Jesus chose to love others. His relationships were proactive – not reactive. His example challenges us to define our relationships with others by our behavior, not theirs.

1 Peter 1:13-16

You may know at least part of Lisa Beamer’s story. She was catapulted into tragedy and fame on September 11, 2001, when her husband Todd phoned from United 93 to say that his plane had been hijacked and he and other passengers were going to fight back. His last words were ricocheted into history by President George W. Bush as saying, “Let’s roll!” Lisa Beamer was honored before a joint session of the United States Congress on September 20, 2001.

But this was not the first tragedy in Lisa Beamer’s life. She was a 15-year-old growing up in Shrub Oak, New York, when her father, Paul Brosious, an IBM research physicist, suffered an aneurysm at work. He was rushed to the hospital and died the next morning. At first this rattled the teenager’s Christian faith, but eventually, she says, “I hit an understanding that God knew what was going to happen to my father but, for whatever reason, chose not to change it.”

After Todd died she said, “My father’s death prepared me for what I’m going through right now. . . . (God) could have changed the day of Todd’s meeting or had him leave the night before . . . (but) it was better for him to be on that plane.”

Lisa Beamer is quoted as saying that she could continue to live in fear rather than hope, but that she chooses to live in hope. She was hit hard by the powers of evil and she chose not to let evil destroy her, frighten her or shape her life.

How does a Christian do that? We live in a world where evil constantly surrounds us. It sometimes appears in suave sophistication—dressed in evening gowns and tuxedos. Sometimes evil appears loaded with money and promises of possessions and power. Other times it comes in flames of fire, taunts of evil, horrors of pain and threats of death. Every one of us knows about evil and every one of us should hate the thought of evil shaping our lives. But how do we avoid it? St. Peter wrote about this in 1 Peter 1:13-16:

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Preparation for an assault from evil is a key to success. A common report from police officers, fire fighters and soldiers is that they survived an unexpected attack because “training kicked in.” I remember a TV interview with a soldier who said, “I was too scared to think. I just did what they trained me to do and it worked.”

1 Peter 1:13 says to “prepare your minds for action.” Great! But how do we know what to prepare for? Life has too many surprises. How can we know if we will be robbed, disabled in a car accident, attacked by a terrorist or betrayed by a friend? How can we know whether to prepare for the risk of wealth or poverty, divorce or cancer, addiction to alcohol or pornography?

There are several possible answers to this important question. One is anticipation. If you are a public servant like a police officer, anticipate the possibility of being offered a bribe. If you work in an office where business dishonesty is common consider how to handle an opportunity to steal. If you are surrounded by sexually immoral people, imagine how you will respond to an illicit sexual opportunity.

A second answer is values. If you have thought through what it means to be honest, to be faithful to God, to keep your commitments, to treat people justly, to be a good moral person you will be in great shape when evil strikes. These values will guide you through unanticipated crises and pressures that will try to shape you into something you don’t want to be.

The third answer really isn’t understood until after the fact, and that is trust. This may sound strange to those who are not Christians, but it didn’t sound strange to Lisa Beamer. When her husband tragically died when she was 32 she said that she was being prepared by God when her father tragically died when she was 15. While she couldn’t see all this in advance, it became evident later that God used one circumstance in her life to get her ready for a later circumstance.

The point here is obvious: you have to get ready in advance! This is so obvious that some people miss it. The time to get ready for hard times in life is before they come. Become spiritually strong before troubles arrive; otherwise it may be too late.

The second way to not let evil shape our lives is to take control. 1 Peter 1:13 says, “. . . prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled.” Actually, Peter’s literal words weren’t “be self-controlled” but “be sober.” He used the term for “don’t get drunk.” The Greek words in the original New Testament refer to abstinence from wine. You can take it literally: Don’t drink alcohol so that you don’t lose control of your behavior. You can take it figuratively: Don’t let anyone or anything take over your life and behavior so that you are no longer in control. Don’t get carried away with substances, ideas, fads, politics or people who will mess with your judgment so they are doing your thinking for you.

Let’s suppose we take this literally. Don’t let alcohol cloud your judgment or your self-control. We all know the consequences of drunken driving or people showing up for work while they are high or what alcohol can do to a marriage or a family.

I was the speaker at a conference. One of the officers of the organization sponsoring the conference took me out for dinner before the evening session. He ordered a drink from the bar. (I don’t drink—for biblical, personal and a whole lot of other reasons.) He turned to me and asked what I wanted to drink and then said, “Oh, you’d better not drink because you have to speak tonight.” I know what he meant—if I drank alcohol it might mess up my judgment and I wouldn’t say what I was supposed to say. I wanted to tell him maybe he shouldn’t drink because alcohol might mess up his judgment and he wouldn’t hear what he was supposed to hear when I said what I was supposed to say!

We know the rules: Don’t drink and drive; don’t drink and fly an airplane; don’t drink and drive a snowmobile; don’t drink and go hunting; don’t drink if you need to make important decisions and if you need to have all your wits about you. But Peter is saying that Christians live in a world where we are always at risk of danger and evil and we always need to have all our wits about us. Be self-controlled.

Peter’s third way to avoid being shaped by the evil around us is to think ahead with hope. Hope is the expectation of a better tomorrow. Hope is what keeps us going when life is tough. Hope is the source of our strength when everything awful presses down on us. If we have hope we can keep going.

Why do soldiers endure in POW camps? Why do employees stick with a company that’s going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy? Why do husbands and wives stay in marriages that look impossible? Hope! They hope the war will be won soon. They hope the company will succeed. They hope the marriage will survive. This is how Christians survive and thrive in tough times.

“. . . prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Here Peter is pointing to the return of Jesus Christ to earth. When Jesus ascended to heaven he promised he would come back. The Second Coming of Jesus has been and still is a core belief of Christianity. When Jesus returns he will give gifts, goodness, victory and happiness to Christians. It will be the best of the best—sort of like the end of World War II when there was wild celebration across America. The soldiers were coming home; happy days were here again! And it was true. America experienced a generation of unprecedented peace and prosperity.

When Jesus returns to earth it will be infinitely better! There will be an unprecedented outpouring of the goodness and grace of God upon a world that has been under the troubles of evil for far too long.

But look and listen carefully to the Bible’s words here on how to avoid being shaped by the evils of the world before Jesus returns. We should be fixed on and filled with hope for a better future because of Jesus. When discouraged, when wanting to give up, when tempted to yield to the pressures of evil—hang on to your hope. Keep believing. Look forward. Think ahead. The best is yet to come.

Please note: Just because God has so much grace coming in the future doesn’t mean that his grace is in short supply now. One of the clearest promises of the Bible is 2 Corinthians 12:9 where God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God will always give us whatever help we need to do what he wants us to do. He will give us the strength to get through our weakest situations. He will give us courage to do what is right. He will give us whatever we need. No matter how hard life is, no matter how great the pressures on us today think ahead, keep the faith, hold on to hope. God will bring the ultimate victory.

As Peter continues to write he builds up to the point he is making. While 1 Peter 1:13 is helpful it is really leading up to 1 Peter 1:14 where it says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.” God is going to take care of us. God is going to help us. But God wants us to avoid evil along the way. If we really love God, if we really belong to him, if we really want to please and obey God we have to do our best not to be shaped by the evil in our world or the evil desires in our hearts.

The movie A Beautiful Mind received four Golden Globe Awards. It is the true story of John Nash, a genius PhD student at Princeton University in the 1950s. He wrote a theory of economic equilibrium that won him notoriety and a great job. He met and married a beautiful woman. He had a lot going for him but he also had undiagnosed schizophrenia. The movie is a vivid and sometimes frightening portrayal of the battle for his mind. With the help of family, friends and professionals John Nash was able to live outside a mental hospital and eventually reconnect with Princeton. But he still saw and heard people who were not there who called him to strange and destructive behavior. He fought a life-long battle against the enormous forces inside of him. In his case it was a well-fought battle. In l994 he was awarded a Nobel Prize and still lives in Princeton and offices in the Mathematics Department of Princeton University.

In the Bible Peter portrays us all as having a battle going on inside us. It is not schizophrenia; it is sin. We have evil desires that speak to us, push us, tempt us and can destroy us if we allow them to control our minds and souls.

Some of those desires are violent and harmful; some are actually prized and promoted by our culture. Before we become Christians we may not be able to tell the difference, but as children of God we grow and learn and are no longer ignorant. We come to understand the evil of prejudice, injustice, racism, sexual immortality, greedy ambition, abuse and a thousand other “evil desires”. As Christians we must decide if we are going to allow evil (on the outside and the inside) to shape our lives.

Let me give you an example. It comes from an article in Shine Magazine written by Dr. Linda Mintle, a professional counselor and author:

Tom was a bright guy who found himself restless and bored at his job. He began flirting with a co-worker. Business lunches led to after-hours drinks. One late night turned into two, then three. Tom dreaded going home to his mundane life. He and Susan had grown apart, and he resented her preoccupation with the family. Instead of talking to her about it, he allowed the stimulation of this new relationship to father momentum. Finally, a woman who understood business appeared to be interested in his every thought. Even though Tom was married, he convinced himself that his extramarital relationship was harmless. There were lively discussions and growing intimacy. This new relationship was an exciting escape from the boredom of real life. It felt exhilarating. Tom wanted more. Yes, there were moments of guilt, but the immediate gratification felt too good to stop.

Eventually, the relationship became physical. Fearing he might have stepped over his self-imposed line, Tom came to therapy. His first question was, “Have I really been unfaithful to my wife? I haven’t had sex. We’ve done a lot of kissing and fondling, but does that really count?” My response: “If you told your wife what you just told me, what would she say?”

Tom grew silent. He knew the answer. Infidelity is a breach of trust, a breaking of the covenant, a betrayal of the relationship. It goes beyond sexual intercourse to include the physical, emotional and thought life of a person.

Tom knew better. He couldn’t have been that ignorant. “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.”

Peter wraps up his principle “Don’t let evil shape you” with one more piece of advice: Be different! Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ ”

As a college student I spent a summer trekking and studying in Europe. On numerous occasions people would walk up to me and say, “You’re an American, aren’t you?” Usually I would ask how they knew and they would laugh at the question. Sometimes they just said, “It’s obvious!” and walk away. Other times they said it was the way I talked, the clothes I wore and the style of my glasses. I was just different. I looked like an American.

The word the Bible uses for different is “holy”. When the Bible says that God is holy it’s saying God is different. He is holy and good and loving and generous and powerful to an extent that makes him unique.

In the Old Testament God wanted the Hebrew people to stand out as different from all the other nations—uniquely belonging to God. So, God gave them a thousand rules about how to dress, eat, worship and all kinds of other things to make them different from everyone around them.

God wants us to be different as well. Different good! He wants us to avoid evil by having as many things as possible in our lives that identify us with him. He wants our dress to be modest. He wants our lives to be peaceful. He wants our families to be strong. He wants our treatment of others to be fair. He wants the way we do business to be honest. He wants our language to be clean. He wants us to be different. He wants us to be holy. He wants us to look like we belong to him.

No one is exempt from the problems of evil in our world. What’s a Christian to do to avoid being sucked in, totally shaped and maybe destroyed?

. . . prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

God, we’ve heard the principle and we’d like to live
that principle, but we need your help. Lord, whether evil comes
at us with a vengeance and a fire and bellowing attack or evil
comes with some subtlety that sneaks into the back recesses of
our souls, let us be shaped by the choices that we make and the
influences you give and not by the evil that seeks to turn us away
from you and what is right and good.
All this we pray, in Jesus name. Amen.

Those who reject God see no over-all purpose for what's happening in our world and have no hope.

Perhaps more common is to resent God. Something goes terribly wrong or someone you love dies, and you say, “Where were you, God? You could have done something.” Resentment breeds bitterness, often alienating the person from the very love of God that can bring the needed healing.

The third alternative is to trust God. Trusting God is believing that he’s good and wise. Even though we hate our pain and suffering, we have absolute confidence that God knows what he's doing.

Next time suffering comes your way, choose wisely.

One of the best of ways of coping with change is to identify a standard by which to distinguish which changes are good and which should be resisted. The problem is determining what should be our standard for making that decision. When the early church was facing sweeping cultural change, St. Peter wrote these powerful words: “We must obey God rather than men.” Using the Bible as our standard is as relevant today as it was back then.

Dr. Swenson applied these principles to his medical practice and says he would never ever go back to the way his life used to be.

That’s the Sabbath principle of the Bible. But it goes beyond resting one day out of seven, it extends to every day. We must leave a margin for time with God.

Jesus set an example in his life of fullness, rather than busyness. In spite of all the demands placed on him by others, he remained sensitive to what God wanted him to do.

Do you remember the story of Jesus miraculously feeding a crowd of 5000? Before providing food for the waiting masses of people, Jesus left the crowd and went up on a mountain to pray. Jesus considered time alone with God more pressing than fulfilling the desires of thousands.

Here’s the point: Jesus wasn’t lazy – his life was full and productive. But he maintained a purposeful balance that included rest, prayer and time alone with God.

And that’s what his example offers us – a prescription for balance.

When Jesus changed water into wine at a wedding in Cana, the Bible says that it was “the first of his miraculous signs.” Changing water into wine was a wonderful miracle, to be sure, but it was only a sign pointing people to the real thing – Jesus. The purpose of the miracle was to lead people to faith in Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 4:18

We have considered some of the top ten lists from the Bible including: top ten reasons to be a Christian; top ten good things to do; top ten sins to avoid. Today we page through the Bible to draft a top ten list of things God has planned for the future. We are all curious about the future because we are personally involved. God’s future is also our future.

The list is not necessarily in chronological order because the Bible doesn’t always tell the chronology and because some items on this list may overlap with one another. For example, if you were to list the top ten great events in your life you might include education, marriage, a new job, having a baby, moving to Minnesota. There could be lots of overlap because you were married while you were in graduate school and your second child was born during your move to Minnesota. So, don’t worry too much about the order of God’s future plans. Just be impressed that God has definite plans for all of our tomorrows.

First on the list is an item you may not think even belongs on the list. It is preparation for the future. If we believe God has plans for tomorrow and for eternity and that our part depends on our choice now, we want to be well prepared for what is to come. It is like studying for a test or prepping for a job interview or packing for a long vacation. Getting ready is the all-important prelude to God’s future.

Jesus makes a couple of important points in Mark 13:32-33. First, he says that no one knows when predicted events will occur. Second, he says we should be ready whenever they occur. Mark 13:32-33 quotes Jesus as saying, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.”

Jesus’ clear teaching is that none of us knows in advance when things are going to happen, although that is a clear teaching of Jesus that has been ignored for centuries. In AD 960 a German theologian, Bernard of Thuringa, calculated that the world would end in AD 992. He was so sure and he convinced so many people that panic swept across Europe. It didn’t happen.

On New Year’s Eve AD 999 thousands of people packed into St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to pray with Pope Sylvester II because they believed that the end of the age was coming at the stroke of midnight. It didn’t happen.

German astrologer Johann Stoffler predicted that an overwhelming flood would occur on February 20, 1524. When it didn’t happen he revised his date to 1588. It still didn’t happen.

In 1874 Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, predicted the Second Coming of Jesus would occur in 1914. When it didn’t happen in 1914 the prediction was changed to “very soon after 1914.”

American Herbert W. Armstrong, publisher of The Plain Truth magazine, focused on January 7, 1972. Nostradamus, the famous 16th century prognosticator, anticipated a Martian invasion of earth in 1999. And, for those who consider some of these to be ancient nonsense, remember the Y2K scare that swept across America? Millions of Americans hoarded gas, food and cash in dread of midnight on December 31, 1999.

Jesus was clear that God does not reveal dates. Jesus was equally clear that we need to be ready all the time. Just as you want to save money before a rainy dayor learn the Heimlich maneuver before the person next to you is chocking, so you want to get ready for God’s future plans before they begin.

Number two on the list of things God has planned for the future is the return of Jesus Christ to earth. It is by far one of the most important upcoming events on God’s calendar. While there are differences and controversies among Bible scholars about some of the future events, on this there is broad agreement. As Jesus once came to earth as a poor baby visited by shepherds, he will return to earth as a triumphant King for the world to see.

After Jesus’ death, resurrection and forty days of appearances he ascended to heaven. Angels appeared to Jesus’ followers who witnessed his ascension and gave a very specific prediction that we find in Acts 1:11, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Now understand that this is a really big deal. It is a central teaching of Christianity. It is the cornerstone of all biblical prophecy. It has been and is the basis for Christian hope, that no matter how wonderful or painful this life has been, the best is yet to come. Jesus will come back to earth to be reunited with Christians and to judge and rule the world.

This makes a difference in how we live. Anticipation of Jesus’ return is a key basis for Christian living. That was pointed out by St. Paul when he wrote in Titus 2:11-14:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Number three on the list is the rapture. Just as the citizens of ancient cities would run to welcome home their conquering king, so Christians will be supernaturally transported to meet Jesus when he returns. It will be a wonderful and unexplainable experience. It’s described in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17:

According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

The details are few but the prospect of being on Jesus’ “Welcoming Committee” is glorious.

Number 4 is not so glorious although it is on the list of God’s top ten plans for the future. It is called the Tribulation. This period is typically calculated to be somewhere in the vicinity of seven years when there will be a great cataclysmic conflict between the forces of good and evil. This is an exponential escalation of what history has previously known. The wars are worse. Bloodshed is enormous. Diseases are awful. It is a battle for the human race. For those then living it will be a terrible ordeal! Jesus describes it in Mark 13:19 saying that “those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.”

Number 5 is resurrection. This is very different from much of the rest of the list. Resurrection is mostly spread out over the future, but it is also part of history. Jesus rose from the dead on Easter and became the prototype for future resurrections.

Those in industry know well that a prototype is a very expensive sample that is built to prove that the technology exists to make millions more. When Jesus came back from the dead God proved it could be done and showed us what to expect for ourselves. It’s really amazing.

The Bible predicts life after death. But understand that it is not just bringing back to life this body exactly as it is. It is not resuscitation of the bodies we have now. Nor is it reincarnation—coming back as something else or in someone else’s body. Resurrection is different. Resurrection is a new body that is supernaturally cloned off the bodies we have now—although definitely upgraded. Resurrection isn’t a point in time event; it will happen at different points along God’s future timetable. Here’s what it will be like according to St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44:

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

The week after Easter 2004 the Wooddale Forum sponsored an event featuring a scholar named Dr. Gary Habermas, an authority on resurrection. He is a PhD who has studied the topic for nearly 35 years and written many books on resurrection. What he didn’t tell us when he was here was his own experience.

In 1995 his wife, Debbie, had the flu. When it didn’t go away she went for some medical tests. The doctor told her, “You have got some serious problems here.” She died four months later of stomach cancer at age 43.

In coming to terms with his wife’s death, he moved beyond the historical and theoretical evidence. He imagined a conversation with God that whenever he asked questions about Debbie’s cancer and dying God would say, “Gary, did I raise my Son from the dead?”

“Of course you did, Lord,” he would respond. “But why is Debbie dying?”

“Gary, did I raise my Son from the dead?”

“Yes Lord, but . . . .”

“Gary, did I raise my Son from the dead?”

Gary Habermas says, “I imagined God repeating the same question until I got his point. There was an answer to Debbie’s suffering, even if I didn’t know it. If Jesus has been raised, then I can trust that Debbie will be raised too.”

Winston Churchill planned his own funeral for St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. When the funeral was over and the benediction had been pronounced, a bugler high in the cathedral’s dome played Taps, the universal military tune signaling day is done. Then, another bugler elsewhere in the dome of St. Paul’s played Reveille, the universal military wake up call.

It’s all about number 5 on the list of things God has planned for the future.

Number 6 is the Millennium. This word comes from the French word “mille” which means thousand. The Millennium refers to a future time of one thousand years when peace and prosperity will prevail across the earth and Jesus Christ will directly rule our world. It will be the best of times with true liberty and justice for all. The kingdom of God will control our earth.

This amazing ten century period is hinted at in the Old Testament but is specifically described at the very end of the Bible. It is graphic language with lots of symbolism telling what happens after the Tribulation and how the Millennium happens. John says in Revelation 20:1-4:

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan. and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Number 7 is judgment. It is in the courtroom of God where humans and history are judged and eternal consequences are announced.

It’s interesting to know what Americans think about the judgment of God to come. According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of adults over age 18, 79% of Americans say that “there will be a day when God judges whether you go to heaven or hell.”

That day is described in Revelation 20:11-15:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were open. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Number 8 on this list is heaven. Actually, heaven already exists as the home of God. While it is true that God is omnipresent, that he is everywhere, there is one place that he lists as his address—the place he calls home—and that is heaven. Heaven is the promise of God to all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin and eternal life that they will get to be with God forever.

This heaven is better than anything we could ever imagine. Typically we take the best of everything we now know and extrapolate that into the future and say that’s what heaven must be like. But heaven is the best God can design. And the truth is that Christians are designed for heaven. We will be a perfect fit for the heaven God has created. We’ll be right at home!

Jesus talked about heaven, promising that he will have it ready when we get there. In John 14:1-3 Jesus is quoted as saying:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Number 9 on our list is hell. Just as heaven is on our list, so must hell get equal time and place. Hell is the eternal destiny of those who do not believe. Hell is forever without God. Hell is death that lasts for eternity.

While most Americans seem to assume they will go to heaven no matter what, the belief in hell is amazingly strong.

Dr. Maurice Rawlings, a cardiologist at the University of Tennessee, and his colleagues interviewed more than 300 people who reported near-death experiences in the hospital emergency room. These interviews took place immediately after the near-death experiences occurred, unlike other studies with interviews long after the near-death experiences.

Rawlings found that nearly 50% of those interviewed reported images of fire, torment and sights that were far from what you would expect to see in heaven. However, in follow-up interviews months and years later Rawlings’ colleagues found that many of these people changed their stories. What they later reported in their near-death experiences was much more positive and pleasant. Apparently they felt it was too painful to tell their family, relatives and even researchers what they had actually experienced.

Dr. Rawlings says, “Just listening to these patients has changed my life. There is a life after death, and if I don’t know where I am going, it is not safe to die.”

Number 10 and last on the top ten list is a new heaven and a new earth. The Bible anticipates that one day our world will die and God will replace it with a new earth and a new heaven that are far better. It will become everything God originally intended—like the Garden of Eden—only better! 2 Peter 3:13 says that “in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

Our family purchased the movie “Miracle” on DVD. It is the story of Minnesotan Herb Brooks and the upset victory of the USA Olympic Hockey Team over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, New York. I was caught up in the tension. I anxiously watched every play and player. There were moments when I was scared that Team USA might lose. Then I thought, “Hey, I haven’t seen this before, but I know how it ends. It wouldn’t be a movie if we lost. We’re going to win.” I didn’t know all the details or exactly how it was going to happen, but I knew that in the end the USA was going to win.

It’s the same with God’s future predictions whether there are one or ten or more. Watching history unfold we can get kind of nervous and worried. We don’t know the details or exactly what is going to happen, but we know the end—and God’s going to win!”

Some fascinating facts come out of this story. Fact number one, Jesus has supernatural power – he changed water into wine! Fact number two, Jesus does things with excellence. When the wine was served, the groom was asked why he’d saved the best for last! Fact number three, Jesus does things on a large scale. He made one hundred and eighty gallons of wine!

These facts tell me that Jesus can handle any problem we bring to him, no matter how embarrassing. And he’ll do it with excellence and with greater results we can imagine!

There's a lesson here for us. Too often we want to see instant changes in ourselves. We want instant maturity. But we, like Jesus, are also in process. We need to let God gradually grow us and make us wiser day by day, just like he did in Jesus’ life; so that all those around us and, most of all, God, will take delight in us.

I heard of a pastor who prepared an interesting sermon. As he walked onto the platform, a verse from the Bible was projected on a screen above him. He sat down and was silent before God—for 45 minutes! Then he simply stood and left the platform. Afterwards, everyone was talking about it and some called it one of the most profound sermons they’d ever experienced.

What was the verse, you ask? “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.”

There are 168 hours in a week. We all get the same number of hours, so the difference is not in how much time any of us have; the difference is in what we do with our time.

Listen to the Bible’s wise advice:

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?… But seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

These words of advice are not a call to irresponsibility, but an invitation to put God first in our lives. When we seek God first, the other things will fall into place.

As a young man, whenever I faced a hard decision, my mother would tell me to walk in my own integrity. That advice came from the Bible and it applies to a lot of situations.

Imagine a salesman sitting alone in a hotel restaurant, lonely and depressed after a bad day. An attractive woman joins him, hinting that she might be interested in more than dinner. Part of him feels, “I deserve some fun. Who’ll ever know?” and another part of him says, “That’s sinning against God. It would be disloyal to my wife whether or not she found out.” He has to decide whether to do what feels good for the moment or do what he knows is right.

To walk in your own integrity means making decisions according to all the elements that God has built into your life, rather than following one desire. It’s seeing life as a whole, like God does.

Exodus 20; Proverbs 6:16-19

Sins are like diseases; the list of possibilities is virtually endless. Just as all diseases are bad, so all sins are bad. And just as all diseases are to be avoided, so all sins are to be avoided. But some diseases are higher on our avoidance list than others. Not that all diseases and sins are not bad, but some are clearly worse than others. Heart attacks and cancer make the Top Ten list of diseases to avoid while athlete’s foot is not even in the top one hundred.

As Christians we want to avoid sin for Jesus’ sake. Every sin is an offense against God; however, avoiding sin is good for us as well. Sins are bad for God and damaging to us.

Some people think that prohibitions against sin all come from a God who is a grouch and does not want us to have any fun. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Let’s compare God’s rules to a child’s car safety seat. Children used to have unrestricted and unrestrained access to any passenger seat in any car. Thousands of children needlessly died in automobile accidents that ended their lives and broke their parents’ hearts. Then came laws requiring safety seats facing the right direction, properly secured and in the back of the car. New moms could no longer sit in the front seat holding their babies on their laps. There is even a fine for breaking the child safety seat law. Restrictive? Yes. Is it a really good idea? Absolutely.

When it comes to making a Top Ten list of sins to avoid the Ten Commandments clearly come to mind. Let’s take a look at the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:2-5. Actually, I am going to take the liberty to leave out a couple and add a few from elsewhere in the Bible. By the way, different denominational traditions have different lists of the Ten Commandments. It is not that the content varies but different traditions use different approaches and numbering when counting the commandments in Exodus 20:2-5.

The number one sin to avoid is idolatry. It is the sin of substituting anyone or anything for God. Exodus 20:2-5 tells us:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God . . . .”

The sin of idolatry was first understood in terms of the pagan religions surrounding the Hebrew people. They depicted God in art and other images. These images became competitors of God or substitutes for God. The essence of this sin is making anything more important than God. So we are to avoid anything that triggers the jealousy of the God we love and serve.

What does this look like today? Ask yourself the simple question, “What might God think is more important in my life than God himself?” It might be a person or a possession. Idolatry can come in almost any form—whiskey bottle, fishing pole, SUV, bank account, college degree, boyfriend or a good luck charm worn on a chain around your neck.

It is a constant battle. Every one of us has a long line of applicants for “first in our lives.” When we reject one applicant another shows up. There is constant pressure to push God into second or lower place on the list of importance. So, avoid anything and everything that competes with God for number one place in your life.

Second on the Top Ten list of sins to avoid is profanity. There is a difference between profanity and obscenity. Obscenity is a whole dictionary full of mostly four-letter words that are generally related to sex or bodily functions and parts. Most obscenity is rooted in the person’s anger, frustration, limited vocabulary or other personal problems. Obscenity is common in our culture and increasingly common on television and in the movies. Obscenity is vulgar and inappropriate and, while I would certainly include obscenity on a longer list of sins to avoid, it does not make the Top Ten. Profanity does, however, make the Top Ten list at number two.

Ironically, our culture is more accepting of profanity than obscenity. If I list for you the more frequent profanities in our vocabulary they include “Oh, my God” and “Jesus Christ”. But if I speak the most common obscenities or even suggest the first letters of the most obscene words you will be offended and even outraged. The Federal Communications Commission allows profanity but bans obscenity.

Profanity is misusing the name of God. It is swearing by God’s name and not keeping that vow. It is invoking God’s name to make a point or to get attention. Exodus 20:7 tells us, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

One new Christian struggled to break the habit of bad language. He agreed to an accountability system with a Christian friend. He kept track of how many times he swore during the week, wrote a check for $5 per profanity and put the check in the weekly church offering.

The first week it cost him $100. The second week he did better ant it cost him less. But he just could not seem to break the habit. Then his friend unilaterally changed the contract. Instead of the guy who swore paying the weekly fine, his friend wrote the check each week. They would meet at church on Sunday morning and the mentor had the check all made out and signed. The man with the swearing problem just wrote in the amount. This helped him to understand God’s grace and forgiveness and within a few weeks his profanity stopped.

Number three is overwork. It is actually a chronic sin of many hard-driving Type-A Christians today. There are many reasons why overwork is a sin, including abusing our bodies, idolizing achievement and not trusting God. In Exodus 20:8-11 we read:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

The principle here is clear. Take time off. Take a day off. Take a vacation. Lighten up. Trust God to help you do your work in less than 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Work hard, but don’t overwork!

The fourth sin to avoid is murder. Most of us breathe a sigh of relief on this one because we have not killed anyone and probably never will. But, before we overrate ourselves, take note of news reports analyzing the behavior of American prison guards in Baghdad. American soldiers, intelligence agents and contract workers accused of prisoner abuse were ordinary people who would not have predicted their own behavior. Some of them are described as committed Christians and faithful church members. Before we assume ourselves incapable of abuse and murder, let’s assume that we might take another person’s life if we were caught in certain circumstances.

In the Ten Commandments it is only a few words: “You shall not murder.” One of the ways to avoid this terrible sin is to assume that we might commit it and deeply resolve in advance that we will never take another human life. It is true that sometimes we may face a tragic moral choice where self-defense or a just war invites life taking. If so, may such behavior be the last resort and with deep regret.

The taking of life has long been an area of moral debate. This debate has been mingled with political positions and government policies at home and abroad. In some cases our nation has been deeply divided. My advice to you is to promote, defend and celebrate human life as a gift from God. As for me, I want to avoid life taking and seek to be consistently pro-life at every opportunity and on every issue. From abortion to capital punishment, I want to protect life.

Number five is adultery. Simply defined, adultery is sexual unfaithfulness to a marriage covenant. The Bible is simple and clear in Exodus 20:14, “You shall not commit adultery.” Adultery is a sexual sin. But it is not primarily a sexual sin. It is primarily the breaking of a marriage vow and relationship between a man and a woman and God.

Marriage is God’s design as the best and most intimate of lifelong relationships between a man and a woman. When God’s best is exchanged for an encounter with someone else it deeply wounds the souls of everyone involved. What may seem like a good idea at the time turns out to be a moral disaster. Smart Christians not only avoid adultery, they avoid anything that might lead to adultery.

We hear a strong pro-adultery message ricocheting in our culture to the point that you might think everyone is unfaithful. There is a story about a dozen married women who met for lunch. One of them asked how many had remained faithful to their husbands throughout their marriage. Only one of the twelve raised her hand. Later that day, one of the women who did not raise her hand went home and told her husband what had happened. She said she had lied because she had been faithful to him. When he asked her why she didn’t raise her hand she answered, “Because I was ashamed.”

Never be ashamed of avoiding the sin of adultery even if it looks like everyone else is doing it! The truth is that everyone is not doing it! The National Research Center at the University of Chicago conducted five studies beginning in 1988 and reported that 15% of Americans have ever cheated on a spouse and that in any given year the range is somewhere between 3-4% of husbands and wives are unfaithful.

If you are having an affair, end it. If you have never committed adultery, don’t!!!!

Number six on the list of the Top Ten Sins to Avoid is stealing. This sin does not need much of a definition. It is taking something that we have no right to take. Exodus 20:15 is just four words: “You shall not steal.”

Amazingly, some of the most famous shoplifters in America are superstars with millions of dollars. Stealing is often not about the items stolen. It is done simply for the joy of stealing. The average value of shoplifted items in America increased 53% from 2000 to 2003. Towels disappear from hotels. Church hymnals disappear. Employees pilfer. Workers come late and leave early for full pay. People lie on income tax returns and expense reports. Stealing is a common sin that we easily rationalize and justify. We tend to say the company owes us, no one will know or it will never be missed.

If it’s not yours, don’t take it.

Number seven is lying. This is such a common and easy sin that it is universal. Some people lie when they would be better off telling the truth. Exodus 20:16 tells us, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”

Lying is really a form of stealing because it robs others of the truth. Lying destroys trust. Lying undermines relationships. It cheats others out of the advantages of honesty. It is extremely difficult to rebuild a relationship when lying has torn that relationship apart.

USA Today reported an analysis of 7,000 resumes that were submitted by applicants to potential employers. They found that 71% lied about the number of years in a previous job; 64% exaggerated accomplishments; 60% exaggerated the size of the organization they managed; 52% reported partial education as fully completed degrees; 48% exaggerated the compensation they previously received.

Liars don’t trust God. God stands for truth and when we lie we decide that truth is not good enough and that God can’t take care of us unless we corrupt the truth. God loves the truth. So let’s avoid the sin of lying.

Number eight of the Top Ten is coveting. This sin is very different from the rest. The other sins are mostly external but coveting is mostly internal. Exodus 20:17 says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” This is a sin of the heart. It is all about contentment—being satisfied with what we have and not lusting for what belongs to someone else. Coveting is where adultery, stealing and murder all get started. When we yearn for the power, prestige and possessions of others we light the fuse of further sins.

Another way of defining coveting is that it is envy. Envy is when I feel really good about bad things that happen to you or I feel bad about the good things that happen to you. It is a lack of contentment over the blessings God has given to me.

We can control our thoughts. We can choose to be content with what we have. We can avoid the sin of coveting.

Number nine is actually a list within a list. It is found in Proverbs 6:16-19 and it is a statement of what God hates. Since we as Christians care about what God likes and what God doesn’t like God’s hate list belongs on our list of sins to avoid. Some of this list-within-a-list repeats some of the Ten Commandments but some are new. Let’s look at what God hates:

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

Don’t walk around looking proud. Don’t scheme up evil in your heart. And, never sin by causing dissension between other people.

Last on the list of the Top Ten Sins to Avoid is unlike all the rest. It is not the sin of what we do; it is the sin of what we don’t do. In James 4:17 we read, “Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” In other words, it is a sin to passively sit by and do nothing when we know the right thing to do.

Twenty-four year old Army Specialist Jeremy Sivits pleaded guilty at a U.S. Army court martial in Baghdad. He was an army mechanic who was invited to take photographs of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib Prison. He never kicked, punched, stripped or humiliated any Iraqi prisoner. But he did not stop those who did. He did not report the abuse to the chain of command. He could have done good and he did nothing. He was sentenced to a year in prison followed by a bad-conduct discharge.

Whenever you can do good, do it. Avoid the sin of undone good.

Situational ethics often seem to rule the day. People think it’s smart to do what is best for the immediate situation. But God sees it quite differently. The Bible says, “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.” A person of integrity is consistent while the person who reacts differently to each situation will get caught in lies and inconsistencies.

Think of the Watergate break-in. Frankly, President Nixon and his cohorts did not walk in integrity. They said one thing to the nation in public and another thing to one another in private. Eventually, the truth came out.

God’s wise advice is simple: Be a person of integrity and you’ll have nothing to hide and nothing to fear; but head off on a crooked path, and sooner or later you’ll get caught!

In astonishment you blurt out, “Are you crazy? You're way past diet and lifestyle changes! You’re signing your own death certificate. Your only hope is the transplanted heart of my son!”

Now that story sounds implausible, but our situation is not that different. Our only hope for eternal life is to receive the transplanted heart of Jesus into us. Don’t turn it down!

I personally have become convinced that the best evidence points me to the conclusion that the Bible is true and that Jesus is all that he claims to be. And I've bet my life on it. How about you?

Since God is absolutely holy, the only people that he can allow into his heaven are those who are forgiven. He made forgiveness possible by sending his son Jesus to die for our sins. The way to be forgiven and avoid hell is to give our allegiance to Jesus.

Make sure you’re not one of those who think they’re going to heaven but aren’t.

At first you’re stunned by his bluntness. But then in the back of your mind something bothers you. The doctor himself is a hundred pounds overweight and has a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. You think to yourself, “What a hypocrite!” In a more rational moment you might realize that the doctor's advice was good, even though he doesn’t take it himself.

In a similar way people sometimes reject Jesus because of the hypocrisy of some Christians. In both cases we need this reminder: Don’t reject the message because you don’t like the messenger.

One of the most important teachings in the Bible appears in Ephesians 2:8-9. It says, “ . . . it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” This is the Bible’s teaching that we cannot rescue ourselves from sin and eternal death by being good. Salvation from sin and becoming a Christian is possible only because of God’s generosity. It is not because of anything good that we do. No matter how hard we try there is no way we could ever earn a relationship with God that would last for eternity. This is a basic and essential truth of Christianity.

We must not stop reading, however, until we see what the bible says next in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” In other words, doing good works will never make anyone a Christian but real Christians will always do good works. In fact, one of the proofs that somebody really is a follower of Jesus Christ is the good that person does. So, real Christians do good! And we are going to look at the Top Ten good things we can do.

Number one on that list is to tell God, “I love you!” Actually, Jesus said this is number one on his Top Ten List of Things To Do. It was in response to a question from a lawyer who may have been working on a Top Ten list of his own. The lawyer asked him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” And Jesus replied in Matthew 22:37-38, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

God loves us and God wants us to love him. It is most about the actual loving with heart, soul and mind. But, it is also about telling. There is something powerful and intimate about saying, “I love you!” Just as we like to hear those three wonderful words, God likes to hear us say them to him.

You probably know the story about the husband who never told his wife that he loved her. One day she confronted him. He explained that he had said “I love you” on their wedding day 38 years before and he would let her know if anything changed.

That is not good enough in a personal relationship. Lovers say the words often.

Let me tell you some things I do. When I take communion and drink the cup in memory of Jesus I silently pray and say, “I love you.” When I pray in the morning I tell God, “I love you.” When I am driving alone in the car I tell God in short simple prayer, “I love you!” Sometimes I say it out loud. (If you are ever driving in the next lane and read my lips, I am not talking to you!)

Telling God “I love you” is number one on the Top Ten List of Good Things To Do. Tell him often. Tell him now! Right where you are, pray your silent and sincere words telling God, “I love you, Lord!”

Jesus’ next words were about loving others. Matthew 22:37-39 tells us that:

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

Throughout the Bible God shows a compassionate bias toward helping the poor. Jesus repeatedly benefited the poor. The New Testament church constantly gave money and helped the poor. It is what Christians do.

How could we do that? Give money to charities that benefit the poor. Share job information with the unemployed. Mentor refugees who don’t know how our system works. Oppose greed at the expense of those with little money and power. Be an advocate for poor people at your business. Support fair wages for workers, including a generous minimum wage. Show compassion toward immigrants, including those who are undocumented. When is the last time we helped a poor person? Without a doubt, helping the poor is one of the Top Ten good things God wants us to do.

Number three is to be baptized. Here is how it works. Baptism in the Bible is the Christian’s way of declaring faith and solidarity with Jesus Christ. It is Jesus’ idea! Not only was Jesus himself baptized in the Jordan River but he was very clear about the importance of baptism for Christians when he spoke his words of commission in Matthew 28:19-20:

“ . . . go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

While some Christian traditions practice baby baptisms, consider getting baptized as your own choice rather than your parents’ choice.

Pat Summerall, the famous sports announcer, battled alcoholism and finally came to personal faith in Jesus Christ in his late 60s. Here is what he said about his baptism as a believer: “I went down in the water, and when I came up it was like a 40-pound weight had been lifted from me. I have a happier life, a healthy life, and a more positive feeling about life than ever before.”

Many people have told me that their baptism as a believer was one of the single best day of their entire lives. It was a significant and powerful spiritual turning point for them. I have never had anybody tell me that they later regretted being publicly baptized as a believer in Jesus Christ. It delights the heart of God and it is clearly one of the Top Ten good things a Christian can do.

Number four is to give away something valuable. This may be hard for some of us to understand, but it is actually an astonishing spiritual and personal experience. You see, we tend to be more greedy than sacrificial in our giving. So, once in a while, give away something that is really valuable to you. Not for tax deductibility. Not for thanks. Just to give it away. It will change you forever.

There are many interesting examples of this. King David once paid 50 shekels of silver as an offering to God. When he was discouraged from giving David said, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God offerings that cost me nothing.”

When I was a young pastor a woman put her diamond engagement ring in the offering. It was a major decision for her but impressed me for a lifetime.

Osceola McCarty lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Her entire life she had one job: laundry. For decades she washed laundry by hand for fifty cents per load. She saved a little of her income every week. When she retired at age 87 she asked the banker how much she had. The banker told her she had $250,000. She gave $150,000 of her savings to fund scholarships for African-American students at the University of Southern Mississippi.

My father-in-law used to get two weeks of paid vacation every year. He used one of those weeks to drive a bus to transport children to summer Vacation Bible School. Half of his vacation every year he gave away to serve others.

Number four is not a suggestion to give away a lot. It is a call to give away something you consider valuable. It will change your life.

Number five is to forgive someone who didn’t ask. In the Lord’s Prayer we ask our Father in heaven to forgive our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Here is how it works. Choose someone who has hurt you, offended you, cheated you, upset you, disappointed you or simply ripped you off. Whether they ask or not, forgive that person. Let it go. Give it to God. There may be no need to tell the person you have forgiven. The real forgiveness takes place in the heart and it will immediately show up in attitudes and actions toward the forgiven person. Forgiveness is a very good thing to do.

Number six is to offer to pray for someone else—at work; at school; next door; even a stranger. Tell someone you will pray for her and ask, “What would you like me to pray about?” Ask someone you know if he would like your prayers. Then do it. Pray!

Charleen and I went to eat at a popular Eden Prairie restaurant with some out-of-state guests. We were seated, ordered beverages and the meal and were talking together. One of the men spoke to our server and asked her when the food would arrive. She said, “In just a few minutes.” He said, “Fine because we want to have a prayer shortly before we eat and I was wondering if there is anything you would like us to pray about for you.”

I was a little taken back. I feared she would be offended. To the contrary, her whole demeanor changed and she said, “Would you pray for my mom?” She then explained her mother’s medical problem and was delighted that a customer cared enough to pray for her mom.

Want something really good to do? Offer to pray for someone else.

Number seven is to tell somebody about Jesus. This is one of the very, very best things any Christian can ever do. But, honestly, for many of us it is kind of scary. So, think it through. Pray for God’s words to say. Look for the right time and opportunity. Keep it simple. Focus on someone with whom you already have established a relationship. Tell about the difference Jesus has made in your life.

You don’t have to have all the answers. Nobody has all the answers. You may tie it to a book you read, a movie you saw or an invitation to church. Think how great it will be that you have been the messenger of God in communicating the good news of Jesus. Someone or many may spend forever in heaven with God because you told them about Jesus. And, by the way, who would be a good person for you to tell?

Number eight is to volunteer. Americans are among the very best volunteers in the world. And the number one place in America where people volunteer is in the context of the church because churches are essentially volunteer organizations with a vast array of opportunities—opportunities to befriend people, to pray for people, opportunities to be ushers, teachers, counselors, musicians and a whole lot more.

At Wooddale Church we have a pastor who specializes in volunteer ministries. She is not an advocate for positions to be filled but for those who want to volunteer. She matches up the person with skills, passions, gifts and interests with tasks and people who could use those interests and abilities. Sort of a volunteer placement service!

But, volunteering does not need to be in the context of the church. Out in the community there are all kinds of opportunities for volunteering. So, volunteer to tutor immigrants, work in an inner city ministry, answer phones for some charity. If you have a professional skill offer pro bono service for somebody who could not afford it. If you are among those rich folk who would rather give money and let someone else volunteer, think again. Money is good but never enough. Do good personally!

Psychiatrist Carl Menninger was asked what someone should do who feels on the verge of a breakdown. Menninger answered, “Lock your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need and do something for him.” You may discover that the person that benefits the most when you volunteer is you.

Related to that is number nine: teach a child. Once again, you can do this in the community, but I particularly encourage you to teach a child in the context of the church. Most people come to personal faith in Jesus Christ as children. Childhood shapes a lot of life and teachers shape childhood. Whether it’s a baby in the nursery, a third-grader in a classroom or a junior higher at camp, you can make a lifelong difference.

Let me tell you what has happened in America. For decades, women were the ones who did much of the teaching in the community and the church. But as women have entered the workforce and become extremely busy, fewer volunteer. Busy parents want someone else to teach their children because they are tired. So we are at a time when teachers of children are more needed, have greater influence and are in shorter supply.

It is very rewarding, but it is not always easy. Without a doubt, teaching a child in Sunday School or in the community is one of the absolute Top Ten good things for a Christian to do.

Number ten is very different. It is get a will. Admittedly, this may not be on everyone’s list. If you are young, have more debts than assets and are single without children there may not be much point. However, if you are an adult and own a house, car, retirement plan, other assets or have children you should have a will. If you don’t you are not being the best steward of what God has entrusted to you.

In your will, provide for your family but also provide for the advance of the cause of Jesus Christ. Include the church or other Christian organizations that you trust and know will use your money well to make more disciples for Jesus.

Don’t procrastinate on number ten. See an accountant, financial planner and lawyer to find out what you should do. For example, if you have a 401k retirement plan you may be able to do greater good by willing it to a church or charitable organization than having family members pay all the taxes that will come due. Many Christians are surprised how well they can provide for their families and bless others for many years to come.

That’s ten and time is up. This is only intended to prime the pump. Do all ten and pray for ten more ways you can do good things for God. Remember the words of Ephesians 2:10: “ . . . we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Every so often, God, in his divine wisdom, puts suffering in our lives to accomplish good purposes that wouldn't otherwise happen. It may be to get our attention or to stop us from doing something that’s wrong. He might cause us to lose our job this year to save us from the company’s criminal activity next year. Or, he may allow us to suffer a painful broken relationship rather than marry the wrong person. God might even touch a nation with financial reverses in order to accomplish his greater purposes within that country.

The Bible says, “The Lord disciplines those he loves.” The God who loves us cares enough to discipline us today in order to help us experience a better tomorrow.

What impresses me about this story is that those coworkers had no idea that Joe was observing everything about them. He was profoundly impressed by who they were and how they worked and they didn’t even know that he was watching!

What an awesome reminder of the impact our lives can have on others!

One needs to recognize that poetry has to be understood as poetry, that history has to be understood as history and the Bible we read has been translated from Hebrew and Greek. To give it a fair chance may require us to do some extra digging and to give some extra effort.

Giving the Bible a fair chance means listening with an open mind to explanations of seeming contradictions that may not be contradictions at all.

Missionary martyr, Jim Elliott, said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” And he’s right! The most rewarding way to live is by investing our lives in what lasts forever.

But for those who have a personal relationship with God there’s an important and eternal difference. Even when others fail us, divorce us or leave us through death, God promises that he will never leave us. I’m convinced that one of the very best reasons to become a Christian is this supernatural assurance that those who are trusting in Jesus will never be alone again.

Long before we ever began to celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May each year, mothers were storied and honored in the Bible. Some would find that surprising since most ancient societies were patriarchal and male-oriented. Actually it is quite amazing that the Bible honors women and especially mothers long before it was the socially acceptable thing to do.

Of all the mothers whose stories are recorded in the Bible, I want to tell you about ten.

Eve is the first woman in the Bible and her story is famous. God created the universe, the earth, animals and two humans. God named the man Adam; Adam named his wife Eve. Adam and Eve had a marriage that was made in heaven and was lived out in paradise. But paradise was lost when this first couple succumbed to a temptation to sin that was offered by Satan. They sinned against God and contaminated not only their own lives but the rest of the human race. Although Adam was equally guilty, Eve has gotten more of the blame.

If you asked her husband what she should be remembered for he would not mention a snake or forbidden fruit. Adam wanted Eve to be remembered for being a mom. In fact, the first time her name is mentioned in the Bible is in a quote from Adam in Genesis 3:20: “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.”

Scholars have debated for centuries exactly what the name Eve means and how that connects to being a mother. But, regardless of the etymology, what made this woman famous was her motherhood.

Modern mothers need to learn from the Bible’s lesson about Eve. Whether you make small mistakes or great mistakes, what you are most remembered for is being a mother who impacts the lives of others.

Second in our list of mothers is Sarah. Sarah lived generations after Eve. She was a truly amazing woman. Let me tell you some of what we know about her.

Sarah was absolutely gorgeous. The Pharaoh of Egypt wanted to recruit her for his harem, as did another king named Abimelech. She was adventurous. She was a pioneer who left her home country and moved to another country and began all over again, leaving everybody she knew behind. She became rich and extremely powerful. She was a model wife who is celebrated in the New Testament in 1 Peter 3:6 as one of the best examples of what a wife is supposed to be like. And she was infertile. The one dream of her life was to become a mother, and she couldn’t do it. She lived a long life of 127 years.

God promised Sarah a miracle. When she was 90 years old God announced that she would bear a son. She laughed out loud. Retirement homes don’t have nurseries and Medicare doesn’t cover pregnancy. Besides, her husband Abraham was 99 years old. He would be 118 when the child graduated from high school. It was way too old.

But God got the last laugh. The child was born exactly as God had predicted. And they named him Isaac, which means “laughter”. Sarah learned a lesson for every mother to learn, and that is that God does the impossible. God actually performs miracles.

Number Three on the list of the Bible’s top ten mothers is actually a quartet—the four wives of Jacob. Their names were Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah and Rachel.

Polygamy in the Bible was rare and clearly outside of God’s plan and design. Frankly, it is not a pretty picture. Jacob loved and wanted to marry Rachel. In those days women wore veils that covered their faces, so Rachel’s father switched brides at the wedding. It wasn’t until the next morning after the wedding night that Jacob found out he had actually married the ugly older sister Leah. Having been tricked, he still wanted to marry prettier Rachel, so he married her as well. Married life was not off to a good start. He was married to two sisters who were competitive in their relationship with their husband to the point that they insisted that their maids have children by their husband. So Jacob got two more wives named Bilhah and Zilpah. It was a mess with jealousy, intrigue, insult and slavery.

These four women bore twelve sons and a daughter. It was the beginning of a nation that continues until today. God renamed the father, Jacob, and changed his name to Israel. The sons multiplied into the twelve tribes of Israel. They became one of the greatest nations and one of the few ancient peoples to survive to modern times.

These four mothers taught us all about the good God can bring out of the messes we make.

Rahab would not be an easy mom to find a Mother’s Day card for at Target or Hallmark. She was a prostitute. As much as prostitution has been idealized by modern myths and movies, the truth is that it is a dreadful and a demeaning way of life.

Charleen and I visited missionaries ministering in the Red Light District of Calcutta, India. We walked the streets of an area about the size of the Wooddale Church campus where 6000 prostitutes line the streets each night. They have been sold by their families because they needed money or were kidnapped or were forced into the trade. They earn as little as 50 cents a day, barely enough to provide a meal for themselves and their children. It is the kind of life that I imagine Rahab lived in the Middle Eastern city of Jericho.

Rahab was not Jewish but she came to believe in the God of the Hebrew people of the Old Testament. She escaped her profession, became a mother and raised her family in her adopted nation of Israel. Her son’s name was Boaz, her grandson was Obed, her great-grandson was Jesse and her great-great grandson was David, King of Israel. Her most famous direct descendant was Jesus of Nazareth.

Rahab taught us that God changes people and that the least likely person can become a marvelous mother influencing for good generations to come.

Naomi was a very traditional mother. She had a nice Jewish wedding to a good Jewish man named Elimelech in a nice little Jewish community called Bethlehem. God blessed them with two fine sons named Mahlon and Kilion. Life was about as good as it gets.

And then life turned bad. There was a famine. Her husband Elimelech lost his job. In desperation, looking for employment, they moved away from home and out of their own country to a place called Moab in search of a job. Her husband died, leaving her a widow in a foreign country with two sons. She did her best but was heartbroken when they both chose pagan wives to marry. Then her sons died. She had no husband, no sons, no grandchildren, no reason to live. So she officially changed her name to Mara which means “bitter”. She had lost everything and she was too old to start all over again.

Naomi’s story is not unique. She belongs to a large sisterhood of mothers who have lost children they loved. There are no words to describe the loss. There are no remedies to fully heal the soul. There is no later joy to fill the void of lost children. There are no Mother’s Day flowers for those whose children have died. There would be no Sarah-like miracle for her; no surprise pregnancy in old age. She would never have children again.

Naomi had done absolutely everything right and it had all turned out terribly wrong. But she did not stay bitter. She is Number Five on our list of the Top Ten Moms of the Bible, but to get the rest of her story we need to go on to Number Six, and that is Ruth.

Ruth was Naomi’s daughter-in-law. For her life was equally bad. She also was a widow, although a much younger widow. She also had no children. She had never had a child to love and lose. She never had a child at all. And it seemed unlikely that she ever would.

But then something amazing happened. Ruth asked her mother-in-law to take her along with her back to Israel. She wanted to convert from a pagan Moabite to a believer in God. Why would she do that? Why not send her mother-in-law, who was so bitterly depressed, back to the land from which she came? Why did she want to be like her? Because Ruth saw in Naomi, in the midst of her grief and bitterness, a God who was powerful . . . and she wanted that God.

Sometimes we think that when we are at our very worst there isn’t anything attractive about us and certainly no evidence that God is there. But it was far to the contrary. God’s power and presence showed through anyway. It is like the words of Jesus recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Ruth and Naomi walked all the way back to the little village of Bethlehem and went on welfare because there were no jobs and there was no money. It was while they were on welfare that Ruth met and married a relative of Naomi named Boaz. She bore to him a son named Obed who became the adopted grandson of Naomi. Naomi helped raise Obed who became the grandfather of King David. As she was raising this adopted grandchild, Mara changed her name back to Naomi which means “delight”.

Naomi belongs in the Mothers’ Hall of Fame for faithfulness to God in the midst of hardship and heartbreak.

Ruth is the converted pagan who became a mother in Israel and after whom one of the books of the Bible is named.

Number seven is Hannah. She was a good woman with a good husband named Elkanah. And she was infertile. Infertility was a difficult burden for a woman to bear back then. It was considered to be a curse from God. And, to make things even worse, Hannah was continually criticized and tormented by another woman named Peninnah because she had children and Hannah did not.

Infertility can be a heavy burden in any culture or generation because it is all about unfulfilled dreams. It’s about the way life was supposed to be. It is everything that was imagined that somehow has not come true. It touches the deepest of human instincts. It’s all about future generations that will never be.

Hannah passionately pleaded with God and totally trusted him. She went to the Temple in Shiloh and it was there that she pleaded her case before God. She prayed so passionately that Eli the priest concluded that she was drunk. In fact, he censored her for coming to the Temple when she was in a drunken state. She explained that she wasn’t drunk, that she had a heavy heart and was pleading with God to intervene. Hannah trusted God to make a difference in her life. She asked God to give to her a son and promised God that if her prayer was answered she would return him to God for the rest of his life.

God said “yes”. She gave birth to a son and named him Samuel. When he was still a young boy she took him to the Temple at Shiloh and gave him to God. She left him there to be raised by the priests, visiting him only once a year. Samuel grew up to become one of the greatest prophets and leaders in the entire Bible.

Hannah wanted to be a mother. She totally trusted God. She even trusted God enough to give up her son.

Number Eight is the most famous mother of all. More girls are named after Mary than after any other woman in all of history. God picked her from the lineup of all the women of history to be the mother of his Son. The Christmas story in Luke 1:26-28 says:

. . . God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

What astonishing words for God’s head angel to speak to a teenage girl, to tell her that she was highly favored and would give birth to the Son of God!

There is a sketch by Frederick Buechner that depicts the angel Gabriel talking to Mary, his hands behind his back and his fingers crossed. It must have seemed astonishing even to an angel . . . that God would trust Mary with his Son! But, that is exactly what God did. God trusted Mary.

And, that is what God does with every mother. He trusts her with the life of a daughter or a son.

Number nine is the saddest story on the list. It is the mothers of Bethlehem. They are actually part of the Christmas story, the part we seldom tell. For when King Herod heard that a king had been born in Bethlehem, he told his soldiers to kill every baby boy under the age of two. It was an act of despicable cruelty. Those babies died and the hearts of their mothers were indescribably wounded.

In Matthew 2:18 the historian Matthew quoted the poetry of Jeremiah to capture the pain of a mother “weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.”

Some of the top mothers of the Bible are those who were very good moms, who did everything right, and who loved and lost. This is also the story of a long line of those for whom Mother’s Day is not an easy celebration. Isn’t it interesting, amazing and wonderful that God has not forgotten those who hurt deeply? Even though it painfully interrupts the story of Christmas, God insisted that the story be told so that those mothers would not be forgotten. They are acknowledged and honored by God, and they must be acknowledged and honored by us.

Last on this Top Ten List is Mrs. Zebedee. Some people would say she does not deserve to be on the list at all because of her behavior. Mrs. Zebedee did something for which she has been criticized now for two thousand years. One day she went to Jesus and asked a personal favor. She knelt down and asked Jesus to appoint her two sons to the top spots in heaven. She said in Matthew 20:21, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

What about all the others? Why should her sons get this kind of preferential treatment? So, she has been criticized ever since. But I don’t see her that way. I see her request differently. I see her as a mother who wanted more than anything else that her children be as close to Jesus Christ as they could possibly get. And she was willing to get down on her knees and beg if that would help. That was not a bad thing but a good thing.

Mrs. Zebedee is the kind of woman that I would put on every list of top moms. Blessed are those mothers who want their children to be close to Jesus.

We all have to decide what morality we will live by. Some choose a very high standard of ethics for themselves, while others choose a comparatively low standard. But frankly, there are no better values and no higher values than those of Christianity. In fact, even people who choose not to be Christians many times say that they try to live by the Golden Rule.

If you desire to have the very best life possible, I invite you to the values and morals of Jesus.

I got to thinking about it and concluded that I don't know anyone who has had all needs permanently met. And it’s probably a good thing, because our problems help us to remain humble, to keep growing. They keep us looking to Jesus. God knows that if we were to wake up one morning without a single need, we would give little thought to God. It takes the difficulties of life to bring us to him.

What’s your need? I hope it’s a big one – big enough to drive you to Jesus.

Think of how difficult it must have been for Jesus as he approached his teen years. He was beginning to realize just how different he was from his parents and the other children. He recognized that God was present in him in a way that God was not in other people. I’m sure he was often misunderstood.

Jesus was smarter and wiser than his parents. He knew what he was doing, he knew who he was, but they sometimes got angry with him for it. Yet he chose to remain obedient to his parents. It wasn't easy, but it says a lot about him.

Sooner or later, most of us are in a situation where we’re under the leadership of someone who doesn't understood us. When that happens, remember how Jesus handled it.

The point is that Mary knew that Jesus cared about people and was concerned about their problems. Experience had taught her that when problems arose that she couldn’t solve, the smartest thing to do was to go straight to Jesus.

We can learn from Mary’s response to this situation. When we have problems, even if we've never seen Jesus do a miracle before, we should take our problems to him and follow his leading.

What I find interesting is that Jesus neither criticizes nor defends the time of meeting. He doesn't seem to care one way or the other when it was. Jesus cared most that Nicodemus came.

And that's the way Jesus feels about us. He doesn’t care about the circumstances of our coming; what matters most is that we humbly come to him.

Psalm 103:13

This weekend we specially honor fathers. For me, it is about memories since my father died several years ago. Of course, when it comes to memories there are tens of thousands of them, but one especially stands out in my mind.

Our family vacations were always along the east coast of this country and usually near a beach. From Cape Cod to Fort Lauderdale we lay on the sand and dove into the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

My mother didn’t swim. She even wore high heeled shoes to the beach. But my dad was a strong swimmer. When I was a little boy I would put my arms around his neck and hold on tight as we would go into the waves and he would swim out beyond the breakers. I can still remember the feel of his skin and the strength of his muscles as he swam. For me it was both exhilarating and very risky. I was in way over my head and I didn’t have a chance of survival without him because I couldn’t swim. But with him I could have the time of my life. I always felt safe in my father’s strong arms.

That is the way a father is supposed to be—strong and safe in deep waters and pounding waves. It’s the way many of the top ten fathers of the Bible were to their sons and daughters. But none more so than the greatest Father of them all, Father God.

In the Old Testament God was known by many different names like Yahweh and Elohim. They were and are powerful beautiful names that communicate God’s greatness, power and covenant. But it was Jesus who taught us to call God “Our Father who art in heaven.” Oh, it’s true that we still say, “Hallowed be your name” because he is still holy, powerful, righteous and transcendent. But he is also our Father.

But Jesus used more than the formal expression “Father”. He also used the Hebrew word “Abba”. The ancient word is still used in modern Middle Eastern languages. I have heard little children running down the streets of Old Jerusalem calling out, “Abba! Abba!” It is like saying, “Daddy! Daddy!” God is “Our Daddy who is in heaven.”

Some people tell me they feel very uncomfortable even thinking of God as their father because to them “father” means being drunk every night, physical and sexual abuse, anger, shouting or desertion. They have told me that words like “father” and “dad” are some of the ugliest and most frightening terms in our English language.

Please don’t judge God by the failures of some earthly father. All good things can be sinfully corrupted and misused. A knife in the hands of a surgeon is an instrument of healing; a knife in the hands of a murderer is an instrument of death.

When it comes to God, “Father” is his name of choice. It represents the best of all that a father is supposed to be—love; kindness; generosity; protection; and more. God is our father. He is all of that to us. Even if some human father fails us, God never does.

No one knew God the Father better than Jesus. He compared our Father in heaven to the best of fathers on earth and here is what Jesus said in Matthew 7:9-11:

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

God is good. God loves to bless us with generous gifts. God is our Daddy!

Second on this Top Ten list is the father of our human race, Adam. His story is famous and is reported in the opening chapters of the Bible. He was God’s dream come true and one of God’s greatest disappointments.

The Bible tells us that God created Adam in his own image or likeness. He was like God intellectually and emotionally, but not physically—he was still his own man. God named him Adam which means “red” in Hebrew, referring to the color of the ground from which God formed Adam’s body.
Adam was the best of the best—God-like, creative, brilliant, ambitious, independent and naive. He foolishly tried sin and infected himself and the entire human race with a malady that still wreaks havoc in the 21st century. In this he was a disappointing father because every war, every disease, every crime and every evil dates back to Adam.

Adam’s first child was born after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden. He and Eve had sinned and moved on. Now a new chapter of life was beginning and they had no experience with which to handle it. Adam had no earthly father for a role model, but he did as so many of us fathers have done. When Cain was born he hoped and prayed that his son would never repeat his mistakes and would instead build on his successes and strengths. New fatherhood is scary but it is also filled with hope.

There were other children, too, for Adam and Eve. Cain was their first child, then Abel and then Seth. Later there were other sons and daughters. Adam tried his best to raise them to be the best. If they didn’t turn out well he couldn’t blame the schools, pop music, MTV, drugs or bad friends. It was up to Adam. But never in his wildest dreams could Adam have imagined what would happen. His oldest son, Cain, murdered his second son, Abel. The agony of heart for Adam and Eve must have been beyond description.

From Adam we learn almost too much. We learn that God gives us great gifts but we are responsible to use them well. We learn that even the most gifted families have great heartaches. And we learn that you can’t quit being a father even when fathering is indescribably difficult. For Adam there were other children who came along and he learned from his mistakes and did the best he could with the gifts that he had.

Father number 3 is Noah. He carried the DNA of Adam and Eve in a later generation. His story is told in Genesis 5 though 9. It is such a well-known story it barely needs retelling. God told Noah to build an ark and take into it a pair of every kind of animal to ride out a huge flood and start the world all over again. Here’s what is says in Genesis 6:5-14, 22 and 7:1:

The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.”

Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.”

This example of Noah is a powerful example for fathers of every generation. It proves that even in the worst of times you can still live a righteous life and save your family. Even when all your neighbors laugh at you for obeying God you can choose God over culture and raise godly children. It is not the times in which we live as much as it is the way we live and raise our children in those times.

Job is number 4 on our list. Although most famous for his suffering, but he was also a fabulous father. Job was an exceptionally successful man—the richest man of his generation and one of the wisest. He owned 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yolk of oxen and donkeys and had lots of servants on his staff. He was so wise that people came from great distances to hear his wisdom. And he was so righteous that God chose him in a competition with Satan himself.

Then one awful day he lost everything. Messengers delivered bad news upon bad news. Enemy soldiers stole his livestock and killed his servants. Those that survived were burned with fire. He later became painfully and chronically ill. But try to imagine the horror when a messenger brought him news about his seven sons and three daughters. In Job 1:18 we read:

. . . “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you!”

Job’s biography is 42 chapters long. It is a sad and difficult biography to read, but it ends with prosperity. Job 42:12-13 reads:

The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yolk of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters.

Everything was doubled except the number of children because the children who were lost could not be replaced. He was a faithful father to those who had died, grieving for them and missing them for the rest of his life, but he was also a marvelous father to those who came as later blessings.

Abraham is number 5 on our Top Ten list. He is still one of the most famous men in the world, claimed as the spiritual father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His biography is spread over much of the Old Testament book of Genesis from chapter 11 through chapter 50.

His parents must have thought he had father-potential from the day he was born because they named him Abram which means “high father”. But God later changed his name to Abraham which means “father of a multitude”. God had a greater dream for him that he would produce generations with millions of people who would become his descendents.

Read his biography for yourself. It is a mixture of stunning faith and surprising stupidity. He was not a perfect man. He wasn’t always the best father. His famous sons were Isaac and Ishmael (modern Jews claim to be the descendants of Isaac and modern Muslims claim to be the descendants of Ishmael). Isaac was born to Abraham’s wife Sarah; Ishmael was the son of Abraham’s mistress Hagar. After Sarah died, Abraham remarried and fathered more children. Abraham was not the perfect parent; he made his share of tragic mistakes.

But Abraham is known in the Bible for two great accomplishments. First, Abraham was a man of faith. He believed God and God credited him as righteous. Abraham is also famous as the father of millions of descendents who carried forward his faith.

The lesson for modern fathers is plain and simple. The greatest heritage you can leave your children, grandchildren and future generations is not money, property, education, business or title. The greatest heritage you can give is faith. At your funeral, may your children say, “More than anything else, my dad was like Abraham. He believed in God and so do I.”

Number 6 is Isaac, Abraham’s son. His place in history is overshadowed by his more famous father. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born. His father was not only godly and famous, he was old. Isaac never knew what it was like to have a young father.

Isaac didn’t marry until he was 37 and didn’t become a father until he was 57. He was faithful to his beloved wife Rebekah. Together they had twins, Jacob and Esau.

Isaac was not an impartial father. He always considered Esau his favorite and gave him special treatment. However, God’s favor was not on Esau but on Jacob. The brothers competed and fought for most of their lives. While Jacob sought a believer in God for a wife, Esau fell in love with and married a pagan woman, breaking his parents’ hearts.

Isaac lived a very long time. He died at 180 years old. That was long enough to see his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up. He saw before his eyes the fulfillment of God’s promise to make his father’s descendants into a great nation.

Let me tell you my take on Isaac. He had a very famous and significant father, Abraham. He had a very famous son, Jacob, whose name God later changed to Israel, the name given to the nation. But in between was Isaac. He was not all that famous or important. Like so many of us fathers he was part of the in-between generation. But, if it were not for Isaac the chain of faith would have been broken. Instead, the chain of faith was strengthened. God bless those fathers who make the next generation great for God!

Number seven on this Top Ten list is a man who was neither famous nor a father. His story is recorded in the only book of the Bible that never once mentions the name of God, the book of Esther. His name was Mordecai and he lived under the rule of King Xerxes in Persia. He was a Jew who relocated to the city of Susa where King Xerxes’ palace was located.

The king became unhappy with Queen Vashti and deposed her. A contest was set up for the most beautiful young women in the country to compete to become the next queen. The winner was a gorgeous Hebrew girl named Esther. Apparently her parents had died and she was adopted by her relative Mordecai who had raised her.

Mordecai was a devoutly godly man. When he found out that an advisor to King Xerxes named Haman had tricked the king into ordering the execution of all Jews in the empire, he called on Queen Esther to intervene on behalf of her people. The risk was great. First of all, the queen couldn’t even talk to the king without his prior invitation. Second, no one knew she was Jewish and therefore included in the order to slaughter. She could keep her mouth shut and have a comfortable happy life or risk her own death by intervening for her people.

In a very famous challenge in Esther 4:13-14, her adopted father told her:

“Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Esther chose to heed the words of her adopted father and to do what was right even if it meant risking her life. As a result she saved an entire generation of the people of God.

Mordecai is a champion of adopted fathers in every generation who lead their daughters and sons to do what is right.

Number 8 on our list is one of the first fathers in the New Testament. Like Mordecai he was not a natural father; he was a step-father. Step-fathering can be one of the highest callings a man can have. It is the opportunity to shape a life that has been brought to you by the hand of God rather than through the usual process of procreation. Step-fathering can also be a difficult assignment. When the inevitable hardships of parenting come there can be the temptation to say, “This is not my responsibility!” Or there is the possibility that the child may say, “You aren’t really my dad!” Perhaps this is the greatest opportunity to show the power of love that is greater than the product of two microscopic cells joining together.

Number 8 is Joseph. He was not a step-father by choice. He was drafted by God. The odds were against him because the expectations were way too high. His son, Jesus, could always say, “You’re not my real father. My Father is God. And you don’t measure up!” That’s a tough challenge to answer. Joseph knew he could never measure up to Jesus’ real Father.

You can read about Joseph in the Christmas story where there is one very interesting line. It’s not about Jesus the baby but Jesus the grown man. It’s in Luke 3:23: “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph.” Isn’t that amazing? They saw the miracles he performed and said, “That’s Joseph’s son.” They heard Jesus speak like no one had ever spoken before and said, “We know who he is; that’s Joseph’s boy.” They saw someone with stunning character and integrity and said, “Oh, yea. His father is Joseph.” When they saw Jesus they thought of Joseph, his step-father. You might think that was intended as an insult but to Joseph it was the greatest of compliments. The step-father had helped shape the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Number 9 is a father you may not know. His story is reported by Dr. Luke, the physician/historian in Luke 8:41-42 and 51-54:

. . .a man named Jarius, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.

When (Jesus) arrived at the house of Jarius, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were waling and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said, “She is not dead but asleep.”

They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Jarius makes our Top Ten list of biblical fathers because he humbled himself for his daughter’s sake. He was an important and powerful leader; a proud man. He was the president of the synagogue, a leader of the community. Synagogue leaders weren’t supposed to beg from free-lance rabbis like Jesus. It was difficult for Jarius to ask for help from this prophet from Nazareth, but his daughter was dying and he was desperate. This father would not hold on to pride. He would do whatever he needed to do. So he fell down in front of Jesus and pleaded with him. If the people took away his position, they took away his position. If they laughed because Jesus said he could bring her back to life, let them laugh. He put his confidence in Jesus Christ. Blessed are fathers who are willing to humble themselves for a daughter’s or a son’s sake in order to bring them to Jesus.

Last on the Top Ten list is a man never known to have had children. In modern America he would not be honored on Father’s Day. Although he was probably once married, his wife is never mentioned. Perhaps he was a widower or divorcee. It was Paul and he was a saint!

Paul was a different kind of father. He was like a father to Timothy, his young friend and colleague. He took Timothy with him on trips, wrote letters to Timothy, spent hours talking with him and counseling him, introduced him to all the right people, prayed for him and loved him. Although Paul wrote them, the books of 1 and 2 Timothy are named after his spiritual son. He made him famous. He was like a father to Timothy. Paul wrote to other people telling them how proud he was of Timothy. In Philippians 2:22 he wrote, “You know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”

Blessed are those men who, like Paul, become proud fathers of young men and women whom they mentor to become everything God wants them to be.

There are so many ways to be a father—from nature to nurture; from physical to spiritual; from here to eternity.

May God bless every man who holds others in his arms and teaches them to live for God.

This may be hard for us to understand because our impression of Jesus is that he’s always available. In our minds we think, “I'm pretty busy right now but maybe later I'll get around to Jesus.”

The blind beggar's urgency is a lesson for us – we should do whatever we need to do to get to Jesus and not let time, circumstances or other people stand in our way.

These guys looked like they’d been up late the night before and would have rather slept in. And although they didn’t say it, I suspected their dad probably called back to ask where they went to church.

The point is, their Dad was determined to do good by them whether they liked it or not.

God is our dad and he's far better than any earthly father. He’s good and he wants only good for us. If he has to confront us or wake us up, he will. He’ll do whatever it takes, because he’s good.

But if you’re looking for a standard to determine good or evil, you won’t find it on a cathedral wall, but in the Bible. The Bible contains God’s divine standard of goodness.

There are times in our lives when our instincts say, “God is not good,” yet when we look at the Bible, our instrument panel, it says that God is good. We have to decide whether to go by our feelings or to go by our compass, the Bible. In my experience, the Bible’s a lot more reliable than my feelings!

The theology of this simple prayer affects our perspective on everything that we say and believe and helps us form a firm foundation of faith.

All of us need to know that God is great!

Occasionally God allows us to meet some of his choicest servants. That’s the way I remember meeting Dr. V. Raymond Edman, former president and later chancellor of Wheaton College. He was a warm Christian, a godly example, a capable leader and educator.

In 1967 Dr. Edman was speaking at a chapel at Wheaton College on the topic of worship. To illustrate to the students in chapel the grand privilege of stepping into the presence of God he told about a personal experience he had some years before when he had an audience with Haile Selassie, the long-time emperor of the African country of Ethiopia. He described what it was like—the pomp, the procedure, the protocol of standing before a king. Then he compared that to the gathering of college students in chapel and the privilege that was theirs of being ushered into the very presence of God together in worship. Before he had finished his speech he collapsed to the floor and died. At that very moment he was ushered into the heavenly presence of the King of kings!

When we gather together in church on a Sunday morning it is far more than an ordinary meeting of people to hear music and a speech. We come to be ushered into the presence of Almighty God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We gather together to worship. Worship is acknowledging God’s worth. The Psalmist said in Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name.” Worship is centering on God rather than on self. And worship is giving rather than getting.

While worship can and should be done alone, the Bible also calls us to gather together for the corporate worship of God. Unfortunately, it is too easy to gather but not to worship. We come to meet our friends more than to meet God. We come to get more than to give. We come to listen more than to praise. We come and go in the wrong way and thereby we miss out on the highest calling we have.

What is on your mind when you attend a worship service? Do you think about the platform? The pews? The musicians? The people? The preacher? How does it all fit together in your mind? Did you know that worship is not a spectator sport?

Soren Kierkegaard, the famous Danish philosopher, compared corporate worship to a play. But the congregation is not gathered to see a performance. The congregation is actually the actors. God is the audience. The leader, the choir director, the minister are merely prompters who cue the actors in their lines and provide the props and atmosphere.

What a revolutionary perspective that brings to the whole process of worship! The congregation is not the audience who comes to sit back and hear the choir sing and the pastor preach. We, the congregation, are on the stage and God is the audience! We come to acknowledge his worth. We come to center on God and not on ourselves. We gather to give and not to get.

Teddy Roosevelt was no great philosopher but he got it right when he said, “Even though the preacher can’t preach for sour apples, and the choir is more than a half note off-key, you can always get something out of worship if you will put yourself into it.”

It is true! The more we put into our worship the more we get out. But far more than for our benefit, we gather to worship God for his benefit.

How does that happen? It begins with preparation. If we come prepared we worship well. If we come to church unprepared or with sin in our lives that we will not forsake we may not be able to worship at all. It all begins with our attitude.

Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4:24, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” In other words, truth alone is not enough. Our spirit, our attitude, must be right! Before we ever swing open the doors of any church building it is up to us to prepare for worship with an attitude of expectancy, of worship, of giving rather than getting, centering on God and acknowledging his great worth.

It is extremely important that we choose to have the right attitude and not allow others to control our attitudes for us. The argument at the breakfast table, the person who cut us off on the highway or the critical spirit we carried around all week can destroy worship before it begins. It’s up to you and me to decide to have the right attitude as preparation to worshiping God together with other believers.

Right relationships are as important as right attitudes. We will not worship right if we harbor bitterness toward another Christian. We dare not pray to God or praise him if we are not on good speaking terms with a fellow church member. Before we worship we must first make our relationships right. In Matthew 5:23-24 Jesus said:

“. . . if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

Do you have a wrong relationship with another Christian? You will never be able to worship God the way you should until you make every reasonable attempt to make that wrong relationship right. Until then there will be little joy in giving, the music will not bless your heart, the sermon will be hollow and the Lord will be displeased. So before you worship, make relationships right!

The Jews used the day before worship to prepare for worship. According to John 19:14,31 and 42 everything possible was done the day before to make worship better. In more recent times the Puritans referred to Saturday night as the “vigil” saying that it was then that they warmed the ovens of their hearts toward God so that on Sunday morning it would be easy to rekindle that flame of devotion and love to God.

When our children were young we worked at that (now we have Saturday night services so it is more difficult to follow this pattern). We made an effort to avoid outside commitments on Saturday nights. We stayed home and had dinner together as a family. Together we read the Bible, we prayed and we went to bed early. All this was done to prepare our hearts and minds to be centered on the Lord Jesus Christ the next day.

What could you do on Saturday night to prepare for Sunday morning? Might you prepare food for Sunday in advance? Study the Bible? Go to bed early? What might you do to make that worship experience truly an offering to God?

Leslie Flynn, in his book entitled Worship: Together We Celebrate, put it well when he said, “Perhaps the answer to reanimated worship is not some catchy innovation, or drastic change of order, but in hearts renewed through preparatory heart work.”

Another aspect of preparation is punctuality. Can you imagine going to a play where the actors walk in five minutes late, after the play has begun? Wouldn’t you, as a member of the audience, be offended? Dare we be late to worship God? It is important that we control our schedules, limit our conversations with others and hurry things up in order to be on time for our appointment with God.

Obviously, everybody is tardy sometimes. I am. You are. But ought we not give to God the same courtesy we would give to our boss, to the king of a country or to the president? Would we not be on time to meet with them? Ought we not give that same type of preparation and punctuality to God?

In fact, to be really practical about it, let me suggest that proper preparation for worship should get us to church early! We should not rush into God’s presence at the last minute, grab a hymnal and start worshiping. Rather, it would be far better to come a few minutes early and quietly prepare our hearts to worship our King!

Arriving late or talking to those around us during the organ prelude can hinder the preparation-for-worship of others. Habukkuk 2:20 says, “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” To be sure, there are times to shout before God in worship but there are also times to be quiet before God. Let me urge you to use the moments before the worship service for silent preparation to step into the presence of God himself. Save the conversation for later. Don’t let those precious moments of preparation be lost. And certainly don’t spoil the worship preparation of another.

What do you pray as you prepare for worship? Maybe you don’t pray in preparation at all! Let me give you some suggestions. Pray in anticipation of the worshipservice every day of the week. I do! Ask God to prepare your heart to worship him. Ask him to prepare the choir, the musicians, the leaders and the preacher. Come early, sit quietly and prayerfully center your life on the Lord. Pray expectantly!

Here’s what will happen. The worship service will come alive. The music will stir your soul. The sermon will bring you closer to God. The prayers will lift you to heaven. But most of all, you will acknowledge God’s worth, you will center on him and you will give rather than get. You will worship in spirit and in truth!

Music has been a primary means of worshiping God since ancient times. The longest book in the Bible is a hymnbook, the Book of Psalms. From ancient Israel to the New Testament Church to around the world today music is a primary means to praise and adore our great God. But there are many different kinds of music. There are experience-centered hymns such as “I have a song I love to sing, since I have been redeemed.” This is a testimonial. It’s okay, but it’s not really worship. Contrast that to the words that are God-centered and addressed to him as in the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, Merciful and Mighty! God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity.”

Worship music is addressed to God. It adores and praises him far more than it is a testimony of our experiences. Other music, like choirs and soloists, represent and assist us in worshiping God. Their careful advance preparation is also a special offering of worship for the Lord.

We need to understand something important here. Music performed in a worship service is primarily performed to praise God, not to entertain an audience! That is why we want it to be the very best. That is also why, at Wooddale Church, we don’t thank performers after they sing in a service. It’s not because we are not appreciative of their music; it’s because they haven’t done it for us. We are not the audience. God is the audience! That also relates to the issue of applause. Clapping is wonderful and appropriate to do in a worship service. I am all for it- - - as long as our applause is for God and not for a singer or speaker! So, when we sing and when we listen, let’s do it with God in our minds. Let’s sing to him and for him. Let the music of others assist your worship, not entertain you.

Prayer is an integral part of any worship service. This often takes place several times as we meet together to worship God. Invocation is addressed to God to invite him to be the audience as we worship him together. Pastoral prayer is one person praying on behalf of the entire church to adore, love and appreciate God. Prayer before the offering is to tell God that we are giving to him and not to some human organization. In the benediction we thank God for his goodness and commit to continue our worship after the church service and throughout the week ahead. Personal prayers punctuate the service as we tell God we love him and as we dwell on his goodness and his greatness. There is a place for petitions, but the primary purpose of worship prayer is not to ask God for anything but rather to give God the praise he deserves.

Publicly reading the Bible together has marked proper worship of God since Old Testament times. When we read the Bible together we are acknowledging God by listening to him and considering his words to us as all-important.

Some people suggest that the collection of money in a worship service is demeaning and inappropriate. They suggest a box in the back or bills through the mail. I could not disagree more! Our money represents our time, our work, our priorities, our present security and our future. Our money represents us. There is a direct correlation between the way we give and the quality of our worship and relationship to the Lord. The offering is one of the most tangible expressions of our love and loyalty to God. It is easy to say I love you and sing the hymns but tough to give sacrificially.

How do you give? First, give to God, not to the church! If you give to the church you will be disappointed, you will raise or lower your giving on the basis of carnal motives. In addition, give prayerfully. As you put the offering in the plate quietly tell God that this is to show how much you love him. And, give proportionately. The more you have the more you give. But, give! Do not fail to worship God in this biblical way. If you are short on money because of unemployment and debt, give anyway. Put in $1 every week. If that is too much, put in one cent every week until God gives you more to give. But do not allow any rationalization to cause you to not give. Never allow a week to go by when you do not worship God with your offering.

The sermon is also an integral part of worship and has been since the Jewish synagogues set the pattern for the first century church. The purpose of the sermon is to teach and exhort God’s people from God’s word. It is God’s Word explained to us so that we can continue our worship with our lives. The very fact that we sit through a sermon and listen to an explanation of God’s word and a challenge to live God’s way is itself a further act of worship.

Some sermons are good; some are bad. Some preachers are interesting; some are boring. It’s obviously easier to listen to those who are good and interesting. But, the focus dare not be on the sermon or the preacher; it must be on God. Don’t ever come to hear me or anyone else. Come to meet and hear God. You will be amazed. When you come to hear God, bad sermons often turn good and boring preachers become interesting.

Worship cannot be limited to an hour or two on a Sunday morning. If worship is acknowledging God’s worth, centering on God and giving to him then it must go on all week long! When the worship service concludes our worship through service begins. The corporate worship service is where we begin together. It is where our batteries are recharged and our commitments renewed. From there we go out to worship God all the rest of the day and the week to come. Think of your marriage as a means to worship God. Worship God with the way you work, the way you drive your car, the words you speak . . . worship God with everything!

The consequences for Joseph were far-reaching. He became a slave in a foreign land, eventually ending up in prison. Yet God took the intentional sin of his brothers and transformed it into good. Joseph eventually became the prime minister of Egypt and was able to save his extended family from destruction by famine. Joseph summed it up when he told his brothers, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.”

How reassuring to know that God can use our misfortunes and our mistakes and turn them into stepping stones for our good.

In the first century, St. Paul wrote from a prison cell, “I have learned the secret of being content in …every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”

The point is that circumstances change. Bethany lost an arm, Paul went to prison, we all get older – but if we’re living to please and honor God, our purpose stays the same.

Billy Graham continued to minister as an evangelist throughout his life, but Templeton quit as a result of his doubts. Templeton started with great potential, but he gave up.

Many of us have great potential in many areas, but in the long run what counts more than potential is performance. It’s not what we could have done, but what we do with God’s gifts to us that really counts.

In the fifth century B.C., King Xerxes of the Persian Empire chose Esther, a young Jewish woman, to be his queen. When the future of her people was in danger, Esther approached the king uninvited at great risk to herself. Her title was lofty but she had no power. The king could just as easily have had her killed for her insubordination; but instead, he granted her request. Esther trusted God to use her for his great purposes.

Just imagine if we were all like Esther. Imagine if we stood up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Imagine what the world would be like if we used whatever we have – our money, our votes, our relationships – to do good for God where and how we can, just as Esther did.

Jesus told us about a widow who lost everything when her husband died. One day when all she had left were two small coins – worth about one quarter of a cent in today’s money – she went to the Temple to worship God and dropped both coins in the offering container. Many others gave far larger gifts that day, but Jesus said that her gift was greater than all the other gifts combined. The others gave out of their surplus, but she gave all that she had.

A common thread through the biographies of great men and women of God is time spent alone with God. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness outside Egypt. There he met God in a special way that prepared him for the next forty years of service to God. Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in the wilderness being tempted by Satan, but he also often took time to be alone with God. Paul was in the desert for three formative years between his conversion and ministry.

We often think of worship as corporate but it can and should be a part of our times alone with God. Many committed Christians have a daily devotional time, usually consisting of Bible reading and prayer, but worship is often a missing ingredient, more out of ignorance than choice. We don’t spend much private time worshiping God because we don’t know what to do. Nobody ever told us. So let’s take a practical look at private worship and what it includes.

The Bible is a good place to start. Bible reading is more than a routine and a source of direction. It is a means of worship. Let’s take a minute and look at Psalm 23 in two different ways. The first is us-centered; the second is God-centered. Note the difference:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters; he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

That is a correct and right reading of God’s word. If we’re hurting and need comfort, if we need direction and correction, we can find it all in the inspired word of God. But those same words, with a different emphasis, can focus on God rather than on me. Watch:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Make a special effort to find and know God in the Bible. Pause in your reading to acknowledge his greatness, his goodness and his worth. It may be necessary to read the same passage two or three times just to switch from being self-centered to being God-centered.

We may be less familiar with worship by meditation. Meditation is a combination of considering, thinking, dwelling, reflecting and concentrating on someone or something.

Every day before I went to school I had to recite for my mother Psalm 19:14: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” David wrote these great words with the assumption that we all meditate. To him the issue wasn’t whether or not we meditate but whether or not our meditations are acceptable to God.

There are many different kinds of meditation. Lust is a form of meditation where one person dwells on improper sexual thoughts about another person. So there is visualization, there is imagination, there is consideration, there is repetition and there is planning. Call it meditation, call it lust, but it is a form of meditation. Worry is another form of meditation where we dwell persistently on some problem or concern. It monopolizes our thinking as we examine the issue over and over again from every point-of-view.

I remember once reading a magazine story about a TV movie entitled The Day After. That night before going to sleep I meditated on it. I rehearsed what I had read, wondered at the how and why of nuclear war and imagined what it would be like if a nuclear bomb exploded in the Twin Cities. I fell asleep with these thoughts and awakened the next morning to realize I had dreamed at night about the same things I had meditated on while I was falling asleep,

How much better to use our meditations to worship God! Think about God. Wonder at how he does things. Dwell on his greatness. Go to sleep at night mulling over the names of God found in the Bible. Imagine what it will be like to meet God in heaven.

Now I don’t think that’s easy. It’s work. It takes a deliberate effort. But it’s worth it . . . because God is worth it!

A third way to worship privately is by using hymns. It used to be that Christians kept and used hymnals in their homes. People carried their hymnals to church much as we carry our Bibles to church. Hymnals were regularly used for singing and for devotions in Christian homes. When our Elder Board decided to include new hymnals in our church budget I suggested that we order enough extras to encourage every church family to buy a copy for home use.

One of my favorite hymns deals with the Christian home. It is sung to the majestic tune of Finlandia. I am particularly impressed with the third verse. It goes like this:

O give us homes where Christ is Lord and Master,
The Bible read, the precious hymns still sung;
Where prayer comes first in peace or in disaster,
And praise is natural speech to every tongue;
Where mountains move before a faith that’s vaster,
And Christ sufficient is for old and young.

Let’s look at some hymns that we can sing or study privately in worship. Imagine being alone in your place of private devotion and singing or reciting the words to the hymn Blessed Be The Name. Reflect and meditate on them; they are tremendous tools for worship:

All praise to him who reigns above in majesty supreme.
Who gave his Son for man to die that he might man redeem.
His name above all names shall stand, exalted more and more
At God the Father’s own right hand where angel hosts adore.
Redeemer, Savior, Friend of man, once ruined by the fall,
Thou hast devised salvation’s plan, for Thou hast died for all.
His name shall be the Counselor, The Mighty Prince of Peace,
Of all earth’s kingdoms Conqueror, Whose reign shall never cease.

Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!

Imagine putting that together in your own private worship time with a study of the names of God that are in the Bible! What a marvelous time of adoration for God that would be.

A less familiar hymn but one that has marvelous words that focus very much on God’s greatness and his attributes is the hymn Immortal, Invisible. You could take a verse a day, a verse a week, a verse a month of this hymn and meditate on it and use it as a means of worship.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes.
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious—Thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light;
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small,
In all life Thou livest—the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish, as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render—O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee!

I am certainly no musician, but I’ll tell you a secret. When I am absolutely sure no one can hear me I sing hymns, alone, in private devotional worship. It doesn’t sound very good, and I don’t sing very loudly. If you heard me you would probably laugh. But I think God loves it. And, some of my most soul-searching, most memorable and most significant private worship experiences have come as I quietly, inadequately and off-key have sung worship and praise to my Lord.

Add to that worship through prayers. Evangelical Christians have not done much with written prayers of other Christians. Yet all the prayers we have in the Bible—from the Lord’s Prayer to Paul’s prayers to the prayers of others—are all written prayers. Great inspiration and worship can grow from reading and meditating on and even praying the prayers of others—whether they are prayers found in the Bible or the prayers of others from devotional books.

But that’s not sufficient by itself. To the prayers of others we must add our own personal prayers. I have always tended to pray silently in private worship and devotions. But lately that has been changing and I find myself praying aloud more and more. When I do that my worship and praise to God is clearer, more powerful and more significant. There is a greater sense of God’s presence when the words are spoken audibly.

Likewise, I have never given much thought to any particular position for prayer. But lately I have discovered that my worship is enhanced when I get down on my knees to pray and worship God. That is because I don’t kneel for anyone else. Kneeling is powerfully symbolic of my relationship to God, of how great he is and how small I am.

Set aside a significant part of your daily prayer time to tell God you love him, to tell him how great he is and to thank him for all he has done.

Writing out your prayers of praise and worship can add significantly to private worship. It gives opportunity to be precise, to be meaningful and to include Bible verses.

If we were assigned to make a statement to the President or to some royalty we would probably write out our speech in advance and either memorize or read it. Why do less for God? Not that all prayers should be written. By no means! But it can be a very helpful aid to serious worship of God.

Another way to worship God is with our offerings. This doesn’t mean money offerings at church. This means giving things to God that are personal expressions of love, worship and thanksgiving. For example, give him your day. At the beginning of the day offer it to him as a present. Give him your obedience. Pick something he would like for you to do and do it as a gift to God. Give him something really important to you. Not because you have to but because you want to, because you choose to give it out of love and admiration.

Worship services are different for me than they are for you. For me it is not so much an opportunity to take in but to give out. Too often I have been concerned about what people in the audience are thinking. I leave quite exhausted and sometimes without much real worship having taken place. Then I tried something different. Instead of asking God to bless the sermon and make it good, I got down on my knees before the service with sermon notes in hand and offered them to God as a gift - - - hardly perfect, far from scintillating, surely not the best he gets - - - but what I have got I give to him as an offering. That has revolutionized public worship for me. Now it is far more centered on God and far less centered on people.

For you it may not be a sermon. Perhaps for you it’s a solo or singing in the choir or teaching Sunday school. Maybe it’s bidding a construction job or writing a computer program or running a sales meeting. Whatever it is, worship God by deliberately and consciously giving him what you have as an offering of worship.

There is a poem by Ruth Harms Calkin in the book Lord, Could You Hurry a Little that is entitled Be Thou Exalted. It quotes, first of all, from the psalmist David, “Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength; so we will sing and praise thy power.” And then Calkin continues:

Yes, Lord, yes!
David’s prayer is my prayer.
Be exalted in my day-by-day agenda
In my motives and dreams
My priorities and goals.
Even in my failures, Lord
As you turn them into stepping stones
Toward spiritual growth.
Be exalted in my worship and praise
In my sobbing and singing.
Be exalted in my secret thoughts
My emotional responses.
Be exalted in my daily routine
The delays, the unexpected emergencies
The disappointments that often come.
Lord God, as you are exalted
In heaven and on earth
Be exalted in Your home—my heart.

There are so many ways to worship our fabulous God! Worship him - - - tonight, tomorrow morning, soon. Worship him with Bible verses; worship him by meditation; worship him with hymns; worship him through prayers, worship him with offerings. Worship God - - - because he’s worth it!

God replies, “Bob, you’re wrong. You hurt people all along the way and ignored my principles in the Bible. You weren’t serving me.”

Then it’s Fred, the factory worker’s turn. Fred says to God, “I’m afraid I made the wrong choice. My life would have been more successful if I’d stayed in school and become a doctor.”

God answers, “Fred, you’ve got it all wrong. I don’t measure your life by title or income, but by the way you lived for me in the factory. Well done, good and faithful servant.”

You see, the true measure of our lives is not our choice of occupation, it’s whether or not we choose to live God’s way.

Sooner or later everyone experiences loss and grief. Christians are no exception. Listen to what St. Paul wrote in the New Testament, “Brothers, we do not want you . . . to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” Paul’s point was that Christians grieve and hurt differently than those who are not trusting in God. The difference is that Christians have hope.

Hope is not a denial of loss or an absence of grief, it’s the deep-down conviction that God has something better ahead for those who are trusting in him. Hope is about what God will do, regardless of our circumstances.

When we find ourselves in a tough situation, we can take comfort in these words of hope from the Bible: “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

God promises to give us the strength we need whenever we ask him and to provide “a way out” of whatever difficulties we’re going through. Through God, we can find a path to a better tomorrow.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.

“Delight yourself in the Lord” means putting God absolutely first – it means choosing whatever God wants – even if it isn’t our first choice.

“He will give you the desires of your heart” doesn't mean we get whatever we want, but that God will change our preferences to want what is best for us.

“Trust in him" means giving God our total allegiance.

“Wait patiently” means trusting that God’s timing is best.

All together, it’s a recipe for living with purpose.

God could have used only Moses to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt, but apparently he preferred a team. He gifted Moses and Aaron differently and both were just as important to His plan.

Most of us are not in the number one position. We may spend our lives behind the scenes helping others. But like Aaron, we are just as important in God’s plan.

Before Christmas or a birthday many of us sit down to make a “wish list”. Sometimes we start early and amend it numerous times. We want to make sure we get what we want!

Suppose God made a “wish list”. What would he put on it? If God wanted a gift from us, what might he want? After all, worship is giving rather than getting. So when we worship God we give things to him. What would he want? What would he put on his list? Have you ever asked him what he likes, what makes him happy? Not just for a special occasion but for every time we come to him in worship.

As I thought about that my imagination went reeling and my fingers began exploring the pages of the Bible to find at least part of God’s “wish list”. Here’s what I found.

First on the list has to be love. A lawyer once asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” When Jesus answered (in Matthew 22:37) he revealed what God likes best. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

We all want to be loved. I like to be loved and I like being told I am loved. We do a lot of that in our home. At least a dozen times every day, I suppose, I tell Charleen that I love her. And she tells me that she loves me. I make a point of telling our children that I love them, and they say, “I love you, Dad!” Sometimes we write notes to each other. We’ve even learned to say it in sign language! And you know what? I never tire of hearing it. It’s never boring. I love to be told that I’m loved and I love to be loved.

Have you told God lately that you love him? Have you actually stopped and prayed out loud, “God I love you! Father, I love you! Jesus, I love you! Spirit, I love you!”? God loves to be loved!

Next on his list I think God would put praise. In Psalm 113 the Psalmist, inspired by the Holy Spirit, penned these words:

Praise the Lord.
Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.
Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.
He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.

We all like legitimate praise. I like being told a sermon is good. An artist enjoys being told that his painting is inspiring. An architect enjoys compliments on her building. A wife delights in hearing, “You are the greatest. You are such a marvelous person. It’s not just what you do but who you are!”

Praising God is telling him how great he is. Tell him he’s smart. Tell him he’s a great lover. Tell him he’s the greatest person in the universe. Tell him you think he’s wonderful just for being him, not only for what he does for you and what he gives to you. Tell him he’s doing a good job in you life, in your home, in your church. Tell him he created a fantastic world. Praise the Lord! God likes to be praised!

Third on God’s list has to be thanks. In Psalm 136:1 the Psalmist writes, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.”

Thank you is one of the most important phrases in the English language. How we like to hear that. How easily we can become hurt if we do something for someone and we never hear a word of thanks.

When they were young we had a tradition in our family where each week I would take to breakfast a different one of our four children. In their earlier years they sometimes forgot to say “thank you” and I had to remind them. It takes a little something away when you have to ask to be thanked. But now they seldom forget.

Being thanked lets me know I’m important, I’m appreciated, I matter and what I did is significant. I like to be thanked. God likes to be thanked, too. Often we are reluctant to thank God but all too ready to ask God. We may be dissatisfied with what God has done in our lives. We complain that he doesn’t quite measure up to all of our expectations. But how he delights when our heart attitude causes us to say “thank you”!

Do you regularly thank God as part of your worship? It’s true that many of us thank God for our food and I wouldn’t discourage that at all. However, I think my mother may have had it right when she said that God must often say, “Are you eating again?” Thank God for life, for salvation, for health, for church, for home, for prayer, for the Bible, for friends, for fellowship, for America, for people, for heat, for light, for clothes, for everything.

God rebuked me about something awhile back. One day I was feeling rather sorry for myself. I thought my problems were pretty big and pretty heavy. Then I spent a few minutes reading from the book Tracks of a Fellow Struggler by John Claypool. In that little book he shares his broken heart over the acute leukemia of his 8-year-old daughter Laura Lue who lived 18 months 10 days from diagnosis to death. As I put down the book I switched from self-pity to worship, from complaining to thanksgiving, from my puny problems to God’s great goodness.

Tell him! Thank him! God likes thanks!

Fourth on the list is an item that most of us probably wouldn’t include. It is fear. Psalm 96:9 tells us to “Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.” And Deuteronomy 6:1-2:

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

Clearly the Bible calls us to fear God, yet we are also told that we need not fear when God is near! We need not fear in the sense of fright or terror or unjust harm. Yet, we ought to fear God in the sense of awe, of grandeur, of respect, of seriousness. We must be extremely careful that we do not become so “chummy” with God that we fail to treat him as God. He is the mighty Creator and we are sinful creatures. There is no place for a cavalier or light attitude toward God or in his presence. Just as we ought to have a legitimate fear of the police or the president or of our parents, so we ought to fear God.

Some people blasphemously joke about God. We run into his presence in prayer and speak to him with less respect than we speak to our family pet. We fall asleep talking to him. We wear our most casual clothes to worship him. We break appointments we have made with him.

All of this is sin! God does not like getting less respect than we would give to total strangers on the street. We need to shape up our relationship to God. We need to step into his presence in awe, trembling and in fear. He is God! God deserves our fear!

To the list we have to add trust. Proverbs 3:5 tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” A huge compliment accompanies trust. We trust a doctor to do the right thing when we are unconscious. We trust the Trust Department of a bank to care for our assets after we die. We trust a counselor to keep a secret that could devastate us. And when we trust God we are giving him our ultimate compliment. Our trust tells him that we have complete confidence in his ability to plan our lives and protect our futures.

Years ago I heard a speech by a high trapeze artist. He described what it is like the first time you swing from a high trapeze to be caught in the air by your partner on the other trapeze. He said there are two things you need to know. One is that you have to trust your partner. The other is that you have to let go before you catch on.

There are a million different areas to trust God. Some of them are high and scary, but in every case we must have complete trust that God will be there and will catch us and we will be safe in his arms. However, we must first be willing to let go!

God likes it when we trust him. If we want to worship God we must trust him enough to let go so that we can catch on to God.

Sixth on the list is giving, but it has to be cheerful giving. II Corinthians 9:7, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Our attitude is as important as our giving!

You may have heard about the fourth grade class who sent a get-well card to their teacher that read, “Dear Miss Jones, Your fourth grade students wish you a quick recovery from your operation, by a vote of 13 to 12.”

It takes a little of the joy out of a gift when a child says, “Dad told me if I didn’t buy you a gift he would ground me for six months.”

By contrast, imagine the gift giver just bubbling with excitement over the gift and the receiver. See her yearning for the moment to give, anxiously looking for the expression on the recipient’s face. That’s the kind of giving God loves.

One of the most tangible worship moments we have is when we put money into the offering plate. This is something we should look forward to. It should to be one of the happiest moments of every week. As we put our money in the offering we ought to quietly whisper a prayer to God saying, “Thank you. I love you! And I am really glad I can give this to you.”

God looks with great care on our attitude when we give. And be assured that one of the things God really loves is a cheerful giver.

Seventh and final on our list, for now, is obedience. In Old Testament days there was the temptation to placate or bribe God with some kind of a burnt offering. But Samuel instructed the people of Israel with one of the greatest principles of the Bible saying in I Samuel 15:22, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

Do you want to make God happy? You don’t have to give him some big gift or make some huge sacrifice. Just obey him!

Let’s try it. Think of something you ought to do that God has asked of you. It may be forgiving someone or being baptized or stopping a habit or making more time for prayer.

How about deciding right now that you will worship God with a special gift this week. You will do just what he has been asking of you. Not out of duty. Not because he told you to but because you want to do it as a gift to God.

God will love it! Because one of the things God likes is obedience!

Worship is giving, not getting. Give to God something he will really like:

Love
Praise
Thanks
Fear
Trust
Cheerful giving
Obedience

Solomon was so wise, yet so foolish. On his way to becoming rich and powerful he forgot that his most important relationship of all was to God.

We don’t want to be like Solomon. In fact, we have the opportunity to become even wiser than Solomon, because we can choose to make God number one in our lives and remain faithful to him.

The truth is that she was somebody. She was the Princess of Wales and she grew up to become Queen Elizabeth.

Now, you and I may not be British royalty, but if we are Christians, we can answer the question, “Who are you?” with, “I’m nobody, but my father is King of the universe!” As Christians, we are children of the King!

Then Isaiah ordered the best medical treatment of the day for him – a fig poultice. Three days later, Hezekiah recovered. God intervened to extend Hezekiah’s life – using the current remedy of the day.

The point here is that even when God intervenes, he often utilizes human resources. When we face serious illness, we’re to turn to God – and take our medicine. It’s not either/or, it’s prayer and the poultice, or, prayer and penicillin. First we pray, and then we get the medical help that God makes available.

Children use that excuse a lot, and it’s an easy disclaimer for adults as well. We sometimes even say to God, “I didn't do it on purpose.” But when God looks at our lives, he isn’t as interested in what we didn’t do on purpose as he is in what we did do on purpose. God wants us to live our lives purposefully, intentionally and deliberately to please and honor him.

One of the most frequent lies told to American children is, “You can be anything you want to be.” The truth is that we don’t get everything we want.

Some people’s preferences align with their abilities, but for many of us they don’t. Albert Einstein wanted to be a concert violinist but was better at physics and math.

Consider your uniqueness as a gift from God. God made you to be you and not someone else. At the end of your life he won't interrogate you about being Moses, Mary, George Washington or Mother Theresa. He'll ask you only about being you.

Join me in a spiritual experiment. Imagine that you are being transported to heaven as you read John’s heavenly vision from Revelation 4:

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightening, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stopped saying:

“Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come.”

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

Let’s come back to earth and talk about what we’ve experienced. It is called worship. Worship is the primary occupation of heaven. It is the highest privilege of Christians and one of the most neglected activities in Christian lives.

What is worship? Worship is acknowledging God’s worth. The word “worship” comes from an Anglo-Saxon term “weorthscipe.” Because that was so unpronounceable the Anglo-Saxons changed it to become “worth-ship” and eventually it evolved into “worship”.

To worship anyone or anything is to recognize and affirm worth. Worship is extremely important to God. In Psalm 29:2 we read, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” And Jesus says in Luke 4:8, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”

If worship is acknowledging worth then to worship God is to say that he is worthy of our worship. In Psalm 96:1-6 we read:

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

The psalmist is here listing the worth of God. It includes salvation, his marvelous deeds, the creation of the heavens, splendor, majesty, strength and glory. God’s worth is expressed in terms of his attributes (that’s who God is) and his actions (that’s what God does.)

Have you seen on TV the L’Oreal ad where the actress says, “I buy L’Oreal because I’m worth it!” Well, I really don’t know if she’s worth it or not, but I do know that God is worth it! God is worth our worship!

If God is really worth it what are his attributes and what are his actions that show us why we should worship him? God is sovereign. He is holy. He is omnipotent, all-powerful. He is unchanging. He is all-knowing. He’s wise. He’s loving. He’s omnipresent; he is everywhere at once. He is merciful, forgiving, faithful, powerful, pure and righteous. God is consistent; he never changes; God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is kind, just, patient. He gave his one and only Son—that is the greatest act of all! He’s forgiving. God created the world and keeps it going. He reigns. He heals us. He loves us. He listens. He guides. He teaches. He helps. He answers prayer.

Worship is centering on God rather than self. Now we have a problem here because we are all sinners and sinners are by nature self-centered. Our society accentuates self-centeredness. Most advertising emphasizes self—feelings, appearance, happiness, success. Ninety-five percent of ads are based on selfishness.

We are consumer-oriented, even in religion. We think of God in terms of what he can do for us. We expect from God salvation, healing, happiness and problem solving. And, if God doesn’t produce to our satisfaction we may become angry and quit on him!

This isn’t just the other guy. We all are guilty of this. If we listen to our own prayers and monitor our own thoughts we will see that we are far more centered on ourselves than on God! Read Romans 1:18-25:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.

The very essence of sin is worship of creatures rather than the Creator. We are creatures. It is sin to center our worship on ourselves rather than on God.

In Psalm 103:1-5 and 14-22 we read:

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins, and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

. . . for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

The psalmist knew how to worship. He knew that all of life must be interpreted by and centered on God.

We worship in prayer by meditating on God. In your imagination place all the things in your life in a circle—then write “GOD” at the center of the circle. Tell him that he is more important than anyone or anything else in your life.

Worship God through the Bible by looking or him. Instead of primarily looking for instruction or direction or comfort in reading the Bible, look for God. Keep a journal or write in the margin of your Bible what you discovered about God in his Word.

Worship God in church by expecting him. Go to church expecting to meet God, to see God, to hear God. Don’t go primarily for the music or your friends or the sermon. When you go to church expecting God you will find the music more inspiring, your friends more enjoyable and the sermon more interesting.

Worship is shifting the center of our lives away from self to God. We must worship often because we are in constant need of re-centering our lives!

Worship is giving rather than getting. There really isn’t much that we can give God. He doesn’t need any books or cars or after-shave or flowers. What can we give to the God who owns the universe? We can give him worship!

Worship is hard to do. Most of our praying is to get, not to give. And most often we go to church to get—to receive a blessing or hear good music and a scintillating sermon or make contact with other people socially. We want a good program for our children. All those things are good, but too often we are disappointed with church because we come to get and not to give.

Worship is giving to God. When we worship God in prayer we affirm his greatness, tell him about how good he is and praise him for what he has done.

Worship of God in church is based on giving as well. We pray to give him our adoration and to acknowledge God’s greatness. We sing to tell him how good he is, to praise his name and to honor him, not for entertainment. When we give money it’s not to support an organization; it’s to acknowledge the worth of God. It ought to be our preoccupation on Saturday. We should talk about him on Sunday morning. All week long we should reflect on the worship we have given him. We gather to worship God by giving, not getting!

Matthew, Chapter 2:1-11 is the fascinating tale of the journey of wealthy and wise men:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews, for we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him? When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who shall govern my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go, search diligently for the child and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. When they heard the king, they went their way and lo, the star which they had seen in the east went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. And then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh.

These were great, important men who traveled long distances over an extended period of time all the way to Jesus. They asked for nothing. They gave their gifts. They came to worship, and they knew that worship means giving, not getting.

But worship is far more than something we just talk about. It’s something we do. So worship God. Center on him and praise his name!

I find it very comforting to know that Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. His example shows me that it’s okay to grieve when we’re overwhelmed with loss. We don’t need to hide our sadness or our anger at the loss of loved ones. It’s okay to cry.

But don’t let your grief distance you from Jesus at the time when you need him the most. Tell Jesus that you believe in him and that you are trusting him for eternal life. Remember that faith is for the best of times and the worst of times.

When a dream is shattered, there isn’t always a better dream around the corner; but when we’re trusting in Jesus, we can have an eternal hope for lasting happiness in heaven. I don’t pretend that eternal hope takes away the pain of grief, but it makes an indescribable difference. No matter how bad life gets, Jesus offers all who believe in him an eternity in heaven where there will be no more tears or death or mourning or pain.

In your time of greatest loss – when you’re deeply discouraged or scared to death; remember, hold on to God and hold on to hope!

This was a very generous woman. She gave sacrificially. It’s interesting to me how we often measure generosity by how much a person gives when God measures generosity by how much a person keeps.

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others." What a stunning statement! Apparently God doesn’t count the way we count. With God, it’s not the size of the gift, it’s the attitude of the heart!

The Bible provides direction for our lives. It says, “[God’s] word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” You see, it’s not so much which path we take that matters, it’s letting the Bible light our way along that path.

No one better demonstrated the power of purpose than Jesus. The Bible clearly identifies the purpose God had given him: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” All of Jesus’ decisions and actions were determined by his purpose. Nothing was left to chance. Even the circumstances of his death were determined on the basis of this stated purpose. That’s why when he was dying on the cross he was able to shout, “It is finished.” Jesus fulfilled the purpose God gave him and achieved the mission that he had set out to do.

The ancient sufferer Job asked: “If a man dies, will he live again?” And the modern musician, Bon Jovi, sings his answer:

This ain’t a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain’t gonna be just a face in the crowd
You’re gonna hear my voice
When I shout it out loud.

It’s my life
It’s now or never
I ain’t gonna live forever
I just want to live while I’m alive
(It’s my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just wanna live while I’m alive
It’s my life.

Bon Jovi may sing a different song when the doctor tells him he is going to die. He may then ask Job’s question: “If a man dies, will he live again?”

If you have watched someone die, if you have been threatened with death, if you have lost someone you dearly love, if you have thought about how much longer you have to live—you probably have wanted to live forever.

Immortality is a universal quest. Every country. Every language. Every religion. Every generation. We all want to live forever. While there may be a few rare exceptions among poets, philosophers, musicians and cynics who have said they don’t want to live forever, they are just that—rare exceptions. We are all born with an instinctive need to breathe, to eat, to drink and to sleep. It would make no sense for there to be such instincts if there were no possibility for those needs to be satisfied.

Similarly there is an instinctive need to live forever. We all want life to go beyond death. We want to reconnect to those we love who have died. We want our lives to be more than a half dozen or even a dozen decades. Four hundred years from now we want someone to remember us. We don’t want this life to be all there is.

Living is so deeply ingrained in us that we will go to extraordinary lengths in order to extend it. We will do just about anything to keep life going. Even when we come to the end and we know it’s our last breath we don’t give up hope; we hold on.

The pyramids in Egypt are one of the wonders of the ancient world. Some say that it took 100,000 workers as many as 40 years to build one pyramid. Pharaohs were buried with boats, clothes, money, food and servants to take them over the divide of death and into the next life. Why would they do go to so much time and expense? Because they calculated that this life was short and the next life was forever. They knew where they were going to spend the most time and invested accordingly.

When baseball hero Ted Williams died his family publicly and legally fought over what to do with his body. Allegedly, Williams wrote a longhand note saying his body should be frozen for future thawing and resuscitation. It was a hope in the “world religion” of scientific optimism that somehow sometime scientists will give us immortality by overcoming the effects of death.

If you visit Beijing, Moscow and Hanoi you can see on display the preserved bodies of Mao, Lenin and Ho Chi Minh. This is the communist version of immortality. Even if the soul is permanently gone at least the body can be perpetuated with preservatives, air-conditioning and lots of wax so that we can see what they looked like.

Every religion focuses on immortality: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity and a myriad of lesser faiths. Some teach reincarnation. Others talk about heaven and hell. Some say there is an evolving into some kind of eternal deity. The doctrines are contradictory but the desire for eternal life is everywhere.

God has put eternity into our heads and hearts. We are all designed for life, not for death. We yearn for life. We expect life. We want to live forever. Even those who do not believe they can live forever probably wish they could believe they could live forever.

According to the Bible there is only one path to eternal life, and that is Jesus Christ. John 17:3 records a prayer that Jesus prayed to God the Father: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

The Bible teaches the central message of Christianity. All of humanity is infected with the terminal disease of sin. Jesus Christ came from heaven to deliver the only cure. When Jesus died on the cross he cured sin and death. He made eternal life possible. The prescription to get this eternal life is faith in Jesus alone—to believe in him and what he has done.

Occasionally we read news stories of sick people who refuse treatment for a life-threatening malady. Because of religious or other reasons they will not receive a blood transfusion or authorize an operation. If they are rational adults our legal system allows them to refuse the treatment that will save their lives. The attending physician may speak with anger or may speak with tears, but either way says, “Accept the treatment or you will die.”

It is a similar but more important message from the Bible to all of us with the terminal illness of sin: Accept Jesus or die forever.

For those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior from sin and giver of eternal life there is not an exemption from physical death. At least not for most of us! There are some who will be alive when Jesus Christ returns to earth and will have an opportunity to transition from this life to eternal life without going through the gate of death. For the rest of us, physical death is the way we get from here to there.

In some ways the Bible tells us a lot of things about what to expect after we die. In some ways, however, the Bible has left a lot of questions unanswered. Because the teachings are spread throughout the Bible and our time is limited I am going to summarize them rather than spend a lot of time on each one. If you want to study some for yourself a good place to begin is in I Corinthians 15 in the New Testament.

When a Christian dies, his or her body is buried and his or her soul goes to heaven to be with God. We don’t know how our souls function without our bodies. Do we get a “loaner” from somewhere in heaven that we can borrow at least for awhile? If so, what will it be like?

These questions are not answered in the Bible. What we are told is that it is temporary. Now “temporary” may seem all too long, but in the scope of eternity it is relatively brief. What we do know is that God has scheduled a future resurrection when he will bring our dead bodies back to physical life again. But that will take amazing miracles because most bodies will have been mostly destroyed. So how will God do it? Again, the answers are not given. What we do know is that we are talking about the God who created the world and us in the first place. He is more than capable of fulfilling what he has promised he will do.

The resurrection bodies we will receive will be like our present bodies only significantly upgraded (sort of like the original Microsoft Windows software and the newest Microsoft Windows software). Our bodies and souls will be reunited and live together forever as us.

Life will be indescribably good. We will have happiness and joy that will be wonderfully fulfilling. There will no sin or pain or disease or death. We will love and glorify God as we were originally designed to do. Our eternal homes may be in heaven or back on earth or maybe both—a primary residence in heaven and a second home on earth. It’s described in the New Testament in II Peter 3:13, “But in keeping with (God’s) promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

St. John got a preview of what all this would look like, and he wrote that preview in Revelation 21:1-4:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

We do not know the details of our eternal life in the new heaven and new earth but it will be as good as it gets. We may fully expect that the God who created this world and all the joys and desires of this life will incorporate the same design elements into our next life. Some of us may worry about the details but we will discover that God thought of all the details and made the future better than anything we ever could have imagined. In other words, this deep human desire to live forever will be fully and forever satisfied in the eternal life that Christians will experience in the future.

This brings us back to today. Forever changes time; tomorrow impacts right now. This is not our usual way of thinking of things. We usually talk about how today determines tomorrow, and of course, this is true. If we take care of our bodies today we will increase health in the future; if we go to school today it will impact our life’s work; if we accept Jesus as Savior in this life we will have eternal life rather than eternal death. Yes, today determines tomorrow. However, what we have guaranteed for us in the future also transforms life now.

If you know that you will have life after death then physical death is far less frightening. If you know that eternity will be problem-free and pain-free then this world’s troubles are far more tolerable. If you know that you are destined to eternal happiness, today’s sadness is handled differently because it is temporary. If you know that your life has eternal meaning and destiny then this life has meaning and purpose.

What a contrast to those who don’t have eternal life and all the promises that God has given to Christians. Their expectations for life after death are worse, not better (no wonder they hold on to living for so long!). They think that all of life has to be lived out in 30 or 40 or 80 or 90 years. They assume that they have to accumulate wealth and success now or there will be no opportunity beyond death. When life is terribly hard they are devastated because there is no hope for anything better.

Christians are those who have a guaranteed good future, and that transforms the way we live in the present.

On the last page of the last book of C. S. Lewis’s classic Chronicles of Narnia there is a conversation between the children of the story and Aslan (Aslan is a lion who represents Jesus). Aslan says to the children:

“You do not look so happy as I mean you to be.”

Lucy said, “We’re so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.”

“No fear of that”, said Aslan. “Have you not guessed?”

Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them.

“There was a real railway accident”, said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream has ended; this is morning.”

And as he spoke he no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth had read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

Someday our bodies will die. Every one of us will have “the date after the dash” (on the left of the dash is the date of birth; on the right of the dash is the date of death). For those who are Christians the date after the dash is merely the end of the title page of our eternal biography! As C. S. Lewis wrote:

. . . for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth had read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

In the words of Jesus in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

God of Eternity, what a gift you have given to us—eternal
life through Jesus Christ. Not only do we thank you for it but we
live differently now because of what we have been promised then.

For any who have not yet accepted the gift of eternal life, I
pray that today may be the day they say “Yes” to following Jesus
and getting the guarantee of forever. May the date after the dash
be just the beginning and “every chapter better than the one before”
. . . because of Jesus Christ. Amen.

It’s the same way when we are looking for direction in life. We need to read the right map. The Bible is God’s map. It gives lots of advice on how to drive through life, but little is said about which highways to take. God’s map is more about the way you travel than the route you take.

But then I’m hit with a realization. Wait a minute. I know Jesus. He’s the Lord of heaven and earth. He’s more famous than anyone else. At the end of life what will matter most will not be how many important people I’m familiar with, it will be whether or not I know Jesus.

The Bible says, “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.” The Greek expression translated "clothe yourselves" refers to tying on a worker’s apron.

When I read that, I imagine two pictures of Jesus. He grew up in a home where the dad was a carpenter, so we can picture Jesus wearing a carpenter’s apron. Then at his last dinner meal with his followers, Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist, took a basin of water, knelt down and washed his followers’ feet.

Clothing yourself with humility means being willing to serve others as Jesus did.

When you think about it, life is like bowling. On one side is the gutter of pride and on the other side is the gutter of low self-esteem. The goal of the game is to stay in the center and avoid the gutters.

The Bible tells us how God loves us and has a plan for our lives but it also teaches us to be humble. Humility is crucial for it keeps us out of the gutters of pride and low self-esteem and puts us well on our way toward making a strike in our Christian lives.

“Sounds good,” you say, “but how do I do that?”

First, describe to God the thing that’s specifically worrying you to God and ask him if there’s something he wants you to do. Then give it to God once and for all. If God doesn’t give you direction or the resources to deal with it, assume that it’s no longer your problem.

The most important part of this principle is the last five words: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

Never forget that God cares more about us and our worries than we do.

Hope and hopelessness, they are the best and the worst of life. Lewis Smedes is an ethicist, a Ph.D. professor, a Christian, a popular author, but when it comes to hope I think he is most qualified out of his own personal experience. Smedes says that during the first decade of his marriage to his wife, Doris, more than anything else in the world they wanted to have a baby. It was something of an obsession to them and finally after ten years of marriage she became pregnant. They were totally thrilled. In his words they thanked God and drank a toast to hope. Six months later something went wrong. He called the doctor and the doctor said she apparently is in premature labor. “Take her immediately to the hospital and I will meet you there at the emergency room”, and then on the phone the doctor said, “Oh yes; I have one more thing to tell you; I should have told you before. Your baby is going to be seriously malformed.” The doctor told Lewis Smedes that he needed to tell Doris en route to the hospital so that she knew what to expect. Smedes says, “Well I told her. But we decided that we were not going to give up hope. No matter what the doctor said we were not going to give up hope. So we kept on hoping all through the night.”

At 6 a.m. the doctor came to the new father with an embarrassed grin on his face and he said, “Congratulations! You have a perfect baby boy. Come on and see.” Smedes says he walked into the room and there was this baby that was a perfect specimen of manhood. He said it was a lot like him. Smedes says, “It’s true. Never give up hope. Never, ever give up hope.” And then he adds, “But two days later our baby was dead. Hope can break your heart.”

In his popular and well selling book, Standing on the Promises, Lewis Smedes quotes an old cavalry motto: “When your horse dies, dismount and saddle another.” Smedes writes, “to that good horse sense I would add a piece of hope sense: When a hope dies, let it go and saddle another. Hope does not have to die when hope dies.”

Hope is our fuel to keep going. Just as in a car if you run out of gas, you stop. If there is no gas in the tank you can’t get started in the morning, and so it is with hope. You have to have hope to get started. You have to have hope to keep going. Hope is our desire for a better tomorrow. It is the imagination that the way things are is not the way things always will be. Hope is looking beyond where we are and into what might happen and what could happen and it is having the faith that it will happen. That imagination will turn into reality.

Hope is not something that is gender specific. It is not more for men or women. It is not about age. Hope is something that we need when we are very young and when we are very old. It has nothing to do with nationality, whether an American or not an American. Whether a Christian or not a Christian, we all need hope. We can’t go on, we can’t live. It is the universal human need. As long as you’ve got it, as long as we have hope it is amazing what we are able to endure.

People who have hope can make it through severe sicknesses, deep losses, broken marriages, bankruptcies, career set backs, shattered dreams. If there is hope we can sustain through troubles and survive and even successfully move on into tomorrow. As long as we have hope. But without hope our lives become sad and painful, frightening and desperate and we may not be able to go on. God wired us all for hope. Hope can even take us to the brink of death and beyond. We were designed to hope into eternity. So we all need hope.

Hope is not the same as fantasy. Fantasy is so far fetched that we can actually imagine anything. You can imagine instantly that you learn a dozen languages and speak them fluently. With fantasy you can even change your parents and your birth date. You can move yourself from one generation to another. Hope is not like that; it is connected to reality. Hope is the expectation of something better.

In the Old Testament Moses was a man of hope. He and his ancestors had endured slavery for 400 years. A million people were enslaved by Pharaoh who said he would not let go and yet Moses had a hope. His hope was that they would not only be set free, but that they would go to a promised land, flowing with milk and honey, that had cities for them to live in that they had not built, fields to harvest that they had not planted, grapes that they could pick off of vineyards and arbors that they had not started. It was a dream of a better tomorrow.

Later on in the Old Testament is the story of David, who as a young man suddenly became the champion for his nation Israel against the Philistines and especially against the giant Goliath. What were his chances? All he had was a handful of stones, a slingshot and hope. He hoped for something that seemed ridiculous to hope for but hope turned into reality and the people of Israel were victorious because of David’s hope.

On the 28th of August in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke before 250,000 people gathered by the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. It was at the peak of the American Civil Rights Movement and advisers to the president of the United States asked Dr. King to cool the rhetoric so people would not get riled up. He wasn’t to get too emotional. He carefully prepared and presented a speech that did not express much expectation of something better. When finished, he turned away from the microphone and went to sit down when Mahalia Jackson, the great singer, seated behind King, shouted at him, “The dream, Martin, the dream. Tell them about the dream!”

King turned back to the microphone and spoke hope when he said, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” And he gave hope. Hope, not just to a quarter of a million people but to millions of people across the nation.

So what do you hope for? You hope for a better job or maybe you hope for a job. You hope for marriage or you hope for the birth of a child. You hope for a lift out of discouragement and depression. You hope that the illness will not be what the doctors say that the illness probably is. You hope to get out of debt. You hope that the next school year will be better for you and for your children. You hope that your prodigal child or grandchild will turn away from a life of sin and to a loyalty to Jesus Christ. You hope that you will have a better relationship with God, and that you will connect to him and it will be different spiritually than anything you have ever encountered before. Or maybe you just hope that you will die well and go to heaven.

In every case hope is the expectation of something better and we all need hope. But when it comes through it’s not hope anymore. Hope fulfilled is not hope. Romans 8:24 says, “Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ” You see, hope is always future looking. When your hopes come true you know what you do? We all do it. We’ve got to come up with a new hope. If our wildest dreams turn into reality we need another wild dream because in order to get beyond today and into tomorrow there must be hope. Now ironically the soil in which hope grows is dissatisfaction. It is only when we are dissatisfied with the pain, the problems, the frustrations, the disappointments and worries of life that we have hope. If there is no dissatisfaction there is no hope to be had. Hope is always for a better tomorrow and saddest of all people are those who have none. There is a heartbreaking line in I Thessalonians 4:13 that describes non-Christians facing death and saying that they have no hope. I’ve been there at open graves with sealed caskets by those bodies of those who were not Christians and their families standing around and they have no hope that they will ever see that person again, no hope for heaven, no hope for eternity. It has got to be one of the saddest circumstances that you can ever be in but it is always sad when there is no hope, whether it is facing death or any other situation of life, we need hope.

The question is how do we get it? Surprisingly hope is a choice that we make. Some people choose hope and some people choose despair. It is not the circumstances that determine hope because some people have great hope in awful circumstances and other people are hopeless in pretty good circumstances. There are some people who are in constant pain and have little prospects for a physical recovery from their illness and yet you talk to them and they are loaded with an exuding hope. There are other people who are in great physical shape and don’t seem to have any illness at all and they are the most hopeless people with whom you can have a conversation.

Several medical studies have rated the hopefulness of surgery patients and then tracked recovery and survival rate over 5 and 10 years. Those who choose to hope increased their likelihood of survival by up to 300%.

Perhaps Lisa Beamer said it best. Her husband was aboard United Airlines flight 93 on September 11, 2001 and spoke the famous words, “Let’s roll!” Todd Beamer died a tragic death from terrorism. Lisa was five months pregnant and had two young children at home. Her circumstances were grim. Lisa Beamer said, “I knew I had a choice. I could choose fear or I could choose hope” and then she said, “I choose hope.”

St. Paul wrote in Romans 5:1-5,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

It starts with suffering which is the universal human experience. Every one of us has a story of suffering to tell. The question is what do we do with that suffering? And we choose to persevere, that is to hang in there and that choice of perseverance builds character and character builds hope and the Holy Spirit in the Christian helps us through that process.

We don’t choose to suffer. I don’t know anybody that chooses pain but we do choose hope. Understanding that choice is not so much a matter of sitting down in a chair and going between option A and option B. Option A is desperation and option B is hopefulness. No, it’s not like that. It’s in a whole series of individual choices. But we choose hope wisely, not a foolish fantasy but rooted in reality and trust in God. We choose to hang out with people who are themselves hopeful because it can crush hope when those around us are saddened themselves and hopeless.

Or it is the choice to pray for encouragement. I do that everyday. On my daily prayer list is that God will directly and indirectly, through others, encourage me to make it through today and tomorrow. I know that I need that.
It is the choice to get enough sleep because lack of sleep steals hope. When we are tired and when we are down hope slips too easily away.

It is the choice to be patient. The recognition that while hope is for a better tomorrow, it may not be in the next 24 hours. Romans 8:25 says, “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Sometimes what we hope for takes months and even years. It’s the choices that we make. We choose to hope.

Michelangelo spent another long day on his back painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome. It was a lonely day for him. His body just ached. The sunlight had disappeared and the candlelight was flickering and he was discouraged and decided to call it a day. So he crawled over the scaffolding and down the ladder and ate his dinner by himself, a lonely man. Before going to sleep that night he wrote a sonnet to his aching body, a sonnet that is still available to be read today and the last line of Michelangelo’s sonnet says, “I am no painter.” He was so discouraged that he concluded that when it came to art he was incompetent. He went to bed and slept through the night and when the sun rose the next morning he got himself up, he went back to the Sistine Chapel, climbed up the ladder, rolled on his back, took out his pallet of paint and he began to paint again his portrayal of God’s creation of the universe, specifically of earth and humankind. Now how did he do that? He chose to go on. He chose to hope.

Now listen, almost everything here so far said applies equally to Christians and non-Christians, so is there no difference between those who are believers and unbelievers, those who follow Jesus Christ and those who do not? Oh there is a huge difference and that is because Christians have an enormous advantage when it comes to hope because we know that God is on our side. God spoke in Jeremiah 29 through the Old Testament prophet, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future, then you will call upon me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Hope is kind of like an inflatable raft with multiple chambers to blow up. As a father of four one of the frequent duties of my life has been to inflate such things. Flotation rafts are designed with multiple chambers that have to be inflated separately. It’s actually not a conspiracy against Dad to keep him winded, it’s a safety measure. If one chamber springs a leak and deflates, you’re still okay because the other remaining chambers will keep you afloat.

You see that’s what God does. He does not promise to us that every chamber of our lives will always be full of hope. When there is a chamber that springs a slow leak or when one part of our lives is ripped open until all hope is gone out of it, God will see to it that there are other parts of our lives that have enough hope to keep us afloat and to get us into tomorrow. God is on our side. God wants the best for us. He has planned to make that happen. He gives us all that we need to grow hope. He is committed to our future. He will never abandon us and so when hope dies, when plans fail, when things go terribly wrong God comes in and gives new hope, new plans, turns failure into success so never give up hope. With God on our side we can always expect a better tomorrow.

Seek God. You will find him. Choose hope. You will not be disappointed and never, ever, give up hope! With God on our side we can always expect a better tomorrow.

When Wyoming highway patrolman Steven Watt signaled Mark Farnham to pull his car over he did not realize that Farnham had just robbed a Wyoming bank. Farnham pulled out a gun and shot at the police officer. The bullet went through the officer’s windshield and sunglasses and into his left eye blinding him for life. Then Farnham walked to the police cruiser, opened the door and shot four more bullets into the police officer. Watt still has pain from one of the bullets that lodged next to his spine.

Mark Farnham was stopped at a police roadblock, was captured, arrested, tried, convicted and was sentenced to 55 to 75 years in the Wyoming State Penitentiary.

Although Officer Watt survived, he was injured emotionally and psychologically as well as physically. He went to counseling—it didn’t help. He quit his job as a state patrolman and drifted from one security job to another. Through the years that followed his anger grew until his wife, Marian, also a police officer, finally said to her husband, “You can’t go on like this any longer. The only thing that will make any difference and will demonstrate that you are a true Christian is to forgive the man who did this to you.”

So four years after the attack Steven Watt went to the Wyoming State Penitentiary, met Mark Farnham and forgave him. Amazingly they actually became friends. And Steven Watt went on to become a deputy sheriff and state legislator.

Mark Farnham had 35 years to go before he was eligible for parole. His only hope of release was a pardon from the governor, and the last two governors had refused his requests. In 2002 Steven Watt announced he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Wyoming, and one of the planks in his personal platform, if elected, was to pardon Mark Farnham, the man who shot and blinded him and left him in pain for the rest of his life.

Forgiveness is powerful stuff. And we all need it. Not because we’re in prison for attempted murder but simply because we all have past sins that need to be pardoned. Every one of us has a tainted past. In theological terms, we were born in sin and we have chosen to sin since we were born. In practical terms, we have all thought, said and done things we regret.

When I was growing up my schoolteachers had an ominous threat that at the time I didn’t understand but which frightened me every time. They said that what I did would go on my “permanent record”. If I was late it went on my permanent record. If I misbehaved on the playground it went on my permanent record. I’ve actually thought about returning to the town where I grew up, going to the old school and asking to see my permanent record. It must still be there. They must still have it. After all, it is a permanent record!

We cannot change the past. All of our lives are on the permanent record of our personal memory. Not even God can change the past. What has happened has happened. What we have done we have done. There is no such thing as time travel. There is no way that we can go back and change anything about the past.

All of this creates an enormous dilemma in our lives. We all have memories we wish we could change because our past sins impact our present and our future.

That raises a question: Is there anything we can do to get beyond the mistakes of yesterday and into a better today and tomorrow? The answer is forgiveness. The only way we can deal with the past is through forgiveness. Our choice is to either live in misery over our past mistakes and failures and sins or to forgive and be forgiven.

Forgiveness doesn’t change what has happened but it fixes what happened. Forgiveness releases us from the consequences of our permanent record. Forgiveness does not mean forgotten, but it is as if it is forgotten.

Before dealing with three different types of forgiveness some important distinctions need to be made. The first is that there is a difference between what we regret about the past and what needs to be forgiven. We may regret that we were born into a dysfunctional family, that we come from a gene pool with less than athletic and beautiful chromosomes, that we were sent to an inferior school, that we were assaulted by a vicious rapist, that we were hit by a drunken driver who left permanent scars or that something else we could not control has had such huge impact on our lives. In some of those cases we need to forgive. In other cases we need to ask God for help to rise above difficult circumstances. However, we do not need to be forgiven for matters where we were not responsible. Forgiveness is connected to responsibility. And we all need a ton of forgiveness.

We also need to understand that to forgive is not to forget. It is quite the contrary. We really don’t need to forgive what we have forgotten. The whole point of forgiveness is that we remember the wrongs we have committed and the wrongs that have been committed against us. Forgiveness does not deny the reality of pain and suffering. Forgiveness lets go of getting even. It is to choose attitudes and actions toward someone else as if the offense were forgotten.

First and most important of all, we all need to be forgiven by God. The most important relationship of our lives is our relationship to God. If we are alienated from God life is defective to the core; if we are right with God everything else will ultimately come together for good.

King David had everything going for him and blew it. He was popular, wealthy, athletic, powerful and loved. He was so loved by his military leaders that they insisted he stay in his palace rather that go to battle. They were willing to risk their lives and die for him but did not want to put him in danger. While they were fighting David lusted for the wife of one of his top officers. He seduced her and she became pregnant. To cover his adultery he ordered that her husband be sent to the front lines and abandoned to fight alone. He was killed in battle. David sinned, committed adultery, murdered his lover’s husband and betrayed the people of Israel.

Here’s what David wrote in his journal when he faced his guilt:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight . . . . (Psalm 51:1-4)

What’s he thinking - - - “Against you and you only”? As if this only has to do with God! What about the woman he seduced? What about the husband he murdered? What about the officers and army he betrayed? What about the nation that believed in him and trusted him? David had sinned against a million people and he says, “Against you, you only, have I sinned”!

While David’s behavior was reprehensible, his theology was pretty good. He realized that when we sin we mostly sin against God. Our lies and lusts, our anger and arrogance, our vices and violence offend God even more than they hurt our families and friends.

More than anyone or anything else, we need the forgiveness of God. God has been good to us, and we have been bad to him. That is at the center of our human need. Even if we do not realize it or recognize it, we need the forgiveness of God.

David picked up a pen for his journal another day and wrote in Psalm 32:1-5:

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

When David ignored the need for God’s forgiveness and kept silent he was miserable. But when he confessed his sin to God and received forgiveness his whole life changed. The same goes for us. Life at its core is miserable; our souls ache even though we don’t quite know why. The problem is that we need for God to forgive our sins.

The question is—how do we get the forgiveness we need from God? On God’s side, he gave his Son to die on the cross for our sins. God couldn’t just say, “Skip it; you’re forgiven!” because that wouldn’t be fair (and God is always fair!). So God sent Jesus to take the consequences of all our sins. That’s why and what happened when Jesus died on the cross. It is the basis for God’s offer to forgive all our sins.

On our side, we confess our sin and trust God to forgive us. I John 1:8-9 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” To confess sin is to agree with God about what we have done wrong.

Let’s try it. Think of two specific sins you have committed that you would like to get rid of. Tell God that you agree with him that these two sins are really sins. Tell him you are sorry. Ask him to forgive you.

Are your sins now forgiven? Probably. You see, we have done what God says needs to be done. God promises he will forgive us. And God keeps his promises. However, I say “probably” because I fully recognize that some sins take more than a minute to confess. Some sins require longer conversations with God. Some require tears of regret. All require repentance and the genuine desire not to commit the same sins again. It’s not that God is trying to make it hard but that we need to be sure we really do confess, believe and accept forgiveness—not just go through a quick religious ritual and perhaps casually repeat that sin again later. When we confess our sins we should have a resolve that we are finished with whatever we have done that is unacceptable to God.

A second need to be forgiven is by others. That may be a whole lot harder to get than the forgiveness of God. Others are not as anxious as God to forgive and often have strings attached. We must do what is right and then leave the final decision of giving forgiveness up to them.

Jesus describes a situation where we go to worship God and realize that we have sinned against someone else. Jesus says we should stop our worship and go to that person and ask for forgiveness. The illustration appears in Matthew 5:23 in the Sermon on the Mount:

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

The principle is a simple one: if we have sinned against someone else, we should go to that person and ask that person for forgiveness. The actual asking may get complicated because relationships are often complicated. It may require repayment of money that was borrowed. It may require making some promises. It may mean that we have to humble ourselves. It could be hard. It may even be embarrassing.

And it may take some forgiving by us. Jesus taught us to pray that God “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” In other words, relationships get very mixed up. In business, marriage, family and most relationships there are offenses flying in both directions. Don’t wait for the other person. Forgive whether you have been asked to or not.

David Augsburger is a counselor and author. He tells the story of a client who yearned for relief from guilt over an extra-marital affair with his wife’s best friend. He said he couldn’t tell his wife because she would never forgive him or trust him again; she would slap him and he would lose his temper and it would lead to the end of their marriage.

Augsburger said that maybe he could accept God’s forgiveness and promise to never be unfaithful again and somehow he could get relief from his guilt. He accepted God’s forgiveness and went home thinking that it was best not to put his wife through unnecessary pain.

The next day his client was back and Augsburger knew immediately that he had told his wife and that somehow everything was all right.

“It was after dinner,” he said, “when she asked me point blank, ‘What is it about you tonight? You’re like you haven’t been for years.’ What was I to say? I was, well, speechless. And before I knew what I was doing, I blurted it out. I told what I’d done to her and to the kids. Told her it’s all over between me and her best friend.”

“She sat, head in hands, until it was all out. Then she asked, ‘Is it really true?’ ‘Yes’, I said. ‘And is that all?’ ‘Yes.’ The silence flowed by.”

“Then she stood, stepped over behind me, and touched my hair. I looked up to see her eyes all tear-shiny.”

“ ‘I forgive you,’ she said. ‘Let’s start over from here; let’s go on with life together.’ ”

“It was too much for me to take. Then—then I saw that I was trembling; my teeth clicked for a moment before I caught them; everything blurred.”

“ ‘Why,’ she said in surprise, ‘why, you’re angry.’ I nodded my admission. ‘You wanted me to hit you, didn’t you?’ Slowly I admitted the truth.”

“ ‘No,’ she said, ‘I wouldn’t hit you; that would only have justified everything you did. And it might have touched off both our tempers for the last time. No, no, I forgive you. That’s our only hope if we’re ever going to live together again.’ ”

“That’s when the healing happened,” the man told (Dr. Augsburger). “Her forgiving me like that, well, it broke my heart, or it broke down my last resistance, my last self-justification. You see, I was still blaming her and her work and busy schedule for my unfaithfulness. And her forgiveness was so unexpected, it was like she reached into resources I didn’t know she had and forgave me. She gave me back my life.”

Let me add a warning to that story. Not everyone against whom we have sinned will forgive us. That’s their choice, not ours. Sometimes we may not be able to seek the forgiveness of someone we have harmed because they have died or will not listen to us or because going to that person may cause even greater harm.

The lesson here is that we need forgiveness. We need to do everything within our power to confess our sins and to seek the forgiveness of others regardless of whether or not they choose to forgive. And, if they do not forgive, let us decide in advance that we will forgive their lack of forgiveness toward us.

Our third need is to be forgiven by ourselves. Amazingly, we may seek and receive the forgiveness of God and of our neighbor but refuse to forgive ourselves for what we have done. Eighty-six percent of Americans pray to forgive others. Ninety-two percent of Americans pray for forgiveness for themselves. Let’s be sure to get the order straight. It is self-deception and cheap forgiveness for us to start with ourselves and skip God and others. Forgiveness of ourselves will never be real unless we put God and others first in the forgiveness process.

To forgive ourselves is to admit and regret what we did wrong. It is to acknowledge that we are willing to do whatever needs to be done to make the wrong right again. It is to then let go of the consequences against us just as we would let go of the consequences against someone who had sinned against us. It is an agreement we make with ourselves to move on to a better future rather than continue to dwell in a past failure.

St. Paul was a man who had a lot to regret. He was a troublemaker, a persecutor of Christians and a murderer. Even after he became a believer he didn’t always treat others well. He was a sinner against God and against his neighbors—and he knew it. In his own words he considered himself the chief of all sinners.

Paul had to decide if he was going to beat himself up for his past sins or move ahead in God’s forgiveness and grace. After God and others had forgiven him, would he forgive himself? He wrote what he decided in Philippians 3:12-16:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Every Christian who asks for the forgiveness of God has attained it. God “is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Now, let us live up to that forgiveness from God by forgiving ourselves. As God has forgiven you, forgive yourself!

We all need forgiveness. It is just too hard, too painful, to live with sinful and unforgiven souls. So seek and receive the forgiveness that we need—from God, from others and from ourselves. And then, having received that forgiveness, may we live joyfully in the freedom of the forgiveness that is ours in Jesus Christ.

Parenthood is a good example. When our children are young God expects us to be responsible for caring for them, keeping them safe, nurturing and training them. But when they are grown and on their own, we need to let go and trust God for the outcome.

It’s a mistake to be either over-controlling or totally passive. Better than either of those extremes is taking responsibility for the things that God expects of us and trusting God for all the rest.

Anxiety is a normal part of life. A small amount shows your genuine concern about people and things, but a high level is disabling and destructive.

So what’s the best way to deal with anxiety? Listen to the Bible’s straightforward advice: "Cast all your anxiety on [God] because he cares for you." The Bible acknowledges that anxiety is part of our lives, but it invites us to give our worries to God. Why? Because he cares for us!

Moses and Jethro, his father-in-law, lived over three thousand years ago, yet we can learn from their relationship. When they first met, Moses knew nothing of desert survival and Jethro taught him the skills he needed. Forty years later it was Moses who led Jethro to faith in God. Then it was Jethro who gave Moses some helpful administrative advice.

Moses and Jethro helped each other succeed. The Bible says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” God wants us to be like Moses and Jethro – sharpening the abilities of others to help them succeed.

I suspect that was precisely the case in the relationship between St. Paul and Timothy, a young man Paul mentored. In the years following Paul’s martyrdom, when Timothy faced problems he must have asked himself, “What would Paul do?” Paul had said, “Follow me as I follow Christ,” and Timothy followed his example.

We all need to find and follow mentors like Paul whose example will show us what it means to follow Jesus throughout life.

If you find yourself in a “behind the scenes” position – if you feel like your boss or your spouse is getting all the glory while you do all the work – remember David’s mighty men. God used their loyalty and service to establish the throne of David and the royal line that produced Jesus.

“What do you want in life?” is both a basic and important question. Some of us really don’t know. It isn’t that we are unwilling to try, it’s that we don’t know what we’re after. Some of us spend all our lives chasing after money, career, power, relationships, sex or health in the hope that if we get what we’re chasing it will turn out to be what we really wanted.

One thing is for sure: we always want something. Peter Drucker is probably the best-known name in modern management. He is wealthy, successful, famous and still married to his life-long wife. In an interview awhile back he said that people his age (he is now in his 90’s) no longer pray for a long life; they pray for an easy death. This is the story for all of us— we always want something. It’s the way we are wired.

Our list is long, but one “want” tops all lists. We all want love. St. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 13:13, “ . . . faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

When children were asked what love is they gave some interesting and touching answers:

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name if safe in their mouth.”

“Love is when someone hurts you, and you get so mad, but you don’t yell at them because you know that it would hurt their feelings.”

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay.”

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and just listen.”

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.”

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”

And last of all, “you really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

Descriptions of love are endless. Definitions are more difficult. That’s because we all experience love differently. Love includes feeling special, belonging, being safe, respected, appreciated, valued, treated right and much more.

The reason we all have a deep need for love is because we were all created that way by God. The Bible says, “God is love” (I John 4:8). Love is essential to who God is and what God does. God loves and God wants us to love him.

God created humans in his likeness and that included both the capacity for love and the desire for love. As fish were made for water and birds were made for the air, so we were created for love.

Whenever we lack love we somehow instinctively, intuitively, know that something is missing in our lives. We may not be able to pinpoint it or define it, but we know that we’re incomplete. We know that something is missing even if we can’t quite name what it is.

The Bible begins by telling about a loving God creating a loving couple and putting them in a safe and perfect place called the Garden of Eden. It was a place without worries, threats, diseases or death. It was a place where Adam and Eve could be themselves and totally enjoy the love and goodness of God.

But, if you know the story, you realize that Eden was lost to sin and to tragic choices. And ever since then we humans have had this deep yearning to go back—to be safe, to be whole, to be ourselves, to be secure in the love of God and one another. Some of us search for this basic need in all the wrong places and in all the wrong ways. We make life worse rather than better. And it’s all because we just want to love and be loved.

Deep inside we all want to be safe. We want to be respected. We want to be valued. We want to be touched and appreciated. Love validates us as persons. It is powerful, transforming and affirming to be loved by someone and to give our love to someone in return. Just look at someone who’s in love and you can often tell. You can tell in their facial expressions. You can tell in their attitude and a demeanor. It changes all of life. It’s no wonder that we want love.

To satisfy our desire for love we need to understand how love works. First, we need to understand that love is actions more than words. Although words are valuable and important, behavior is more important. In the New Testament in I John 3:18 St. John writes, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

We all know too many stories of people who glibly say, “I love you,” and then turn around and behave badly with lack of love, unkindness and abuse. Whether in your family or among friends, always measure love be actions more than words. I Corinthians 13 provides one of the most eloquent descriptions of love in all human literature although it never mentions saying, “I love you.” All the descriptions of love are actions:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Very early in the morning on Monday, July 29, 2002, nine coal miners were rescued from 240 feet under the earth near Somerset, Pennsylvania. They had been trapped down there for 77 hours. It was the first time in 30 years that there was a successful rescue.

During those three full days underground they were in cramped quarters with cold rising water that sometimes was up to their noses. They shared one sandwich between them. They wrote goodbye notes to their families. They thought they were going to die, so they decided they would tie themselves together so that their bodies would all be found.

At one of the emotional low points in their ordeal, 43-year-old Randy Fogle started to shiver and experience tightness in his chest. The other nine feared he was having a heart attack or suffering from hypothermia. So they decided they would keep him warm with their own body temperature. They took turns hugging him and they hugged each other. According to Blaine Mayhugh, age 31, “When we were cold we would snuggle.”

I don’t know what your picture is of a Pennsylvania coal miner, but I didn’t even think that “snuggle” was part of their vocabulary. As much as I try I cannot picture coal miners deep underground snuggling with one another. And I’ll tell you what else I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine that in the darkness, with the possibility of death so near, that they whispered in each other’s ears, “I love you!” But they DID love each other—with actions more than words.

Love is also value more than beauty. In other words, the love we want is a love that does not depend on our good looks or the money we have or the position we hold or the power that is ours. We do not want to be loved just because of what the other person can get out of us. We all know that beauty fades, bodies age and it is a dangerous thing to be loved for our money. We just want to be loved for ourselves.

St. Paul wrote in Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The Bible is clear that the greatest evidence of God’s love is the action of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, coming and dying for us—and it was while we were still sinners!

When I was a little boy I was given a stuffed elephant named Dumbo. He was white with ears that were red on the inside and button eyes. I don’t remember him much from my childhood but he is often by my side in old family pictures. He looked amazingly good in his youth. His fur was smooth and clean, he had both eyes and (as stuffed elephants go) he was good-looking.

My mother saved him and gave him to me after Charleen and I were married—she got Dumbo and me! As the years passed he increasingly showed his age; he was blind in one eye, patches of skin were missing and he was a dirty color. It seemed it was time to throw Dumbo away.

Then our daughter Jill claimed him. Jill is now grown, married and has a daughter of her own. And if you were to visit her New Jersey home you would see Dumbo prominently displayed. I can’t imagine her selling him for any price. Dumbo is still loved—not because of his looks but because of his value. And the reason he has value in Jill’s home is because of Dumbo’s relationship to her father.

That’s the way love is—value more than beauty!

Love is also received as much as given. As important as loving others is in our lives, we first need to receive love.

Gloria Chisolm is an author who writes about love, admitting that she was herself a closed person. One day a very good friend said to her, “I’m no longer going to talk to you about God’s love until you open your heart. Your heart is closed, and nothing is getting through. I’m wasting my breath and time.” That became a turning point in Gloria’s life. She realized that she had closed out the love of God and she deliberately decided to open her heart.

There are many of us who keep love out. The truth may be that we have good reason to be closed because we’ve been hurt. We’ve loved those that have abused us. We’ve loved those that have abandoned us. Once we’ve opened up and become vulnerable and then been hurt it’s hard to open up again. But that’s exactly what we need to do if we are ever to get the love we want and need.

The first century Christians in Corinth had this problem. They wouldn’t open up to love. Here’s what St. Paul wrote to them in II Corinthians 6:11-13:

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

That’s a word for us today. We must choose to open up, to take the risk, because love is received as much as given.

But love is given as well as received. Love doesn’t go just one way. Loving and being loved are so closely connected that sometimes it is hard to distinguish which way it’s flowing. I John 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

When I was a teenager too young to drive I bought an old car at a nearby gas station. The price was good even if it had no brakes and had to be towed home. One day I was working on the engine and could not get it to start. The battery was charged; there was plenty of gas. Nothing I tried worked.

Then my father walked out of the house and offered to help. I knew he knew nothing because he was in his 40s and really old. He looked under the hood and told me that the ground wire wasn’t connected to the coil. I had no idea what he was talking about and assumed he didn’t know what he was talking about either. But after he left I connected the loose ground wire and the car immediately started. He was smarter than I thought!

Electrical systems need to be grounded to work. Electricity is invisible. Electricity is powerful. The circuit has to be complete. It’s the same way with love. God loves us and we love others. When we are grounded the system works! That’s what it means in I John 4:12 when it says, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” His love is grounded in us.

Love is a triangle: God, others and us. We open our hearts and choose to receive the love of God. God loves us even though we are sinners. God loves us because he is full of love and he has decided we are worth it. We fill up with love from God and then we love others even though they are sinners. The circuit is complete. We are loved. We are grounded.

This is described in I John 4:16-21:

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

There is so much more that is taught within the Bible about love. We just can’t cover it in such a short time. So maybe what we need is a simple summary:

1.) We all want love.
2.) God loves you.
3.) Open your heart to receive the love of God.
4.) Love others as God loves you.

Our Father we thank you for your great love in our lives, the
love that is ours through Jesus Christ. Please help those of us who are
closed to open wide. Help us to take the risk and receive all the love that
you have for us. And may that love flow through us and complete the
circuit as we love others. In the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen

Psalm 37:4

Mary Poppins is a movie classic about life in nineteenth century London. One of the characters is an uptight prim-and-proper banker who really doesn’t enjoy life. One day he brings his son to the bank and, because of his son’s misconduct, the dad is summoned before the owners of the bank. It is an awful, wonderful day when he decides that he is going to change his style and begin enjoying life.

That’s what we all want to do—enjoy life! Some of us seek enjoyment from a prison of perfectionism. We are so busy doing everything just right that we have lost our joy along the way. Some of us seek enjoyment from day-to-day chaos. Our lives are so completely out of control that we wonder if we will ever be happy again. But all of us share the desire for a good life—a life with some magical mix of contentment, purpose, peace, happiness and joy. Joy most of all! We simply want to enjoy life.

You may be surprised to learn that the reason we want enjoyment is that God designed us for enjoyment. When God was plotting the motherboard of humanity he wired in a desire for joy. That would have been a cruel design if God had not also provided the resources for us to enjoy life.

Listen to the summary of creation that is written in the first chapter of the Bible:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

God designed a world for enjoyment, with personal relationships, marriage, sex, family, fish, birds, plants, food and more. Then God stepped back and checked out everything he had made and saw that it was very good. God enjoyed us humans and the world he put us in, and he enjoyed the prospect of our enjoying what he had made.

When a musician performs, when a poet writes, when an artist draws a masterpiece, when you give a back rub—the purpose is to give enjoyment to others. When the recipient of our creativity says “thank you” we respond by saying “I’m glad you enjoyed it!” That’s the way it is with God—he is glad when we enjoy life as he designed us to enjoy life. We say “thank you” and God says, “I’m glad you enjoyed it!”

It is especially important for us to realize that God designed us for enjoyment because there are experiences in life that are deeply troublesome and the troubles of life can steal the enjoyment of life. Jesus is the one who said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus left heaven and came to earth. His purpose was to follow up on what God had done in creation so that the purposes of God might be fulfilled, and that includes our enjoyment of life to the full.

But this same Jesus also said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Troubles are an inevitable part of our world and our lives. Strange as it seems, we will never really enjoy life until we understand the inevitability of troubles. Everyone has them. They have been around since the Garden of Eden. They are going to continue for the rest of our lives. There is no escaping trouble.

We often try to eliminate trouble from life. We exercise and eat right to stay healthy and avoid the trouble of sickness. We save money and buy insurance to protect against the trouble of poverty. We choose our friends, raise our children, get an education and plan our lives to be as trouble-free as humanly possible. We treat others in ways to minimize life’s problems—either by being very nice with the hope that everyone will be nice back or by being very mean with the hope of protecting ourselves from others’ evils. We convince ourselves that if we work hard enough and long enough we can get past the troubles of life and then we’ll be home free.

Living a good life is commendable. Just don’t think it will eliminate trouble. Athletes die. Vegetarians get sick. Billionaires can end up bankrupt. Children raised in the best possible way can turn out wrong. Sometimes we are betrayed by those we treat the best. We will never escape troubles in life. They are part of the sinful world in which we live and they are woven into the fabric of every human biography.

Wow! This sounds terribly bleak. It’s hardly what you would expect to hear when we’re dealing with enjoying life. That’s exactly the point. Unless we understand how to deal with the troubles we are never going to enjoy life as we are supposed to.

So how do we fit all of this together? There are three powerful concepts. They are contentment, delight and joy.

Contentment aligns expectations and circumstances. Let’s take a look at how this works. Advertisers tell us that a typical American is exposed to 3,000 different ads per day. If you sleep seven hours a night and don’t dream ads that’s about 180 ads per hour or three ads per minute. These ads are designed to trigger discontent. They invite us to want cars, houses, vacations, jobs, computers or relationships that we don’t now have. It is impossible to acquire all that looks appealing to us. Not only do we not have enough money, we don’t have enough time.

We have a choice: control our expectations or control our circumstances. Some of us try very hard to control life’s circumstances. We seek to do it all—perfect grades, perfect bodies, perfect weddings, perfect houses, perfect jobs, perfect lives. But, no one can pull it off. Some seem to do better than others but often they are the ones with the highest expectations and therefore have the biggest disappointments. Not one of us is capable of controlling all of our circumstances.

Try personalizing the concept. Think of something that reduced or eliminated your enjoyment of life this past week. What did you do? Many of us tried very hard to change the circumstances so that we would be happy. We worked hard to get more money, to change jobs, to fix relationships, to get rid of pain and to solve our problems.

Discontent is especially epidemic in our generation because our expectations are so high. Advertising gives us the impression that we can all be perpetually young, strong and good looking. Modern medicine has so many successes that we all expect to live very long healthy lives. We have idealized marriage to the point that we think there shouldn’t be any troubles in marriage, and when there are we are tempted to abandon that relationship.

All of this is ironic. We live at a time of greater prosperity, longer life expectancy and more resources than any generation in human history. At the same time we may enjoy life less than most other generations because our expectations keep rising faster than reality can keep up.

Contentment is the alignment of expectations and circumstances. If we cannot change our circumstances to match our expectations then the other choice is to change our expectations to match our circumstances. In old-fashioned terms: “Be content with what you have.”

Imagine how much more enjoyment there would be in life if we chose to be content with the job we have, the person to whom we are married, the money we earn, the bodies God gave us and most of the rest of life’s circumstances. I propose a 100% increase in the enjoyment of life if we actively adjust expectations to circumstances rather than always try to adjust circumstances to expectations. It was St. Paul who wrote in Philippians 4:11-12:

. . . I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

What an interesting choice of words: “ . . . I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Apparently St. Paul was once discontent. His expectations were out of control. He understood the concept of contentment and then deliberately learned and chose to adjust his expectations to his circumstances.

This is a powerful truth, and it will work pretty much for anybody. You don’t have to read the Bible or believe in God or be a follower of Jesus Christ. If you change expectations to match circumstances you will experience contentment and life will be a whole lot more enjoyable. But there is something more that works only for Christians. Consider the words of Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Here’s how I used to understand these words: If you like God he’ll give you whatever you want in life. That seemed like a good deal to me. It’s also a rather selfish approach to a relationship—love God and you can use him to get wealth, health and everything else.

I remember the day I understood these words in a totally different way. I was a seminary student working part-time as a church youth pastor. College students came home for the summer and I was teaching their class. One student briefly spoke about the meaning of the words and said that if we make God the delight of our lives he will control the desires of our hearts and change our hearts to desire the right things.

Why didn’t I think of that? I was the pastor (sort of). She was a college sophomore. I remember the room we were in, her name and where she sat. While I doubt she would recall anything about this, she had a major impact on my life and thinking.

What if our hearts’ desires were to change to what God wants us to desire and then God gave us the fulfillment of those desires? Then God becomes the goal of life and we get everything we want and need. Then we can truly enjoy life in a way that would otherwise be impossible.

This is not only the best way to truly enjoy life; it is the only way to truly enjoy life. Make God your heart’s desire. Love him. Pursue him. Please him. When you and I delight in God he will cause us to desire what is good and right.

Jesus said the same thing in a different way in Matthew 6:33: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” The context of Jesus’ words includes food, drink, clothes and getting over the worries of life.

We frequently talk about having the right priorities in life. Students of language say that the word has changed. Centuries ago the word only appeared in the singular. There was no such word as “priorities”; the only word was “priority”. Only one priority can top the list of life. Jesus says that those who want to really enjoy life should have the priority of God.

What would that look like? We think about God. We love God. We consider God in every detail of our lives—the car we drive, the attitudes we have, the words we speak, the relationships we have. God is more important to us than time, money, health, friendships, business deals, vacations or luxuries.

But it’s more than just thinking about God; it’s delighting in God—thrilled with who he is, loving what he says, amazed by his goodness, believing him in everything, looking for his hand in everything that happens. And when we delight in God, he changes the desires of our hearts and we enjoy life.

I’ve known people who have hated their jobs until God changed their desires to love their jobs. Some have never wanted to see a husband or wife again and God changed the desires of their hearts to fall in love all over again. People disliked the place where they lived until God changed their heart to prefer that place more than any other. These are those who came to truly enjoy life!

The greatest opportunity to live out these teachings of the Bible is not in the easy parts of life but in the hardest parts of life. What we need is a joy that is for all seasons, designed to celebrate the best, but also strong enough to survive the worst.

What if we could have a joy that lasted even through the greatest difficulties of life? Not that we would ever say that we “enjoy” being sick, experiencing disaster or facing death. But it is possible to have joy even in these difficulties. Jesus’ brother, James, wrote in James 1:2-3, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” These are the words of someone who so totally delights in God, adjusts expectations to experience contentment and truly believes that God is good even when life is bad that she even has joy that floats her through the bad days.

Ground fault interrupters are those often-misunderstood little switches in the middle of bathroom and outside outlets. They are designed to shut off the electricity rather than allow you to have a shock that might kill you.

Recently I couldn’t get an appliance to work and I was in a hurry. I was inconvenienced until I figured out that the GFI needed to be reset. While bothered by the inconvenience I was glad that the GFI worked. I was happy about what I was sad about.

That’s what the joy of Jesus does in a Christian. We experience the goodness of God in the troubles of life. We are happy God’s grace works. We are sad about the problems we face. We rejoice in what went wrong. It is like a test. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”

We received a long-distance phone call to our home this past week from the dad of an adult son who shared with us some difficult news about his son. This son has made some poor choices in life and has faced his share of problems and difficulties. For the better part of four decades these parents have prayed for their son to come into a right relationship with God and for his life to be what God wants it to be.

He has not felt well over recent months. He tried many different medical remedies, but just a few days ago he had an MRI that showed a large mass on one of his lungs. He has been given a list of possible causes, but even the best on the list isn’t very good. So this is a very heavy time. It’s about as bad as things can get.

But this dad went on with joy in his voice to talk about what has been happening in his son’s life. His relationship to God has been transformed. He has come close to Jesus Christ in a way that he never was before. He has a peace and a contentment that has his father flabbergasted as he witnesses what his boy is going through. It’s both at the same time. In the same sentences, with fluctuating tone of voice, this dad talks about this great difficulty and this supernatural joy.

I am fascinated by the stories I hear from persons who have experienced great trauma. Cancer survivors, those who have been assaulted and those who have suffered near-death experiences. Sometimes they are individuals who have been given a prognosis that tells them exactly how many more days they have to live.

They say that the world looks different now. They are not in so much of a hurry. Things that once seemed all-important now seem unimportant. The colors of flowers are more vivid. The coldest days of winter don’t seem so bad. Their families are more precious. And their relationship to God is the highest priority of everyday life.

These people are totally enjoying life. They are living out all the principles we have considered. They fully understand the enjoyment God designed them to live. They have experienced the troubles of life firsthand. They are content and they delight in God. In spite of their circumstances they are the dream come true.

Every time I hear this I think, “Can’t this be done without an accident, without cancer or without trauma?” Can’t we truly enjoy life as God intended without having the tires shot out from under us?

The answer is yes! That’s precisely what God wants. He wants us to choose to enjoy life, to choose to align expectations with circumstances and to be content. Choose to delight in God and let him give you the desires of your heart. Choose to live the joy of Jesus Christ in the midst of difficulty.

St. Paul said it well in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Enjoy life. Live it to the full. That’s what Jesus said.

This Sunday is Father’s Day. We know that God values the role of fathers, because he chose to refer to himself as God the Father. What better time to reflect on how your father’s wisdom has impacted your life and to tell him how much he means to you.

But life can’t be explained so simply! Just as no one event guarantees success, so no one mistake a father makes is likely to ruin a child for life.

As dads we don’t want our children to suffer the hurt we’ve gone through. But, you know, that’s not possible. God works in our lives step-by-step and our children need to learn by the same process we did. Think how long it has taken you to get where you are today, and give your children time!

Seeing him there made a profound impression on me. In some ways, he had a lot going against him as a father. He was an immigrant with a physical handicap which made people stare at him. And I don’t think he knew how to relate to teenagers particularly well. But what impressed me, and made the difference to his children, was that he was a father who loved God and took his parental responsibility seriously. His number one priority as a father was to live for the Lord. He got it right!

Most of the Christians in the Roman Empire were slaves with no political power, but they lived out their Christian convictions. They valued women, rejected abortion and divorce, helped the poor – and they changed the empire. Over a period of three hundred years paganism died out and Christianity triumphed.

How we live is important to God and transforming to others. Rather than despair over the state of our culture, let us live lives of faith so that we may do for America what those early Christians did for Rome.

One day when the verbal assaults began during pre-game practice, Boggs walked over to the edge of the field and asked the fan if he was the one always yelling at him. The man said, “Yah, what of it?” Boggs pulled out a new baseball, autographed it and gave it to his antagonist.

The Bible says, “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other.” And that’s exactly what Wade Boggs did. His kindness changed the angry man from an adversary to a fan.

In 1985, Michael J. Fox starred in a movie called Back to the Future. The plot centered on the fantasy of time travel. He and his scientist friend traveled back in time aboard their DeLorean sports car to the time when the lead character’s parents were teenagers. The story line assumed that if someone could travel 30 years back in time and change the past that the future would be changed as well.

Of course, that was fantasy, make-believe. Yet, it’s a fantasy that many of us would like to turn into reality. Imagine what it would be like to step back in time and be able to forever alter the worst decisions you ever made.

What if the convicted murderer could go back in time and unpull the trigger? What if the dropout would return to school or the failed marriage would never have taken place or the crippling accident would be avoided or the addictive drugs would never be taken? Or, what if the family money that was invested in portable typewriters could instead go into Microsoft stock? If only the missed opportunity could be seized.

If you could travel back in time and change just one thing about your life, what would it be? It can be a sad feeling to wish for a life that could have been but never will be.

What if you are a Christian and you missed God’s best for your life? God had a plan for you to be happily married, to have a meaningful job, to be a positive influence in the lives of others. God wanted you to live a good and a righteous life. You had your chance and missed God’s best. There is no going back and you wonder if there is any hope for Plan B or if you must go to your grave with regrets because of what might have been.

In past studies we have learned about the sovereign will of God, the revealed will of God and the personal will of God. We learned that most of what we need to know is already in the Bible and that God invites us to pray for wisdom to apply his revealed will to our specific situations. We learned, too, that God loves us, God wants the best for us and God has a plan for our lives.

What do we do if we defied God, ignored his will, did our own thing and now it’s too late for God’s Plan A? What if we have married the wrong person or followed the wrong career? What if we bought the wrong house or joined the wrong church? What if we made other bad decisions that have turned life in the wrong direction?

Before tackling these very important questions we need to make sure that we do not confuse the difficulties of life with missing the will of God. Too many people assume that life was meant to be fun and easy. When life gets hard we feel cheated and look for someone to blame. Some blame God; some blame others; some blame themselves.

The truth is that life is hard for most people. Everyone has problems and pains. Everyone has disappointments and difficulties.

In some cases, following the will of God is the harder path to take. The truth is that if we had done what God wanted it might have been a far more difficult life than we currently have.

The will of God is more about how we live than about the situations we are in. Don’t worry that you may have married the wrong person. The question is how you behave as a Christian married to the person you married? Don’t worry whether you have chosen the wrong career. How do you work for Jesus in the job you have? Don’t worry that you don’t have more money. Do you handle the money you do have in a way that pleases God? God says little or nothing about who we marry, what we do for a living or where we live, but God says a great deal about how husbands and wives treat each other, the way we work on the job and how we represent Jesus wherever our address may be.

No matter how great our mistakes and regrets are about yesterday there is nothing we can do to change the past. The call of God is to live Christianly today and tomorrow. One of the greatest opportunities to live for God is seen in how we deal with what we have. Even if your present situation is one that never should have been, what is God’s will for honoring him now?

In an extreme example, imagine a murderer on death row who is now a Christian. Yesterday cannot be changed, but that Christian inmate can and should live from today to execution day according to God’s will for what is left of his life.

Some people think they have missed the will of God and they haven’t. A common mistake is to compare to other people rather than truly knowing God’s will. Because a sister is married, a brother makes more money or a neighbor has a higher career rating does not mean that is what you should have. It is altogether possible that you are exactly where God wants you and that he is calling on you to live for him in ways that would not be possible if you had a different spouse, different children, a different job or some other circumstance.

With all of that as background, let’s focus now on those who have missed God’s will for their lives and know it. This is the person who deliberately ignored or defied God’s revealed will. As a Christian, he knew he was not supposed to marry a non-Christian, but he married her anyway. She wanted the job so badly that she lied on her resume and got the job God never wanted her to have. They entered a lawsuit against another Christian that God didn’t want in a secular court. Someone has harbored a bad attitude against an enemy when God said to forgive. He became rich by taking unfair advantage of the poor: charging high interest rates, underpaying employees, taking greedy advantage of the law in business. Another has damaged health and relationships with alcohol or drugs. He or she has harbored and nurtured a bad attitude and critical spirit that has repeatedly hurt innocent people.

To keep this practical, let’s get personal. Is there a specific situation in your life where you have missed the will of God? Keep that area in mind as we consider three steps toward regaining the will of God in our lives.

First on that list is repentance. Repentance is being genuinely sorry, admitting we were wrong and committing to turn around and go in a different direction. Repentance is a change of mind, attitude and actions.

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and told them about the tremendous and powerful transforming value of repentance. He said in II Corinthians 7:10-11:
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.

We live in a culture that promotes a victim mentality that assumes someone else is responsible. Repentance is taking responsibility for our actions rather than blaming others. It is much more than being sorry when things turned out poorly. It is saying it was our fault.

Genuine repentance can bring powerful transformation. In past generations the evidence of repentance was lengthy weeping before God. While I don’t think it is necessary to cry for three months, those who genuinely repent before God are more likely to lie on the floor and pray with tears than they are to pray a quick prayer to get it over with.

In the United States there are often two parts to a capital criminal trial. The first part is to determine guilt and the second part is to decide the sentence. Juries often look for evidence of remorse when making the sentencing decision. If juries can tell if someone is truly sorry and repents, so can Go and so can we.

Jesus told one of his most famous stories in Luke 15:
There was man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’” So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. “Your brother has come,” he replied, “and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.”

The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

“My Son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Jesus’ famous parable of the Prodigal Son is a story about deliberately disregarding the father’s will and then coming to repentance. He came to his senses. He saw things differently. He admitted he was wrong. He was humble. He blamed no one else. He made no demands.

When we have missed God’s best for our lives, we should repent. We should come to our senses and admit that what we have done is wrong. We should be humble and genuinely sorry. We should take responsibility and ask for forgiveness. Decide to go in a new and better direction. And, tell God!

Is repentance hard? Sometimes it can be indescribably hard. Yet, repentance may be the key to unlock the prison door of past sins and enter the freedom of a whole new life with God. Repentance can be revolutionary and good.

Related to repentance is repair. When we have done damage to ourselves and to others we can do our best to fix what we have broken. Sometimes it is as simple as saying, “I’m sorry.” Go to the person who was injured and apologize and ask for forgiveness. The other person may be a parent, former boss, neighbor, ex-husband or wife, teacher, patient or friend.

If the other person won’t talk to you, send a letter. If a letter won’t work, go through a mutual acquaintance. If the other person is dead, consider going to the cemetery and standing by the grave to say, “I’m sorry. She won’t hear you, but it is symbolically the best that you can do.

Sometimes the repair is restitution - paying back what was taken. Zacchaeus was a first century tax collector who cheated and stole from taxpayers. Then he met Jesus Christ and had a total change of direction. He repented of what he had done wrong and promised to make things right. Luke 19:8 says that “Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

The point here is not that we have to repay 400% of what we have stolen but that we do whatever is necessary to repair the damage that we have done.

What comes to mind for you? Is there anyone you need to go to and make things right? An apology? A repayment? How about repairing someone’s damaged reputation?

Some common sense is needed here. Don’t fix what isn’t broken. You may have harbored evil thoughts concerning someone but that person doesn’t even know it. It’s probably not a good idea to call and say to your best friend, “I’ve always thought you were a first class loser and I never have understood why I ever liked you in the first place.”

Don’t do something that will make matters worse. If you were unfaithful to your wife 50 years ago it’s probably not a good idea to confess your sin on your Golden Wedding Anniversary or on a deathbed. Some attempted repairs do more damage than good.

Don’t do what’s easiest for you. Do what’s best for others. Do everything you can to make things right and make things better for anyone whom you have harmed.

Some things can’t be fixed or changed. If you have married someone you never should have married, stay with that marriage and do your best to make it good. If you have run up debts that you never should have entered into, you are obligated to pay that money back. If you have murdered someone, you may apologize to the family but you can’t bring the victim back.

The principle is straightforward. If we have missed God’s best for our lives, we should repent of what we have done wrong and try our best to make it right. When in doubt about what to do, remember the promise of James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

After repentance and repair comes renewal. It is time to move on to God’s best for the future. Some call it Plan B. That’s fine in the sense that it would have been better to do what God wanted in the first place. But, never think that God’s present will for our lives is second rate. God has a perfect and powerful will for right now and for the future.

If God wanted you to be a missionary and you chose to be a manager, be God’s missionary where you now manage. If God wanted you to remain single but you went ahead and married, build the best Christian marriage you can with your husband or wife. If God wanted you to be honest and you decided to become a thief, even though you may spend the next ten years in jail, live for Jesus Christ behind prison bars.

The most important issue for the present and the future is not what happened in the past but how we do the will of God with what we now have.

Jonah was the Old Testament prophet after whom one of the books of the Bible is named. Unfortunately, he is most famous for an unexpected ride inside a fish. But the story before and after the fish is really more important. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to deliver his message to a sinful people. Jonah didn’t like the people of Nineveh so he headed in the wrong direction – he deliberately disobeyed the will of God. God intervened, gave him a fish ride and had him vomited up in the right direction. God got Jonah to Nineveh. It was Plan B, but it accomplished exactly what Plan A originally intended.

The nation of Israel was repeatedly told to avoid idolatry and disloyalty to God, and yet they worshipped idols and were repeatedly disloyal until God allowed the armies of Babylon to sweep across their country, destroy their cities and take them into captivity. Plan A was lost; but they pleaded with God for Plan B. They thought that meant going back to Jerusalem and to their homeland. Instead this is what God told them in Jeremiah 29:10-14:
“When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “ and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

The Prodigal Son was welcomed home by a father who loved him no matter where he had gone and no matter what he had done. The father in Jesus’ story was just like God, anxious to make the very best for the child whom he loved.

Hear this loud and clear: God loves us and wants the best for us. If he needs to kidnap us and scare us with a fish to get us where we need to be – God will do that. If he needs to carry us away to some foreign land to bless us there – God will do that. If he needs to welcome us home from a life of total disaster – that is what God will do.

We can totally trust God. If we mess up and miss Plan A, we can repent and repair and be renewed. We serve a God of hope. We belong to a God of second chances. We are followers of Jesus Christ who came to seek and save those who are lost.

Let’s consider the case study of Jeremy Mullins who grew up in the family-owned manufacturing business. He worked there as a teenager. When he went away to college, he worked in the factory during summer vacations. After college he became a permanent employee. It’s the only job he ever had. When his father died of a heart attack, he inherited the company.

Some of the employees have worked for the company all their lives. They have been loyal through recessions, salary reductions and job offers to go elsewhere. And Jeremy has tried to reward them with job security and good pay.

It’s a family business in more ways than one. Jeremy’s father and grandfather before him owned the company. But it feels like a family, too. Most of the hundred or so employees and their relatives have known each other almost all of their lives. Some of their parents and grandparents worked there before them.

Now Jeremy Mullins faces one of the most important decisions of his life. In the same week, two opportunities have come his way. The first is from a company in Florida that wants to hire him for a high salary and significant stock options. He could earn a great living without all the headaches of being the top boss. His financial future would be secure.

The second offer came from a multi-national company that wants to buy his business and close it down. They really want his company’s name, reputation and patents, but they don’t want the current employees and management.

Selling, taking the new job and moving makes good economic sense. Besides, none of his own children want to enter the business, and he would eventually have to sell the company anyway. If he waits until retirement age the company may not be worth much because of competition, or it may be worth more and could be sold to the employees. It could go either way. If he sells now he will make a fortune but force all the employees to look for new jobs.

Jeremy is a Christian. He’s committed to doing what God wants. So what should he do? There are risks either way. There will be criticisms either way. If he sells and moves, some will say he is greedy and selfish. If he stays and keeps the company going, some will say he missed the opportunity of a lifetime and tried to make next year into 1952.

We all face important personal decisions that can be difficult to make. Our decisions may be in the area of business, health, housing, finance, career, politics, family, neighborhood, church, school, dating, marriage, friendships or any of the other relationships of life.
Some people may be hurt and angry or disagree no matter what decision we make. We can see both sides of the issue and are frightened we will make a mistake that will haunt us for years to come. We want God to tell us exactly what to do, but he doesn’t give us the handwritten letter from heaven that we would like to have. Time is limited. Doing nothing is a decision of its own and may be the worst possible decision.

How should a Christian go about making important personal decisions? Honestly, it’s not an exact science. We usually have to choose without knowing all the facts. We won’t always get it right. But we do have significant help from God that teaches us how to decide.

First on the list is to always start with God. Tell God that you want to do his will no matter what. Commit to do what is right, even if that is very hard to do. Let there be no doubt in your mind or in God’s mind that his will and his way are top priority.

Just the opposite is to start out with your mind made up and then tell God to help get what you want. Lots of people do that and are disappointed or angry with God for not giving them their way.

As Christians we have committed to be followers of Jesus Christ. We seek to be like the New Testament Christians who willingly called themselves “slaves of Jesus Christ” and resolved that they would do his will even if it meant suffering and death. We take seriously the counsel of Proverbs 3:5-6 where it says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Tell God, “I trust you. I believe in you. I’m depending on you and your help, not upon myself.”

Next, get the facts. We need good information in order to make good decisions. We need to avoid jumping to conclusions. We need to avoid making decisions based on ignorance or false information.

Proverbs 15:14 says, “The discerning heart seeks knowledge.” Knowledge is necessary for wisdom. We must know the facts in order to make a good decision. Bad information often leads to bad decisions. Usually we cannot get all of the information we would like. That’s one of the reasons we need God’s help. Often we need to decide before all the information is in.

Third on our list is to research the Bible. Most of what we can know about the will of God is already revealed in the Bible. A powerful teaching in II Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

God has already put into the Bible everything we need to know in order to be equipped to do what we need to do. The Bible is our source book and the reference book for what God wants us to know and what God wants us to do.

Another section of the New Testament, II Peter 1:2-4, helps to explain the same concept:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world caused by evil desires.

God has already given us in the Bible everything we need to live good and godly lives. We don’t have to search the world for God’s will; we have it. We need to search the Bible where God’s will is already recorded for us to learn.

The question is how do we find out what the Bible has to say? The obvious answer is to read the Bible. Every Christian should make a regular effort to read God’s word. If you read three or four chapters a day, you’ll read the entire Bible in a year. If that’s too much, then read a page or half a page each day.

Mark your Bible. Underline the concepts and truths and advice that specially stand out to you. Carry your Bible with you to church and write notes in the margins. Mark your Bible so that you can more easily find the information you need when you need it.

Learn how the Bible works. Buy or borrow a study Bible with indexes and marginal notes so that you can easily look up what God says about marriage, borrowing money, raising children, getting along with neighbors or how to behave in stressful circumstances. Buy some Bible research software for you computer. Take a Bible and for an hour or so just learn by yourself how to find what you’re looking for. Like a lot of other things in life, a few minutes reading instructions can go a long way to getting the greatest benefit.

The bottom line is to research the Bible and know what it has to say about the decision you need to make.

Number Four is to seek wise counsel. This can go hand-in-hand with Number Three because wise counselors often know what the Bible says and can help us discover God’s will in the Bible. Proverbs 13:10 says, “Wisdom is found in those who take advice.”

Let me tell you my own experience. I have found that there are good and godly Christians with enormous wisdom and vast experience. They know the Bible and they have deep insights. When I face challenging and difficult decisions, I go to those who are wise and ask for their advice. It doesn’t mean they are always right. It doesn’t mean that they can make my decisions for me. But, they are gifts from God toward knowing what to do. I can barely imagine making an important decision without first consulting with wise and godly Christians.

Just as it is important to study the Bible before we face a crisis, it is also important to know wise Christians before we face a crisis. Building relationships, becoming connected with other Christians in the church, knowing who to ask and who to trust is an important part of making wise decisions in life.

Here’s a quiz. If you were to face a very important personal decision next week, who are three godly wise Christians you could call for counsel? Be sure that your list of three is not just good buddies who will tell you what you want to hear. Pick people who will tell you what God wants you to hear!

Number Five on the list is to pray for wisdom. Knowledge has to do with facts. Wisdom is how we use those facts. Wisdom is about being smart. But, we are looking for God’s smarts, not human smarts. It is the application of God’s truth and God’s will to our specific situation.

There is an interesting example in Proverbs 26:4-5. At first reading it almost sounds silly and contradictory. Proverbs 26:4 says, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you’ll be like him yourself. Proverbs 26:5 says, “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.” The truth is that sometimes we need to keep quiet when a fool speaks; and sometimes we need to answer when a fool speaks. It depends on the particular fool and the particular situation. So how do we know what to do when? We need wisdom.

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” This is one of the opportunities for Christians to have a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. We pray for wisdom and the Spirit gives to our heads and hearts the wisdom we need to apply God’s will to our specific situation.

A word of caution is important here. If someone claims to have wisdom from God that contradicts the teaching of the Bible and the counsel of godly wise Christians, that person is probably wrong. All of the pieces should fit together in order to get the complete picture of God’s will and God’s wisdom. We should be highly suspicious of persons who claim they have a word from God that is not incompatible with God’s Word.

Number Six is to make a decision. To this point we have done everything we can do and asked God to help us in every way he has promised. It is time to actually decide.

The question here may seem overly simple: What seems to be the right thing to do? You have committed this to God. You have gotten the available facts. You have researched the Bible. You have sought wise counsel. You have prayed for wisdom. Okay, what do you think you should do?

If “doing what seems right” sounds a little less spectacular than you expected, listen to what the Bible says in Acts 15:28. The early church leaders were trying to decide if Gentiles had to become Jews to become Christians. Acts 15:28 says, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements . . . .” How did they decide this very important issue? They did what seemed good to them.

Paul and Timothy had been traveling together as missionaries around the Roman Empire. Now they were trying to decide whether they should stay together or split up. According to I Thessalonians 3:1-2:
So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith.

How did they make this decision? They thought it was the best way to handle the matter.

In the opening lines of the third book of the New Testament, the book of Luke, St. Luke has accumulated all this information about the biography of Jesus. He’s a physician and an historian, and he’s trying to figure out what to do with this information. Luke l:3 says, “Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you.”

The reason we have the gospel of Luke is because it seemed like a good idea one day, but it was based upon this overall context.

Once you have decided what seems right, make a preliminary decision about what you are going to do. Don’t tell others yet. Tell God in your prayers that this is what you have decided. Ask God to show you if you are wrong. Ask God to confirm the decision if it is right. Live with the decision for a few days or weeks – as if you’re going to do it, but allowing for the possibility of reconsideration and change.

Then finalize your decision. Conclude that this is what you are going to do and proceed to do it. Rest in the confidence that you have done everything in your power to seek and do the will and wisdom of God. Tell others what you have decided.

Then, implement the decision. Do it! There may be doubts and criticisms, but now is the time to act. And do it Christianly. Colossians 3:17 says, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Do what you have decided to do. Go for it. Trust God to stop you if it’s wrong and help you if it’s right. Depend on him.

Those of us who are Christians are to live by faith. That means that we trust God for what cannot be seen. It means that we follow the process and then depend on God to turn our decisions and actions into his great good. Romans 8:28 says, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

As Christians making important decisions we have a process and a presupposition. The process is to commit to God, get the facts, research the Bible, seek wise counsel, pray for wisdom, make a decision and implement that decision. But it’s all based upon this presupposition: God loves us; God wants the best for us; God is always on our side.

Deep down inside, most of us know we should be nice to people whether or not they are nice to us. Look at the example of Jesus. He was kind to people everyone else ignored. He had contact with lepers – even though the rest of society shunned them. He welcomed outcasts like tax collectors and prostitutes into his circle of friends. He fed the hungry, healed the sick and wept for the dead.

But that doesn’t mean that he was weak or naive – to the contrary, he was strong. Jesus used his strength to be kind to others – and that’s what he wants us to do.

The reality is that most of us are caught in a whirlpool of change. Our bodies are changing. Our families are changing. Our finances are changing. Sometimes it seems as if everything is changing. Of course we have stress!

Even though the constant change in our lives brings stress, it also provides us with an amazing opportunity to trust in God – the One who said, “I the Lord do not change.” When we’re trusting in God, we can draw strength from his stability. He gives us the strength to deal with our stress.

So how does God fit into all of this? Is he caught by surprise? Is he merely dragged along by the forceful currents of change in our world? The Bible makes it quite clear that, unlike the world, God does not change. He knows everything in advance and he’s in complete control.

The recognition that God is in control calls us to take responsibility for things we can control and to trust him for what we cannot control. Whether the changes in our lives bring extraordinary happiness or unspeakable pain, God is in ultimate control and he is trustworthy.

The same is true of the rest of the Bible. God has gone to great lengths to make his truth understandable to us. The Bible contains teaching on a vast array of topics, but its central purpose is to bring people to belief in Jesus. It says:

“These [words] are written that you may believe that Jesus is …the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
It’s profound, but it’s simple.

Unfortunately, there are those who apply the same approach to the Bible. One such false assumption is that the Bible is written in code. For example, someone once claimed that because the words “shake” and “spear” appeared in the text of one the Psalms, that proved it was written by Shakespeare. This kind of silly approach can be used to prove anything.

So, don’t spend your time looking for some deep secret in the Bible, hidden to everyone but you. Seek the straight truth of God.

He called to tell me that his car wouldn’t start. I asked him if the engine turned over when he turned the key, and he said it did. I asked him if the car ran okay the last time he drove it. He said that it ran just fine. When I asked him if he had checked to see if there was a spark, he said he didn’t know what I was talking about and had no idea how to find out. So I asked him if the car had gas. He said he’d have to check. The fuel gauge read “empty”, so he bought a gallon of gas, put it in the car and it started just fine. He was looking for a hard answer when the answer was quite easy.

We often do the same thing when it comes to seeking the will of God. We pray and struggle and search for what to do when we haven’t done the obvious. Sometimes all we need to do is what we already know to do.

Not that discovering the will of God is always easy. Sometimes it’s very hard. I can tell you from personal experience that there have been times when I have pondered and prayed for a very long time trying to figure out what God wants me to do.

Actually, the will of God is revealed in three different ways in the Bible. Let’s call them different flavors.

Flavor #1 is the sovereign will of God. The sovereign will of God is what God wants and what God gets. By sovereign, we mean that God is the absolute boss. If he decides that something is going to happen, it is going to happen – exactly the way he wants it to happen.

Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon in the 6th century BC. He summed up the sovereign will of God very well in Daniel 4:35:

(God) does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”

For the most part, God doesn’t tell us what he is going to do. His sovereign will is his secret until he does it. There are only two ways for us to learn the sovereign will of God: 1.) Prophecy – when God tells us in advance what he will do, and 2.) History – when we can look back and see what God has already done.

What is our personal and practical relationship to the sovereign will of God? I certainly take great comfort in knowing that God is in charge! Beyond that, we need to always remember that our plans are tentative and ultimately dependent on what God wants and what he does.

In James 4:15 we are told:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

This is a reminder to us that everything we plan and do is subject to God’s sovereign will.

The second flavor is God’s revealed will. This is when God tells us what he wants us to do. On an everyday, practical level, this is the most important flavor of all. God tells us in the Bible what he wills for us to believe and do.

I John 2:17 says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the (one) who does the will of God lives forever.”

We know from the Bible that it is God’s will for us to believe in Jesus Christ and commit to him as Savior and Lord. God has revealed to us that Christians should profess their faith in Jesus Christ through baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In the Ten Commandments God tells us that his will is for us to not have idols, tell the truth, never steal and don’t commit adultery.

In I Thessalonians 4:3-5 we read:
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.

And, there are other verses where we find God’s will for our lives. I Thessalonians 5:18 reminds us to “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” In I Peter 3:17 we are told, “It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” II Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.” And Ephesians 5:18, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

The Bible tells God’s will about husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees, paying taxes, obeying the laws, studying the Bible, and much more. It is very interesting that the Bible says little or nothing about the career we’re to follow but a great deal about how we’re to behave in our jobs. God has not told us whom we are to marry, but he has told us how to have a Christian marriage. We are not instructed on which highway to drive, but he has clearly instructed us about controlling our anger (when in stressful driving situations).

Imagine someone asking God to reveal his will about which apartment to rent or which house to buy or which car to lease. God replies by asking, “Have you been baptized?” “Have you asked forgiveness from that person you hurt?” “Have you paid your taxes?” “Have you told the truth?”

I sometimes wonder if God doesn’t think to himself, “I’ve revealed my will to you on dozens of important matters and you haven’t listened. Why should I tell you what to do when you don’t listen to me anyway?” Most of what we need to know about the will of God is clearly spelled out in the Bible. We need to read it, and we need to do it.

That brings us to the third flavor: the personal will of God. This is when God gives specific direction to individuals. He tells a person how to decide a personal issue.

Joseph faced the toughest personal decision of his life. He fiancee, Mary, was pregnant. He knew that he was not the father. He agonized over what to do and was leaning toward breaking off the relationship. God gave him personal direction.

Matthew 1:20 tells us, “An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’” That was a revelation of the personal will of God to Joseph in that specific situation.

St. Paul was in Jerusalem with threats against his life. God revealed to Paul that he should leave Jerusalem and go to Rome. In Acts 23:11 we are told, “The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, ‘Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.’” The personal will of God for St. Paul was that he testify about Christ in the capital city of Rome.

Throughout the Bible, and at times since then, God has given direct, specific declarations of his will to individuals. However, it is relatively uncommon. It is not the normal or usual way for God’s will to be discovered.

The Internal Revenue Service sometimes gives individual tax rulings (or letters) that tell you what to do in completing your annual income tax return. However, most of us can find out what we are supposed to do by just following the instructions that come with the tax return forms. In other words, the general instructions are adequate for tens of millions of taxpayers, but a few dozen or a few hundred sometimes receive personal instructions. Those personal letters apply only to those taxpayers to whom they are addressed – they don’t apply to everyone.

God has given to us the instruction book of life called the Bible. For most people, most of the time, it tells us most of what we need to know. Sometimes God gives personal, special instructions to individuals - information that applies directly and personally to them.

There’s something else interesting in the biblical examples of God revealing his specific will to individuals. For the most part, they never asked. There is no record of Joseph asking for an angel to tell him what to do. There isn’t a record of Paul requesting an appearance of the Lord to tell him about going from Jerusalem to Rome. These were initiatives from God more than requests from individuals.

It’s helpful for us to understand the relationship between God’s will and God’s wisdom. God has revealed enormous direction for our lives in the Bible. He has told us what he wants and how we are to live. What we most often need is wisdom to figure out how to take this information from God and apply it to the specific situations of our lives.

Proverbs 16:16 says, “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!” Proverbs 24:14: “Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” Ephesians 1:7-8, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” James 3:17, “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

And then James 1:5-6 talks about a situation where we have the revealed will of God, but we’re not sure how to apply it to our own lives and we’re wondering if God might be upset with us because we haven’t figured it out. There we are told:
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave on the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

We sometimes misunderstand how to discover the will of God. We pray for God to show us where to go on vacation, which church to attend or how much medicine to take. What God wants us to do is listen to the Bible, obey what he says and then use wisdom to apply his revealed will to our situation.

Let’s suppose you’re trying to figure out whom to marry. God has already revealed that he doesn’t want a Christian to marry an unbeliever. We know God’s will about that. God has already revealed that husbands and wives are to submit to one another, to treat each other with kindness and to provide physically and spiritually for the family. We know God’s will about how to live inside a marriage.

But we don’t know whether to marry a specific person. What do we do? We should not expect a personal revelation from God that says a specific name. Rather, we should ask God for wisdom to make the right choice. Within God’s revealed will and with God’s gift of wisdom we are to make the choice that will please God and be best for us.

God wants us to commit to him. In fact, he wants us to make the decision in advance to do whatever he wants us to do. Pray with Jesus, “ . . . not my will but thy will be done.” Pray and say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

God wants us to know his revealed will. We read the Bible. We go to church and listen to the teaching. We do everything we can to know what God wants. Ideally, we learn what God wants before we need to know.

The time to learn CPR is before you need to use it. Generally, it’s not good to have to go home and look up CPR in a book when someone is lying unconscious on the floor. It’s the same with the will of God. Study it in advance!

God wants us to accept Jesus as Savior. He wants us to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit. God’s will is that we love our neighbors as ourselves, forgive our enemies, tell the truth, be kind, avoid gossip, be generous with our money and share the gospel with others.

Ninety-nine percent of God’s will is already fully revealed and available to us for our everyday lives. The question is what are we going to do with what God has told us?

God told the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:3, “Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.”

The Old Testament prophet Samuel taught that, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”

I John 3:21-22 says, “We have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” And I John 5:3 tells us, “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” (Don’t misunderstand. God is not asking us to be perfect. God is not saying that he will withhold his personal will or not give wisdom because we have ignored or disobeyed one of his commands.)

It’s really quite simple. To discover God’s will means that we listen to what he has already told us, and that we seek to do what he says. It is out of this context of listening and obeying that God gives us the wisdom and direction for every decision of life.

What is the specific area where you would like to know the will of God right now? Here’s the deal – pray and ask God to give you the wisdom you need to know what he wants you to do. But, also promise God that you will do your best to obey what he has already told you. If there is sin in your life – ask for forgiveness and quit it. If there is something God wants you to do that you’ve been putting off – decide right now to do it as soon as you can.

These teachings about the will of God are based upon material we covered in a previous lesson, but it needs to be reinforced for those who have heard it before as well as for those who have not. It is that our discovery of the will of God for our lives grows out of three essential teachings of the Bible: 1.) God loves us; 2.) God always wants the best for us; 3.) God has a plan for our future.

Be assured that God wants you to know and do his will more than you could ever want that for yourself. God is on your side; he always has been. He loves you passionately and seeks your best with all his heart.

May God’s will for you be clear, and may God’s best be your life’s story!

Sometimes the choices we have to make are between wonderful alternatives. It’s time to change jobs, and you’re ready to move to a new location. Two job offers come your way. They both triple your present salary. But the choice has to be made between living in Aspen and Maui. Or, your car has really high mileage and it’s time to trade it in. The choice you find yourself making is between a new Mercedes and a new Lexis. And then you get a voice mail from your travel agent saying, “You’re all set on your trip to London. You have first class, but you need to call back immediately to let me know whether you want a window or an aisle seat.” How are you going to make all these important decisions in life?

But sometimes we must choose between painful alternatives. Should I take the job far from my family or stay near those I love with less than adequate pay? Should I have surgery that means I will never have children or risk losing my life to cancer?

Sometimes we have no choice at all. Our child is afflicted with a chronic behavior problem that has no definite diagnosis or treatment. My husband or wife is leaving the marriage and there is nothing I can do. The judge’s verdict was unfair and there’s no option but to suffer the consequences.

We ask ourselves, “Where is God in the midst of life’s most important decisions?” “Does God even care what kind of car I drive?” “Does it matter to him that all my alternatives seem to be bad?” “Does he care about the tragedies in my life?”

As Christians we want to discover the will of God. We want to do what is right, but how can we do what is right unless we first know what is right. Knowing the will of God is the cornerstone to all of life’s important decisions.

Unfortunately, we often skip the most important step to discovering God’s will. We want to go right to the answer. We want to know who to marry, where to work, how to invest or what to decide.

But we must start at the beginning by answering a simple but very important question. That question is do you believe that God is good? If we get the answer to that question right, then all the rest of the process relating to discovering God’s will begins to fall into place. Our answer will shape our entire approach to discovering and doing God’s will in our lives.

Don’t answer too quickly. Think about the huge disappointments in life. How do you reconcile the goodness of God with the death of a child, teen suicide, chronic pain, violent assaults or broken dreams? How do you reconcile a God who is supposedly good with things that are terribly bad?

It takes faith to believe that God is good when we often face evidence that God may not be as good as he’s supposed to be.

Before you decide that God is not good or before you abandon God in anger or disappointment, think about the alternative. If God is not good, we have no hope. If God is not good, we are on our own. If God is not good, evil is the ultimate victor.

The cornerstone in discovering God’s will is to believe that God is good and that he desires good in our lives. If we can truly believe in the goodness of God for our lives, everything else begins to fall into place. It is far easier to trust and obey a good God. It brings hope, encouragement and perseverance through chronic calamity when we are completely convinced of the benevolence of Almighty God.

One of the most amazing teachings in the Bible is that God loves us. It’s not because we are so lovable, because we’re not. God loves us because he’s a lover at heart and he chooses to love us.

There are two unhealthy but common misunderstandings about the love of God. Some people refuse to believe that God loves them because they see themselves as too unlovable. Some interpret the circumstances of their lives as proof that God is an unloving enemy rather than a loving friend.

Other people take God’s love for granted. They consider the love of God to be a basic human right. They interpret love as always making them happy. They think that God works for them and that God’s job is to make life fun and easy.

The simple truth is that God really loves us. He loves us whether we love him or not. He loves us enough to always seek the best for us, even if that is hard and harsh. He loves us every day in every way. His love is the most amazing gift anyone could ever believe or receive.

My mother-in-law died unexpectedly this year. Her death became a time of reminiscing and storytelling. I learned some things about her that I had not previously known although I had known her all of my life.

Lillian Alles grew up in a difficult family situation. Her parents had an unhappy marriage. There was a lot of sadness and dysfunction and chronic problems with alcohol in her family. When she reflected back on the time when she became a Christian she said, “I never felt loved until I experienced the love of Jesus Christ.”
She was transformed because she was loved. Just for who she was. She may not have gotten it from her parents. She may not have gotten it from her family. But she got it from God.

I John 4:9-10 says:
This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

I’m the father of four children. While it is unimaginable to me that I would sacrifice the life of one of my children for you, let there be no doubt that if I would do that for you, I would do anything for you. It should be obvious. If God loved us enough to give his Son, God loves us enough for anything else.

I John 4:16 says, “We know and rely on the love that God has for us. God is love.”

As Christians, we want to know God’s will for our lives. As Christians, we assume, we believe, we are convinced, we completely trust and we rely on the love that God has for us. In every agony and in every ecstasy of life, we always begin with the premise that God loves us.

We know it's a fact. And that fact leads to the experiential feelings of another great truth about God: he wants the best for us. God is always on our side. God always seeks our good. God always understands what we are facing. God always desires the best options from which we may choose.
There are days when this is difficult for me to believe. Those are the days when I’m stressed, when it seems as if everything is going wrong, when I’m scared, when I feel alone. I can wonder if God wants the best for me.

There are days when I wonder about the problems faced by other people. I remember my friend with terminal cancer. I think about the missionary shot down and killed when her plane was mistaken for that of a drug runner. My heart breaks for the couple with infertility. What about the hard worker who can’t get a good job, or the single parent who gets ripped off by an unscrupulous salesperson? Where is God when a child is abused and scarred for life? Does God care about the parents who are bankrupted emotionally and financially by their child’s chronic problems? Is it really God’s will when the honest politician loses the election, or when the innocent defendant is convicted and sent to prison? Where is God’s best on those days in those lives? If God really wants the best for us and the worst happens, does that mean that God doesn’t care or that God can’t do anything about it?

I know the usual answers because I’ve said them a thousand times. The answer that some good purpose will result from this that you just can’t know now. Or that everything will work out later in wonderful ways you can’t foresee. Someone will come to Christian faith as a result of what has happened. Or that God will use this to teach you some lesson that you would not otherwise learn.

I’ve said these very words. I believe them – I wouldn’t have said them if I didn’t believe them. Yet, they somehow ring hollow and inadequate when the pain is more than morphine can dull or when someone you love with all your heart has just died.

We need something more. We need to believe first of all, and most of all, that God wants the best for us. We admit that we don’t understand how that works. We admit that our belief in God’s goodness doesn’t always line up rationally with what we experience. It is a matter of faith. As Christians we believe that the Bible is telling us the truth in Philippians 2:13 when it says, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

This is the same truth when we are seeking God’s will for present and future decisions. When God tells us we should honor our marriage vows, be content with what we have, forgive our enemies, pray for others, give generously, avoid lawsuits against other Christians and don’t get drunk – God wants the best for us. God is never playing games with us, never trying to hurt or harm us, nor is he withholding good from us. God always, always wants the best for us.

When seeking God’s will on the college to attend, the person to date, the investment to make, the career to follow, the house to buy, the path to pursue – always begin with the assumption that God is on your side and directing you to his very best. “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

So Assumption #1 is that God loves us. Assumption #2 is that God wants the best for us. And, Assumption #3 is that God has plans for us. In other words, God has thought through what is best for us. He doesn’t just love us and want the best for us, he has figured out what our lives should be like. He has laid out the way he wants our biography to be written. He is the architect of our souls and lives.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.”

This wonderful promise from God is frequently quoted and often memorized. It was originally spoken to the Hebrew people when they were a defeated and captured nation in Babylon. If you read the entire chapter of Jeremiah 29, you learn some interesting things.

The people of Israel had gone through terrible tragedy. Their nation had been conquered, Jerusalem was devastated and most of them were forced to relocate cross-country to Babylon. They yearned to go back home. This is what they wanted. This is what they prayed for. This is what some false prophets predicted was soon going to happen.

God’s plan was different. He planned to keep them in Babylon for seventy years, which was more than the life expectancy of most of them. God told them to settle down, build houses, pay taxes and pray for the prosperity of Babylon as long as they lived there. God had it all figured out. He planned to leave them where they were, not where they wanted to go.

God told them: “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God has plans for us as well. He has a schedule that reaches into the future. He has a design to bring together the parts and pieces of our jobs, our homes, our relationships and our dreams. God’s plans are good plans because he loves us, because he’s a good God, because he wants the best for us. His plans are never to harm us, but always to do us good. His plans for our future are filled with hope.

In the future we will study more specifically how to discover the will of God. We will talk about exactly what God does and does not want us to do. We will discuss the difference between specific direction from God and wisdom from God to make right choices. We will consider how to make decisions on important issues.

But all of this is built on what we first believe about God. If we’re not convinced about his invariable goodness, we will never trust his direction. If we truly believe that God is good and that God wants us to know and do his will, we have already taken the first and most important step to knowing and doing the will of God.

Whatever the decisions are that you are now facing, do you believe that God is good? Do you believe that God loves you? Do you believe that God wants the best for you? Do you truly believe that God has plans for you, plans to give you hope and a future?

If all your answers are yes, you are ready to know and to do the will of God in your life.

Even the early Christians who had known Jesus personally didn’t always have certainty about what to do next. They took the information they had, prayed for wisdom, made the best decision they could and trusted God for the outcome. That’s called “living by faith.”

James, the brother of Jesus, who had more answers than the rest of us, wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God.”

I think if James were here today he would say something like, “Where the Bible is clear—be certain. When you don’t know—be careful. When deciding what to do—ask God for wisdom.”

It’s easy to be arrogant when you’re ignorant. Sometimes people think we know all there is to know about God because we have the Bible. But in reality, God has given us only partial knowledge. The truths about God in the Bible are real, but they’re only part of the story. God has revealed all we need to know to bring us to faith in him, but he leaves the rest a mystery. We’re to hold tightly to the truths of the Bible and leave the rest to him.

Issues of faith in God are in a different category. You see, Christian faith is a combination of certainty and mystery. Many things about God are clearly revealed in the Bible, such as how to have our sins forgiven, but we also have innumerable unanswered questions on issues where God has chosen not to speak. Both are matters of faith.

God has given us the answers to life’s most important questions— so let’s hold those answers with unwavering confidence. But God has left a million questions on his mystery list—treat those with humility and tolerance. Remember – God knows everything but tells only some!

But you see, it didn’t have anything to do with our daughter, how she looked or behaved, it was a mother’s love. Mother’s love flows out of who the mother is, not the lovability of the child.

And so it is with God’s love for us. It’s not dependent upon what we say or what we do; how we look or how we behave. It’s a love that comes from who he is. God looks down on us even at our worst moments and says, “I love you.” God loves us because of who he is. It’s God-love.

 
The underlying premise was that life is easier for Christians. But I haven’t found that to be true. Many people feel disappointed with God. They thought God would meet all their needs. Then came sickness and setbacks that really hurt and caught them by surprise. It was not what they thought the Christian life would be like.

We must beware of the myth that the Christian life is easy. It’s not. Christians are as vulnerable to mental illness, financial losses and family problems as anyone else.

God doesn’t promise to free us from problems, but he promises to stick with us and help us through our problems.

In the American Civil War there were 364,511 recorded deaths. That number is almost as many as the number of military deaths in World War II, although by the middle of the 20th century the population of our country was far greater. Therefore, the percentage of deaths in the Civil War was far more significant. There was hardly a family in the north or the south that did not have a father or a brother or a husband or a son die. Those losses were not easily forgotten.

Various southern states began a tradition of having one day each year when they would remember those from the Confederate army who had died. They called it Memorial Day, a day when they would set aside time to decorate the Confederate graves. Ironically, it was an officer in the Union army, John Logan, who picked up the idea and first declared May 30, 1868, as the day to remember the war dead and specifically to decorate the graves of those who had been part of the grand army of the republic.

As the holiday evolved changes came to include the war dead from future wars, not just the Civil War dead. Eventually it became a day of memory not just for those who died in wars but also for civilians who had died. Even the date changed so that the official holiday became the last Monday of May.

Personally, I find myself touched by the memory of those who have given the ultimate human sacrifice for their country. Charleen and I have visited cemeteries around the world where America’s war dead are buried. We’ve walked the long rows in the American cemetery outside Manila in the Philippines. We’ve spent time at Punchbowl Cemetery near Pearl Harbor where so many of the dates of death are the same. We’ve been to cemeteries along the East Coast of the United States, most notably Arlington National Cemetery, and spent time there reading the markers and wondering about the people. Our family has been to Fort Snelling on Memorial Day. After the public ceremonies ended we walked up and down the rows of markers, reading the names, the dates of birth and death and the branch of the service in which they had served. We wondered about their short lives, how they had lived and how they had died.

All this raises the question of what makes men and women memorable. Surely, we would not say it is primarily their deaths. I would hope we would say it is primarily their lives. And, if somehow it were possible for those whose bodies lie under the markers in these cemeteries around the world to come back, I am convinced that they would insist that they not be primarily remembered because of a bullet or a bomb that ended their days. They would far rather be remembered for who they were and what they did, the relationships they had or the words they spoke. Memories should be crafted far more out of life than out of death.

That brings us full circle to our own lives. At least sometimes we have wonder how we will be remembered. If we could attend our own funerals or read our own obituaries what would be said about us? How will we be remembered? Will we be worth remembering at all?

For the best of answers to these thought-provoking questions let’s go to the first chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians. There it describes the most memorable of Christians in the ancient Greek city of Philippi. It’s a chapter that combines memory with gratitude.

It’s true that there are those who are remembered without gratitude. In fact, there are some people long gone who are remembered with animosity if not with hatred. But that was certainly not true of these Philippians.

Candidly, I would choose to have people be grateful for my memory. I would like for their memory of me to contain thanksgiving.

The apostle writes in Philippians 1:1-11:

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Paul writes of two characteristics that made these Philippian Christians memorable. The first is that they shared together in a partnership. He writes in verse 3, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” But then he explains why he remembers them as he does: “. . . because of your partnership in the gospel. . . .”

The English word here for “partnership” is translated from one of the few Greek words that some who have not studied Greek but have been part of the Christian community may have often heard. It is the Greek word koinonia. But it’s hard to translate a single word from one language into a single word of another language. Koinonia is more than just a single term and it’s more than just partnership. It means association or fellowship. It is sometimes translated as “communion”, friendship or close relationship.

Let me try to communicate what koinonia means, not from a Greek English lexicon but from an English dictionary, with the definition of what is a partner. Actually, five different definitions are given. A partner is an associate, sharer or participant. A partner is a husband or a wife. A partner may be defined in terms of games as one who plays with another or others against an opposing team. A partner may be defined in terms of the law as one of two or more associates as joint principles in carrying on any business with a view to joint profit. Or, a fifth definition, one that I had never heard before, is the nautical definition of a partner: One of the timbers forming a framework for an opening in a deck to strengthen it for the support of a mast.

I think the Apostle Paul would have agreed to all of these definitions because they all describe something of his relationship to the Philippians. You see, the idea behind all of this is that it is seldom a casual and brief acquaintance or a single event that greatly impacts another person’s life or that makes that person memorable in the lives of other individuals. Rather, it’s the sharing of life. It’s a partnership. It’s joining together in association, teamwork, bonding. It’s that kind of a relationship that shapes the life of another person and then leaves the other person with a lifelong memory filled with gratitude.

But, if the apostle Paul were here I think he would strenuously object to an inadequate secular definition of koinonia or even partnership. He would point out that he was very careful in the selection of his words, saying that his memory of the Philippians was as a partnership in the gospel. And it wasn’t just because they all spoke the same language or lived in the same day or had traveled to the same places or had other things in common. It was that they were all one in Jesus Christ. Their loyalty was to the same Savior, the same Lord and the same truth. It was for that reason that they had this partnership together, a common bond in the Savior whom they all acknowledged. The rest of the letter to the Philippians is loaded with practical examples of how that partnership was practiced.

At the time of the writing of these words St. Paul was a prisoner in Rome. Certainly there must have been those who thought that if he was in prison there must be good cause for him to be there. In those days prisons were much like prisons in many countries even to this day. It was necessary for family and friends to take care of the individual and personal needs of the prisoner. Paul says that he was in chains. Probably, at least at times, he was chained to a wall or had his hands or feet chained together. But, in all probability, he was chained to a Roman guard and the guards would change on a regular basis. So, day after day he had neither privacy nor provision. His needs were great.

The Philippians were so concerned about Paul that they selected one of their own, a man named Epaphroditus, and asked him to leave his job, his family, his church and his city of Philippi and make the long journey across the empire to Rome so that he could minister to the personal needs of their beloved friend and partner, Paul.

The letter explains that they prayed for him, hoped for him, wrote to him, provided for his physical needs and provided money. When there was bad news, they wept with him; when there was good news, they rejoiced with him. They shared a partnership.

All of this seems so terribly distant, though. How does this kind of koinonia, this partnership, make us memorable today? How is this relevant to where we are and what we do? There’s a sense in which I struggle to illustrate that, not so much because of a lack of examples but rather because the examples are so numerous. I know very well the stories of partnership in the gospel that the people of Wooddale Church could tell. They are not my stories to tell in public but I can tell you in general terms what they’re like. There are those in this community of faith who have rejoiced with ecstasy over wonderful gifts from God. There are others who have experienced pain that most of the rest of us cannot comprehend. I’ve heard those stories. I’ve rejoiced with those who have rejoiced.

Often I have people tell me of the response of other Christians to their news, both good and bad. Almost without exception they tell me that others seemed more excited than they were over good news. They are absolutely thrilled. And somehow that escalates the thrill. And when the stories are of deep pain and distress other Christians were understanding and sympathetic giving assurance of their prayers and their love. Again and again I have had people tell me that when they have gone through difficulties they have found others within the church who have traveled the same path. Others tell of men and women who say, “I’ve not experienced what you’re gong through, but I want you to know that I care and I love you. If there’s anything I can do to help, I will.” There are many stories of people who have prayed, supported, loved and helped in all kinds of ways. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

If you would like to be remembered with gratitude, here are four practical suggestions. The first is to be a partner and not a loner. Get to know people. Share life with others, whether it’s the triumphs or the difficulties.

A second suggestion is to be a giver, not a taker. Continually think in terms of what you can do for others rather than what they can do for you. Regularly look for the needs of others and try to meet them. Relate to other people in such a way that you’re not wondering how they can contribute to your life but how you can contribute to their lives.

Next, be a sympathizer and not a critic. Imagine being in the other person’s situation. Don’t be critical of how that person got there but be understanding of that person’s pain or pleasure. Wonder what it is like; try to imagine walking in her or his shoes.

Be an encourager, not a discourager. There are plenty of discouragers in the world but there is always a shortage of those who will encourage. That’s one of the reasons the Apostle Paul so fondly remembered the Philippians and why he was so grateful for them. You see, Paul also had his times of discouragement. Maybe it’s hard for us to imagine that. We sometimes think that the saints of the Bible were these perfect people who did not deal with the ordinary problems that we face. We make a mistake if we do that. We are wrong if we elevate Paul or others to a spirituality that simply was not true. We minimize their humanity in a way that simply is not accurate.

Understand that Paul was in jail. He was in chains. His life was in jeopardy. He was accused of a capital crime. He was appealing to Caesar. It was his last resort. And after reciting all of his woes, he writes to the Philippians in 1:18 and 19:

And because of this I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

Do you want to be remembered with gratitude? Then be like the Philippians. Be a partner to other Christians, someone who gives more than you take, sympathizes more than you criticize, encourages more than you discourage. Do these things and you will be loved and you will be remembered with gratitude.

There is a second characteristic of the gratefully-remembered Philippians. It is not only partnership but perseverance. Paul wrote about their “partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. . . .”

The letter to the Philippians was written probably in AD 61. We estimate that Paul’s first journey to Philippi was about a decade earlier, in AD 50, 51 or 52. That means that ten years had past. A lot had happened in that time. If you read Acts 16 you will find that the Philippian church had a tumultuous beginning. When Paul and Silas first arrived in town there was no synagogue there. That was the usual place where they would begin their religious teaching. So they went out by a riverside where they found some God-fearers, Gentiles on the fringe of Judaism, praying. They presented the gospel and there were those who received Jesus Christ as Savior. But it wasn’t long until the authorities put Paul and Silas into prison. They severely and illegally beat them.

Paul was a Roman citizen. It was clearly against the law to beat him; but they never bothered to ask his citizenship. They beat him almost to the point of taking his life. With his wounds still open and in chains and in the deepest dungeon he demonstrated the grace of God as he and Silas sang hymns together. It was a wonderful thing.

As they were singing an earthquake rocked the prison and the gates flew open. The jailer feared for his life if the prisoners escaped; but they didn’t. The jailer and his family were added to the church as a result of those events and Paul and Silas’ response to them.

But Paul and Silas were clearly not welcome in Philippi, so a short time later they left the town and moved elsewhere. Paul traveled broadly. He was shipwrecked. He was beaten on another occasion and left for dead. There are some who believe that he actually died and came back to life again. He was criticized. There were those who said he wasn’t a very good missionary. Some claimed that he wasn’t even really an apostle and that he was simply pretending to be something he was not. Some of the deepest wounds were inflicted by those whom he loved the most. If you read the letters to the Corinthians you see that fellow Christians in the church at Corinth were most critical of him.

Then there was theological controversy which threatened to tear apart the first century church. Some said you have to work to become a Christian. Others claimed that you have to become a Jew first and then you can become a believer in Jesus Christ. Paul and others said, “That’s not true. Everything is by the sheer grace of God, through Jesus Christ. When he died on the cross he accomplished our salvation. It is full and free, simply for the accepting.” The church almost divided over that.

Yes, there were a lot of difficult times. But through all of them the Philippians stuck with him. They persevered. They maintained friendship, partnership, association, colleagueship. Not that they always agreed with him. Not that Paul was easy to get along with; he was not. But they hung in there. They persevered. They prayed for him. They supported him. They remained faithful friends. So when he wrote that it was a joy just to think about them he knew what he was talking about. He was reflecting back over a long relationship of good times and bad when they were always there for him. He was grateful for every memory of them.

There’s a powerful lesson here for us on impacting other peoples’ lives. It’s a reminder that it is seldom one single event that shapes another person. It’s not a word that was spoken or one particular event. It’s what takes place over years. In the same way that it takes a long time for an acorn to grow into an oak tree, so it is with a relationship that remembers with gratitude.

Parents who learn this lesson have the long optimistic view. They hang in there and wait for the day that may not come for decades when a son or daughter says: “Dad, Mom, thank you for believing in me when I was so unlovable. Thank you for praying for me and staying faithful to me.” That’s perseverance.

Husbands and wives need to have this long term view as well. Marriage is far more than romance, a wedding ceremony and fun. Both sides of the wedding vows come into play. There is worse as well as better, sickness as well as health, poverty as well as riches. Those who persevere find that the difficulties of life can become a bonding agent, a glue, for the partnership.

It is also a lesson for churches and for Christians. Churches have their ups and downs just as people have their ups and downs. Every church needs Philippian Christians who will remain faithful through both the good times and the bad times.

If you want to be worth remembering with gratitude here are a few suggestions to add to the list. Take the long view rather than the short view. Don’t judge life and others by a single occurrence but rather trust God to be the God of change. Really believe that God is capable of the kind of miracles that will transform another person’s life in the long run.

A second suggestion is don’t give up until God gives up. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, I am “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

The third suggestion is to be an anchor rather than a piece of driftwood. A lot of us tend to flow with the currents of the day. We need anchors, fixed points. Those who will be our partners and will persevere are dependable and constant through all the changes in life.

All of this is simply to say “persevere” so that at a later date people may say of you what Paul said to the Philippians: “I thank my God every time I remember you.”

I conclude with a personal word because my experience with Wooddale Church has been an amazing parallel to what Paul wrote to the Philippian church. The people of Wooddale Church have been partners with me in every good sense of koinonia, partners in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have persevered with me over the decades and I have benefited enormously from that perseverance. So, from personal experience I can say to the people of Wooddale Church, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every rime I remember you.”

May God bless you and grant you that kind of relationship with the church of which you are a part.

Another way of fighting was for each army to put forward a champion and the two would fight to the death. The familiar story of David and Goliath in the Bible was this type of battle. Armed with just a sling, 5 stones and his faith that God was more powerful than any giant, young David marched out onto the battlefield and killed the giant, Goliath.

When we are up against a formidable enemy, be it cancer, bankruptcy or divorce; may we, like David, stand up to the giant facing us and say, “I come against you in the name of the LORD.”

We can learn a lot about God’s design for marriage from the creation story in the Bible. The first couple, Adam and Eve, had it made. They had each other, a beautiful place to live, and a close relationship with God. But they wanted more. They disobeyed God and gave in to the serpent’s temptation to eat forbidden fruit. Then they blamed each other for the results. God had designed them to help each other and to build each other up. Instead, they joined forces to rebel against God.

I picture Adam and Eve filled with regret for the mistake that they’d made. But their mistake doesn’t have to be our mistake. The better way is for husband and wife to join forces to follow God’s plan together.

You know the list: natural disaster, disease, crime, social injustice – just for starters. And it’s not just world problems. Probably every one of us has faced some personal challenge this past week.

So what does God think of all this? Does he even care? The best evidence of how much God cares is that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we receive the promise of eternal life. We may still have problems, but we’re no longer dealing with them alone!

Have you ever wondered why God picked the ancient Jews to be his chosen people? It certainly wasn’t because their nation of Israel was a powerful nation; they were a small nation made up of slaves. It wasn’t because they were morally superior; they had a history of sin and rebellion. God chose them out of love.

There’s great comfort here for us. If we’re brutally honest with ourselves, we admit that we don’t have much to appeal to God. We have issues and problems. We’re sinners. Yet out of his love, God chooses us!

One story is told of a young boy who did very poorly in arithmetic at school. After noticing a startling improvement in his homework, the teacher called his parents. When they asked their son about it, he confessed that he was getting help from a white haired man in the park. The boy explained, “We’ve worked out a deal. He likes my jelly beans and I like the way he does my arithmetic homework.”

In a way, the friendship between Einstein and the young boy is a picture of God’s relationship with us. God knows way more than we ever will and has more important things to do than spend time with us, yet he delights in doing so.

There is indescribable ecstasy for a couple at the birth of a baby. Here is a new life that is uniquely theirs. A future all wrapped up in a tiny body with little hands and unfocused eyes. It’s almost as if a piece of immortality is given in an otherwise very mortal world.

Then come the days, months and years of bonding—of growing, sharing, laughing and crying. It is a lifetime commitment and relationship that nothing can end. Whether near or far, for good or ill, in success or failure, even death can’t erase that child from your heart and mind.

Most parents would not trade anything in the world for their children. Words cannot describe what a son or daughter means to a father or mother. But there are some problems that were never dreamed of when that little boy or girl was a baby. They are problems that never got a moment of thought when he was learning to ride a two-wheeler or when she went on her first date; problems that seemed impossibly remote during those super-busy years of school, church, sports, pets, hobbies and panicky trips to the emergency room. They are the problems that come when children grow away. For some these are the problems of a distant tomorrow; for others they are the problems of a painful today.

The first of these problems is the problem of the empty nest. In some ways the “empty-nest syndrome” is a modern phenomenon. When the patriarchs of Genesis were having children at and after age 100 their nests stayed full for centuries. Then for most of history parents have not lived long enough or far away enough for their nests to be empty for very long.

“Empty-nest syndrome” comes from that lost feeling when the last child leaves home. For the first time in most of their married lives parents are alone again. The once messy house is uncomfortably neat. The quiet yearned for is painfully deafening. The center of family activities is now gone. To many it is like a death and they do not know how to cope.

There are some realities that we need to recognize for that empty-nest time of life. The first reality is that it is a transition time. The emptying of the nest is one of the passage times of life similar to the major transitions of starting school, going through adolescence, getting married or beginning a family. It is a phase that most parents must go through. For some it is relatively easy. For others it is unbelievably difficult. For most, it is inescapable. Often it is complicated by other “passage points” in life such as menopause, job change, physical aging or retirement. When we recognize it as a normal transition of life we are better prepared to view the emptying of the nest as the ending of one important chapter of life and the beginning of another.

Parents who refuse to recognize the qualitative difference in relationships between their children as youngsters and as adults are in for the most difficulty. We must learn to relate as adults-to-adults rather than as adults-to-children.

Surveys of school age and adolescent children show parents to be the most important people in their lives—more important than teachers, teammates and even peers. But eventually that begins to change. When children grow up, move away, get married and raise families of their own, parents are no longer the center of life. We must recognize the reality that we will never again be as all-important to our son or daughter as we once were.

Nor are we still responsible! When children move away responsibility for themselves dramatically increases and parents’ responsibility dramatically decreases. This is hard for parents who once felt full responsibility for their children’s clothes, health, schoolwork, friends, spiritual life and everything else. While it is true that the sense of responsibility never fully disappears parents must recognize that their children are now responsible for themselves.

The Bible contains some interesting negative examples of parenting and it is pretty clear in its criticism of those parents. In Genesis 27 Mother Rebecca schemed and manipulated to help her son Jacob deceive his father Isaac and steal the blessing from his brother Esau. Her sons were grown and married but she couldn’t give up control.

Another example is found in Matthew 20:20-21. Mrs. Zebedee was the mother of two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John. She boldly asked Jesus to give the place of prominence in Christ’s kingdom to her two grown sons. She did not allow them to be responsible for their own lives. She did not face the reality of changed relationships.

When the nest empties it is not only the close of an old chapter but the beginning of a new one. Blessed are those who see the reality of new opportunities. There is a new freedom of resources in time, money, maturity and ministry. Exciting opportunities are available that were impossible when the children were at home. St. Paul writes in Titus 2:3, “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.” Paul is here describing a contrast. These older empty-nest women could give themselves to being irreverent troublemakers, slandering others and sitting around drinking alcohol, OR they could pass on to others the marvelous lessons God had taught them. The empty-nest should be seen as a reality of opportunity from God to do new and good and different things that were not previously possible.

None of this is to say that it is easy. This transition is very difficult for many parents, but Christians have a God who is adequate for every challenge. His grace is as sufficient for the empty-nest as for the labor room and the nursery. The difference between Christians and non-Christians is not that Christians lack problems and difficulties. The difference is that we have the resources of God. In Revelation 1:8 we read, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Our God is good and almighty for every season of life from Alpha to Omega, from A to Z. Parents must face the reality (and it’s a great reality!) of the adequacy of God for the empty-nest!

Bust we also must realize that there are pitfalls to avoid. James Dobson in his book 30 Critical Problems lists four. The first pitfall is isolation. He writes:

Do not allow yourself . . . to pull within the four walls of the house and cut yourself off from people. Keep up your social life even when the easiest thing to do is stay at home. Call your friends; they’re probably lonely, too, and get involved with them.

He goes on to say, “most loneliness . . . is not something others do to you. It’s something that you do to yourself.”

Next on Dobson’s list is the pitfall of inactivity. Inactivity is often the twin brother of isolation—it’s sitting at home and doing nothing. Often the isolated, inactive person rationalizes with health problems and other excuses. Actually, isolation and inactivity are more often the cause than the result of the problems. Dobson’s advice is the advice we have already read from the epistle to Titus . . . it’s to get out and to do something. Initially it may not even be critically important what that “something” is. Get a job. Do volunteer work. Take responsibilities at church. Become an adopted grandparent. Find other people’s needs and meet them! Just don’t become active meddling in the lives of adult children who need to strengthen their own wings!

Third on Dobson’s list is to avoid self-pity. He writes:

Avoid the pitfall of self-pity. That attitude will kill you, quite literally. Because no one can stand the awful thought that he’s not needed. I wouldn’t entertain it. That’s Satan’s lie. Start giving to others, bake something, send flowers, write a card. Begin getting into the world of other people.

Self-pity is really a form of the sins of pride and selfishness. It is making “self” the center of life rather than living for God and for others.

The fourth pitfall to avoid is what Dobson calls despair. It’s giving up. It’s saying that nothing good is going to happen and that life is hopeless. That is unacceptable for a Christian. Our God is a God of the future. With him there is always hope. When we give up hope we are calling God a liar and surrendering to sin. We must renew faith and have confidence in the God of tomorrow.

All of these pitfalls may be natural temptations for the person struggling with the transitions of the empty-nest. But that doesn’t mean we have to give in.

I am an experiential expert on poison ivy. In 7th grade I missed 3 weeks of school when I was covered from head to toe with poison ivy. It was awful. My arm was swollen to double its normal size; I had weeping blisters; it was in my eyes, between my toes . . . everywhere! What I wanted to do more than anything else was scratch, but I knew that scratching was the worst thing to do if I wanted to get better.

And the worst thing a parent suffering from the empty-nest syndrome can do is surrender to isolation, inactivity, self-pity and despair. If you want to get better and grab the great new opportunities, don’t scratch—no matter how much you want to!

A second problem that comes when children grow away is the problem of a heavy heart. There is no greater fear or heavier burden to Christian parents than spiritually wayward children. Most Christian parents would rather face disease or disaster than see their sons and daughters turn their backs on God. Adult children who live in sin, who reject Jesus Christ as Savior and who repudiate the ways of the Lord cause more sorrow for their Christian parents than absolutely anything else they could do. It is a burden too great for some to bear. Parents of children who have grown away from the Lord can fully identify with the Apostle Paul in Romans 9:1-5:

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Paul is talking about his fellow Jews, saying that they by right should have everything spiritually. They should know God, love God, be blessed by God and live for God—and yet they don’t. Paul responds with “great sorrow and unceasing anguish”, saying that he would give up his own salvation and go to hell if it would bring them to God: “I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.”

Christian parents of ungodly children could say the same thing. If anyone should love the Lord, worship him and live for him it is children who grew up in Christian homes, who went to Sunday School from infancy, who memorized verses and learned how to pray and study the Bible. If anyone should be godly, they should. Yet, some are not. So parents may have “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” to the point that they could wish themselves “cursed and cut off from Christ” for the sake of their children. It is a great sorrow to face with a heavy, heavy heart!

While there are no words to make that sorrow disappear there are important principles to remember. First of all, remember that God cares more about your children than you do. St. Paul loved his nation of Israel with all his heart, but he dared not forget that God told Israel in Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Paul loved his people enough to wish that he could be cut off from Christ if it meant that they would be saved, but Jesus was cursed on the cross for their salvation! Parents, never forget that God loves your son or daughter infinitely more than you do. He loved enough to sacrifice his own beloved Son for your child!

Next, remember that God can go where and do what parents cannot. Parents of wayward children particularly worry when their children are out of their sight. Often we are tempted to try and influence our children’s hearts from the outside. The reality is that we cannot be with our adult children all the time (or even a small fraction of the time!). We cannot convict our children of sin. There is no use trying.

But God can! Psalm 139:7-8 asks: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” And in John 16:8 we learn that it is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict of sin. Parents can’t do that. Parents can’t be everywhere. We can’t get inside our children’s hearts. But the God who loves our children more than we love them is everywhere and his Spirit does get inside hearts to convince of sin and call to righteousness.

A third principle is to distinguish between relationship and approval. Parents of wayward children may be tempted to cut off their relationship with their children so they don’t seem to be approving of the sin in their lives. That was not Jesus’ way. He continually associated with sinners even though he did not approve of their sin—so much so that he was accused of approving of sin and being a sinner himself.

Let me give you an example. The daughter of Christian parents marries a non-Christian in a marriage clearly forbidden by the Bible. I believe the responsibility for parents is to clearly and lovingly communicate their disapproval (if necessary—she may already well know!). But she is still their daughter. That may mean attending a wedding as a parent that you disapprove of as a Christian. But make every effort to maintain the relationship, to love and be a parent and do not assume that such a relationship connotes approval of sin.

Another important principle to remember is that we influence by life, not by domination. Too many Christian parents of grown wayward children try to dominate their children’s lives and pressure or manipulate them into righteousness. This is clearly not the biblical way. The biblical way to win others is by godly lives. I Peter 2:11-12 talks about this principle in general terms:

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

But then he applies it specifically to the home situation in I Peter 3:1-2:

Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

The way to win our children is the same as the way to win non-Christians anywhere. The way Christian parents influence wayward children is the same as the way Christian wives influence unsaved husbands—by living godly lives. In other words, back off on domination and manipulation and live a godly and gracious life before your children!

A final principle to remember is to keep the joy. St. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God has given us joy in Jesus Christ. We must not allow anyone or anything to rob us of that joy. We dare not let our children become the center of our lives. Jesus Christ must be the center of our lives. Only when Jesus is the center of our lives and the source of our joy will we be able to have our heavy hearts lifted and be able to best be God’s influence in our wayward children’s lives!

On November 13, 354 AD in Tagaste, Algeria, there was a son born to a heathen man named Patricius and a Christian woman named Monica. The son grew up to be a heavy burden on his Christian mother’s heart. He drank heavily. He used his brilliant mind to follow Greek philosophy rather than Christian revelation. He lived an immoral life with various mistresses. His mother pleaded and prayed, but he rejected her Christ and her Christian lifestyle.

One day he boarded a ship and left Algeria. He went across the Mediterranean to Italy, to Milan, where he lived more deeply in sin. Her nest was empty and her heart was heavy. But she prayed and lived righteously.

Then this son heard about a great orator named Ambrose. He decided to go and hear him speak because it was said that Ambrose was the premier of all public speakers. As he listened he was touched by the message. He began to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in his life. Struggling with the conviction of sin he ran to a garden to be alone and overheard a child in a nearby house say, “Take up and read.” He had with him a Bible that he had taken to hear Ambrose speak so he opened the Bible and read these words from Romans 13:13-14: “ . . . not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.”

There in that garden St. Augustine repented and turned to Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. He was 34 years old. The next Easter (387 AD) he was baptized and a short time later that year his mother Monica died. But Augustine went on to impact his world and future generations for Jesus Christ like few men in history.

Parents, when your nest is empty, when your heart is heavy, when your children grow away . . . be like Monica who fixed her hope on Jesus Christ.

A college student wrote to a newspaper financial columnist asking for advice. He said he had saved $2000 and needed to increase his investment to $5000 by graduation. The columnist explained that it would be hard to do. The only way to get such high returns in such a short time was with great risk. The trouble with great risk is that there is potential for great loss as well as great gain. The columnist went on to make such suggestions as reducing expenses by spending less, increasing income by working more or keeping investments less risky with surer returns.

That is a good commentary not only on finances but also on parenting. Some parents want a quick return on their investments. They hope to turn their children into masterpieces by sending them to Computer Camp or a youth seminar. While a week at camp may turn your daughter into a computer whiz or a conference may turn your son into a spiritual giant, it seldom works that way. And you are dealing with high risk if you think you can adequately shape your child’s life with a quick-return investment. It takes time and it takes work!

The great masterpieces of Michelangelo are the product of a lifetime of hard work rather than a momentary splash of genus. And so it is with our children. Raising them right is the product of a lifetime of hard work. In fact, even more than financial investments and artistic classics, in parenting - - - masterpieces take time!

Let’s look at four parenting lessons on the making of masterpieces. The first lesson is that the process is long. Great Bible characters took a long time getting ready. Moses had lots of promise even when he was born. He was raised by a godly Jewish mother and grew up in the court of Egypt’s Pharaoh. He had the best of both worlds. Yet it took 80 years of preparation before he was ready for God to use him as the leader of Israel. And even then Moses made some stupid mistakes. Eighty of his 120 years were spent getting ready.

Jesus spent 30 of his 33 years preparing for his 3 years of ministry. Ninety percent of his earthly life was given to the process of preparing a masterpiece—and he was God’s perfect Son! How strange that we parents sometimes think our sons should be on a faster track.

It is important for us to remember that the Bible teaches that we are training now for later. In Proverbs 22:6 we are told, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This does not mean that a child will depart from the way that he or she should go before becoming old (although that might happen!). It does mean that we are training children to be adults. We are going through the process toward a product that won’t come until later. We are not raising children, we are raising adults - - - although we must allow them to be children along the way.

In addition, we must recognize that single events in life seldom make for success or failure. Too often we hear parents attribute the whole direction of their children’s lives to single events. There’s the boy who became a world-class athlete because his father gave him a soccer ball on his first birthday. There’s the girl who became a great spiritual giant because her parents dedicated her to God when she was 5 days old. Or the child who ended up an atheist because a 9th grade Sunday School teacher said the wrong thing one Sunday at church.

You simply can’t explain life so simply. It is not the single events that make all the difference. Lots of boys get soccer balls and don’t play sports. Other girls are dedicated and go spiritually astray. Most people hear something wrong at church but don’t turn against God. The making of a masterpiece is the result of thousands of decisions, strokes, mixtures and times. That means that when we as parents blow it, when we make a really bad decision, it’s not the end of the world, nor is it likely to ruin our children’s lives. It also means that when we do a single thing right it is probably not by itself going to guarantee success for our sons or daughters.

The shaping of lives is like the shaping of the Grand Canyon. That natural wonder is the result of hundreds and thousands of years of the Colorado River going through droughts and floods. It is the complexity of summer heat, winter cold, desert sands and pouring rains that have made the masterpiece.

Look in the mirror. Do you see a masterpiece? I hope you do! I do! Oh, it’s not yet complete. There are some blank areas with nothing yet. There are discolored and smudged areas that need redoing. But I can see God’s genius and grace on the canvas mirror. There is a lot left to do, but he’s still making a masterpiece.

When we become impatient with our children and think they are not all that they should be, we need to look into the mirror and see that God is still in the process of painting us the way we need to be made. Realize how long it has taken for us to get this far . . . and give them time!

Most of us want our children to start up where we left off. We don’t want them to make the same mistakes and suffer the hurt we have gone through. That’s good, but it can never fully happen. They can and should benefit much from what God has done in our lives, but they, too, must go through their own process to become a masterpiece. And masterpieces take time . . . and the process is long.

The second lesson is that maturity comes at different times. Luke 2:52 tells us, “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.” In other words, Jesus matured through his growing-up years. Understand that maturity and immaturity are not a matter of righteousness and sin. There were times in Jesus’ life when he was immature and times when he was mature, but he was no less righteous in immaturity than in maturity.

The story of 12-year-old Jesus in the temple shows a double aspect of his maturity. In Luke 2:47 we read, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” This shows that he was advanced. He matured earlier than most. But there are two sides to this story. On the one hand he was amazingly mature for a 12-year-old. He was able to discuss with the spiritual leaders of Judaism the religious issues of the day. But at the same time we see his immaturity when he left his parents without telling them where he was going. And he probably hurt their feelings by the true but abrupt explanation he gave them in Luke 2:49-50. This shows he was not yet fully mature. Maturity is not a matter of right and wrong, of sin and righteousness. Maturity is a matter of development, especially the completion of development.

Different children mature at different rates. The most obvious is physical maturity. Some young people are full-grown in early adolescence; others are “late bloomers”. In high school Charleen waited until I was as tall as she was before she was willing to date me. She matured more quickly than I did.

Other children mature at different times. Some are at the emotional maturity of a 2-year-old when they are 2; others are still there when they are 3 or 4. Some mature early and others mature late. It’s not good or bad. It’s just the way it is!

There is little that parents can do to make children mature faster. Parents must be patient and wait for maturity to come. In the meantime encourage, love, train and discipline but no one can mature someone from the outside until he or she is ready to mature on the inside.

The principle applies often. Some students are slow to mature academically. One parent told me about a son who barely passed math all through grade school, junior high and 10th grade. The parents hired a tutor, monitored his homework, kept him in special programs and almost gave up hope. In 11th grade he started doing better. In his senior year he got all A’s in math and went on to become a math major in college! All those parents did was right and good but they could not make him mature before his time came.

Parents must be sensitive to maturity levels. Don’t be angry or put unnecessary pressure on children because of immaturity. Be patient. Do what is right. Encourage. Wait. Even in the same family maturity comes at different times for different people!

The third lesson is a spiritual lesson and it is that salvation makes a temporal as well as an eternal difference. Too often we think of salvation only in terms of the eternal difference it makes in a person’s life. True, salvation does determine a person’s eternal destiny, but salvation also changes us here on earth. John 3:1-6 talks about two births—birth below and birth above:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

Just as it is impossible to live physically until we’ve been born physically so it is impossible to live spiritually until we’ve been born spiritually. So parents must not expect Christian behavior from someone who has not been “born from above”.

At this point I must share some pretty direct words to parents. As Christian parents it must be our highest priority to seek to win our children to Christ through our words and our lives. However, we must not demand or force our children to salvation any more than we can force salvation on anyone else. And we must not assume that because a child prayed a prayer of salvation at a very young age that that was a spiritual transformation unless it is fully evidenced in the later years of life. We have a responsibility to live the Christian life and be witnesses in our own homes as much as in our communities and in our businesses.

It is also important to ask those children who are 18 years old or younger and who have grown up in Christian homes, “Have you been born again?” There are teenagers and even adults who depend on some experience they had in preschool years that they may not even remember but they were told by an adult that they prayed a prayer or had some spiritual experience. The important thing is to know that your faith and trust for salvation is in Jesus Christ right now and that you are seeking to live for Jesus as Lord of your life. If not, you need to be born again!

I grew up in a Christian home and made a childhood profession of faith, but it was not until a very memorable day in February when I was 15 that I made a very personal renewal of that salvation commitment. That was the day the spiritual turning point came in my life.

Many young people who grow up in Christian homes may have similar experiences. We must come to a point where we make faith our own and are not just a cultural copy of our parents’ religion.

Once that commitment has been made and we have been born from above we then have a commitment from God for our completion. God promises that all those who have been born again will eventually become complete masterpieces. Philippians 1:6 says, “ . . . he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” So God promises that eventually he will make mature and complete masterpieces of every child and every parent who has been born again. What a relief!

A fourth lesson is that parents are divine tools in God’s hands. We parents do not have the ultimate responsibility in the formation of our children. God does! But parents are tools in the hands of God to paint children into masterpieces like Jesus Christ. Our responsibility is not primarily to our children; our responsibility is primarily to God to be the right kinds of tools.

As the right kinds of tools in God’s hands we have certain characteristics, among them is patience. As in a long-term financial investment we must be patient. You can’t buy and sell every time the market goes up and down; you must hang-in-there for the long-term return. That is sometimes very hard! There are days when we want the finished product now! It’s easy to get discouraged because things aren’t going the way we would like them to go.

One day Charleen said to me, “Parenting would be so much easier if we knew everything would turn out right in the end.” How true! If we could see into the future and catch a glimpse of our children in adulthood—healthy, godly, happy, successful—it would be a lot easier to get through report cards, adolescent rebellion, broken bones, drugs, sex, arguments and all.

But we can’t see into the future. If we could there would be no need to trust God. If we could we probably wouldn’t do our best. We wouldn’t work or pray or worry so much about doing what is right and necessary to accomplish the masterpiece.

Patience is rooted in trust and understanding. We trust God for the finished product throughout the process. We understand that the process is long. We realize that maturity comes at different times, that salvation makes a temporal difference and that parents are divine tools.

I know the power of parental patience in the hands of God because I am a product of such patience. I look back on all my mistakes, my sins, my immaturity growing up and wonder at my parent’s patience with me. How grateful I am that they trusted God and were willing to wait for the masterpiece to take shape. And now I must remember to be a patient parent in the hands of the same God who wants to make masterpieces of my children!

Love is the number one Christian virtue and characteristic. It is a reflection of God. We must teach our children the love of God by letting God love them through us. But often we let other things get in the way. What’s most important isn’t being able to talk at the age of 2, being an athlete or getting good grades. If a dish gets broken or a fender scratched it really doesn’t matter much. Most important of all is that we demonstrate the marvelous love of God to our children through all of life’s events.

Sometimes our egos get in the way. We react to our toddler’s misbehavior in the store on the basis of our own embarrassment rather than love for him. When our teenager has problems we handle it more on the basis of what our friends will think than out of love for her.

Love is doing what is best for the other person. It is self-sacrificing. According to I Corinthians 13:4-7:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Closely related to love is respect. I separate it because it is so important. Sometimes ordinarily polite, gracious people completely change when they relate to members of their own family by showing a lack of respect to their spouse or children or parents that they would never show to a stranger.

Parents, respect your children! More than anyone outside of your home! If ever you are polite, ever gracious, ever kind, ever careful to listen—show such respect to your children!

Here’s how I see it. My children are persons in their own right, created in the image of God. They may be younger than I am but they are no less valuable. I must, and I do, hold them in awe as special to God. I dare not be rude. I dare not take them for granted. I must listen to what they have to say and consider their thoughts and feelings—not in a condescending way but as equals. In no way am I superior to, better than or more important than any of my children. We are all equals before God and I must consistently treat them accordingly.

Treating our children with respect makes us effective tools in the hands of God. Through such respect our children learn self-respect and grow in self-esteem. They learn that they are invaluable persons created in the image of God.

Parents are also powerful tools to teach values to children. I used to think we did this by sitting down and talking to them—which is good! I worried that if there was not a special effort or plan values would not be taught and communicated. I was wrong. There is no way not to teach values to our children! We constantly live our values whether we think about it or not. And our children constantly see our values lived out and learn their values from us.

Some years ago in Colorado there was a very effective Sunday School teacher who taught powerfully about Christian life and ethics. One day he took his own children and several others from church families to a Rocky Mountain ski area. In order to save a few dollars each he lied about the children’s ages and got cheaper lift tickets. He taught more about values in that single stupid action than in all his Sunday School lessons combined.

As parents we must get our own values right and then live them. Our children quickly will learn our values about honesty, the Bible, prayer, sex, alcohol, church, marriage, success, failure and everything else. Parents who pray when faced with a crisis teach their children the value of prayer. Parents who get up early for personal devotions teach their children the value of God’s Word. Parents who faithfully tithe teach their children the value of stewardship. Parents who are faithful to each other in their marriage teach their children the value of morality.

We are the tools of God to teach our chidden the values of life. And it doesn’t stop when our children are grown. Parents in their 60s are teaching children in their 40s how to retire. And parents in their 80s are teaching children in their 60s how to face aging, illness and even death.

Life is a canvas. On it God seeks to paint an eternal masterpiece with many colors, many strokes and even many brushes. But the boldest and often the most important strokes and colors are painted by the brushes of parents. So moms and dads, be the best of tools in the hands of God to paint a true masterpiece on the canvas of your child’s life . . . for the glory of God!

Some time ago a group of Wooddalers went to the Orpheum Theater in St. Paul for a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. During the program host Garrison Keeler explained his understanding of where babies come from when he was growing up in Lake Wobegon. He said it was rumored that babies actually grew under the skin of their mothers in the mother’s abdomen, but that was just too far-fetched to believe. Then he and his friends finally figured it out. Babies come from a big gumball machine in heaven. The machine releases a gumball and it comes rolling down the chute and boom, you’ve got yourself a baby. The next Sunday morning one of those Wooddalers observed me in the church foyer interacting with several of our four children and said, “The old gumball machine really worked for you!”

The Psalmist used a different analogy speaking of children as arrows and writing in Psalm 127:5, “Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.”

Whether it’s gumballs or arrows I’m grateful for each of our four children. I delight in parenthood. I love our children and thoroughly enjoy them. They are among my best of friends and greatest source of happiness. But there are frustrations, too! Not just for me but for just about every parent.

Dr. James Dobson once asked his radio listeners to write in about their frustrations as parents. From 1,000 letters he listed the frustrations in order of frequency. The number one frustration was lack of confidence in parenting. Here are some typical comments:

Seeing my own bad habits and character traits in my children; the feeling of inadequacy from not knowing how to cope with children’s problems; humanness of parents gets in the way of the ideal; not being able to make children feel loved and secure; losing confidence in my ability to parent; overwhelmed with responsibility in raising children; failing my children; inability to relate to children; dealing with guilt when it seems that I fail my children; I’m not the example I should be; inability to cope; frustration with myself as a parent rather than with my children; maintaining self-confidence as a parent through rebellious teen years; it’s too late to go back and do it over.

Most parents will agree that this is the number one frustration. We so desperately want to do what is right, yet we are unsure of ourselves. We are so keenly aware of our own weaknesses and sense that the stakes couldn’t be higher in lives and eternity!

The second of the thousand responses was the struggles of raising a teenager. The two most difficult periods for parents is when children are toddlers and when they are teenagers. Both are major transition times in life. The teen years are the time when children are becoming their own persons, when they can switch back-and-forth between acting like adults and children in the same minute, when parents most fear the outside influences and directions of their children’s lives. For some it is a particularly difficult transition.

A third frustration expressed in that mail response was time pressure. Parenting is a 24-hour-a-day job. There are no coffee breaks or vacations. Even if you are a thousand miles away you still function as a parent. There is no let up. Pressures are constant. For many people that is compounded by other factors such as having more children—when one doesn’t demand your attention another one does; by moms who work; by being a single parent; by financial needs. When our family was young I often told Charleen that she must not get sick until our youngest child turned 21. But moms and dads do get sick and pressures mount until some parents snap.

A fourth frustration was the difficulties in disciplining children. What is lenient? What is strict? What works and what makes things worse? Like all the rest of parenting, discipline is not an exact science. There is room for error and the rule that seems to apply one moment may not be quite applicable the next moment.

The fifth frustration was the lack of interest or rejection of parents’ spiritual values. This is a tough one. Many of us as Christian parents would rather lose our jobs, our homes, our money, our health and even our lives than lose our children from Jesus Christ. We try to do everything right. We have family devotions, take our children to Sunday School and church, send them to summer camp and put them in Christian school, but our children may still turn away from Christ and the church. For many it is more than frustrating, it is heartbreaking.

Sixth was a lack of support and involvement from the father. Mothers become frustrated with fathers who don’t accept responsibility for discipline and spiritual leadership. Women often take parenting much more seriously than men and are further frustrated by husbands who seem to contradict the values the women are seeking to instill in their children.

Next on the list was negative outside forces on the children. Music, school, magazines, TV, friends or drugs often push in opposite directions from everything Christian parents seek for their sons and daughters. These pressures cannot be accepted and cannot be avoided. Those who put their children in Christian schools find many of the same problems; those who leave the city for the rural areas find that the negative outside forces are waiting for them when they arrive.

Last on the list was sibling rivalry. In my opinion no one with fewer than two children should get full credit as parents. You don’t understand what it’s all about until your little angels start fighting over a piece from a Lego set or over which TV program to watch. It’s as normal as sunrise and sunset but it certainly can be frustrating.

None of these eight frustrations stands alone; they all overlap. They don’t even have the decency to come one-at-a-time; they sometimes even come all at once! It is amidst these frustrations that Christian parents must sort out our priorities in order to be the kind of parents God wants us to be.

There are four priorities that we will deal with here. The number one priority of life is the number one priority of parenthood—to live for the Lord. The very best gift we as parents can give to our children is godly parents. That doesn’t mean super-pious, stick-in-the-mud types. It means parents who love God and live for him, who enjoy God and his gifts and who know how to pray and love and learn.

No parents are perfect. There have never been perfect parents; there are never going to be perfect parents. But living all-out for God will make us the best parents we can be. Don’t delay! It’s tough to go back and change what’s happened. Don’t wait for your next job, the crisis to pass or even tomorrow. Start now!

According to Psalm 127, “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” There are many people who live with something or someone other than God as the first priority. But if God is not the first priority, everything else is a loss.

The next verse says, “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.” There are parents who get up early in the morning and work late into the night, and they worry. But it’s all a waste of time. You can put in all kinds of hours and read all the books you can get your hands on. You can try your very best and be the most concerned parent ever. But if God is not the number one priority then it’s a hopeless cause.

Psalm 127 goes on to say, “Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.” How important it is to remember that children are a gift from God.

Let’s move on to Deuteronomy 6:4-9: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Love for God is the first and highest priority.

But look at what follows in the next several verses:

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

The greatest responsibility of parents is to themselves love God and out of their love for God teach their children to love God. Some Christian parents mistakenly think their number one job is to teach their children obedience. This may be a tragic mistake! Children learn to obey and conform on the outside without the love of God on the inside. When they reach adolescence or adulthood they no longer conform or obey because they haven’t learned to love. As parents we should be less concerned about specific legalistic obedience and more concerned about loving God!

Love of God is the base from which we get strength for difficulty, wisdom for parenting and faith for the future. Remember, parenting is not an exact science to be lived by the rules. It is a relationship with children based on our relationship with God.

During high school I stayed overnight at a friend’s home one Friday. For some reason I no longer remember I got up and left early in the morning. As I tiptoed down the stairs to go out the door I heard some noise in the living room. There in the corner, dressed in pajamas and robe, knelt my friend’s father in prayer. By some measures he had a lot going against him as a father: he was an immigrant whose accent marked him as different; he had a physical handicap that caught your attention; he didn’t relate particularly well to teenagers; he didn’t even go to the same church as the rest of his family; and he died—leaving his wife a widow and his family fatherless. But he loved God and lived for the Lord. And today that son is a pastor who also loves God and lives for the Lord. The number one priority of parenthood is also the number one priority of life: it is to live for the Lord!

The second priority is to enjoy the blessings. Psalm 127:5 says of children, “Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.” God intended for children to provide happiness. They are to be a source of pride and strength when coping with all of life’s enemies, critics and problems.

I’m concerned that some parents miss that happiness. They are so concerned about their children’s grades, clothes, habits, rebellion, spirituality and cost that they miss the good things. What a tragedy to so over-emphasize the negatives that we fail to claim the joy and happiness God has given to us.

Claiming the happiness of parenthood is key to raising happy children. Children who grow up with parents who are always grouchy, who continually criticize and who never enjoy their families are not likely to be happy themselves. Blessed is the child whose parents not only love him but enjoy him! How great it is to grow up knowing that in spite of your problems you are the delight of your parents’ hearts and a source of their greatest happiness!

Enjoy the blessings by claiming the happiness and by savoring the moment. My father once told me that the fastest time of his life was between 40 and 50. Busyness and looking to the future can steal the special years of childhood and parenthood that cannot be repeated. Do not take for granted the joy of holding your infant in your arms because all too quickly he will be grown. Delight in being there when your one-year-old takes her first steps or you five–year-old first rides a two-wheeler. Give priority to helping your youngster memorize verses for Sunday School, attending his T-ball game or her basketball game. Count these moments as gifts from God that are more important than watching TV or reading a soon-to-be-forgotten newspaper. Count it a privilege to help your teenager with homework, to guide your adolescent through the exciting and troubling transition from childhood to adulthood. Savor every moment of watching your son choose his wife or helping your daughter prepare for her wedding.

Several times every year I write an entry in my daily journal reminding myself that “these are the best years of your life. The children will all-too-soon be grown and gone. Enjoy these gifts from God now rather than someday looking back in regret over opportunities missed.”

Susanna Wesley is said to have spent one hour alone with each of her 19 children every week. Parents, do not so focus on the frustrations that you miss the blessings. Make the time. Claim the happiness. Savor the moment!

There’s a third priority that needs to be included and that is to face the problems. Every family has them. There are no perfect families. There are no perfect parents. There are no perfect children. The issue is not whether we have problems but what we do with them. Some parents deny the problems and hope they will go away; others admit to their problems and do something about them.

A young woman was learning to mountain climb. At one point she stopped her ascent and told her instructor, “I can’t climb any higher. There are too many bumps.” The teacher replied, “Thank God for the bumps. They are what we climb on!”

It’s exactly the same with parenting. It is the bumps that we climb on. They may be problems with incest, alcohol, anger, depression, materialism, lying, stealing, pornography, music, self-centeredness, salvation, sin, handicaps, grades, self-image, rebellion, homosexuality. We don’t get to pick the problems. But we do get to decide whether or not we will admit them and do something about them.

Some parents won’t admit problems because they see it as a negative reflection on them. But we must remember that God was a perfect parent of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Yet, his children rebelled and sinned. If we think we are failures because we have problems with our kids then we must think ourselves better than God! But God admitted to the problem and did something about it—at the great sacrifice of Calvary’s cross.

We must face the problems that arise. Admit to them—as painful as that might be. Be willing to pay the necessary price of action. For some children it will bring the remedy. Like God’s children, some of ours may even reject an ultimate remedy at great sacrifice. The ways to climb over the problems are to admit the problem, pray about the problem, seek counsel and ask for help from others.

Finally, we must trust God. We must remember that we do not have sole responsibility. Some of us as Christians take so seriously our parenting responsibility that we think we are the only factor for success or failure.

I do the same thing sometimes as a pastor. I care so deeply for Wooddale Church and its people that I personalize virtually everything that has to do with the church. I begin to think I am solely responsible for the success or failure of every marriage, the attendance at every service, the amount of every offering, the spirituality of every member. At times I’ve been bent low under the burden. It is then that I must go to God and be reminded that this is not my church; it is Christ’s church. I do not have the ultimate responsibility; God has the ultimate responsibility. I am not the only factor determining what happens in people’s lives and the church’s programs. Individuals make decisions and do things over which I have no control or influence.

And so it is with parenting. They are not our children but God’s children. We do not have the ultimate responsibility. God has the ultimate responsibility. We are not the only factor in determining our children’s lives. They can and will make decisions over which we have neither control nor influence.

We can find great comfort and joy in knowing that God is on our side. He wants us to succeed as parents. He wants our children to grow up to godly maturity. He wants us to depend on him and trust him. We must not succumb to modern psychological theories of parental influence that exclude the power and persuasion of God in our children’s lives. Yes, we are concerned. Yes, we care. Yes, we love our children with all our hearts. Yes, we do our very best. But we do not accept full responsibility. We trust God. We pray daily committing our children to God and holding them up before him with a loose grip. We trust him to do what we cannot do, to go where we cannot go and to be the perfect parent we cannot be.

Those who follow these priorities have a high probability of success because they place their children in God’s special care. But we must also remember that there may well be struggles and frustrations along the way. Because you care, I invite you to reconsider and even reorder your parenting priorities. Number one: live for the Lord. Number two: enjoy the blessings. Number three: face the problems. And number four: trust God.

Charleen and I were flying from Denver to Minneapolis on what seemed like a routine Northwest flight. We were on time. The weather was good. It seemed like a normal approach for a routine landing. Just as we neared the runway the engines surged, the plane groaned with acceleration and soon banked hard to the right. For a moment all conversation inside the cabin ceased. Then suddenly everyone began talking about the abrupt change in direction. Something important had happened. Actually, not something; it was someone. Air Force One had arrived in the area. Our flight was waved off to make room for the President of the United States.

Once long ago there was another interruption in conversation when everything and everyone suddenly stopped. It was not so much what had happened as who had arrived. The once dead Jesus showed up for all of them to see. They had heard that he was alive, but seeing Jesus for themselves was still a shock. “While they were . . . talking . . . Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” That was a very ordinary greeting, sort of like walking up to a group of people and saying, “Hi!” But they were dumbstruck by this.

There is an old story about a man who walked through a cemetery late one night and fell into an open grave that had been dug in preparation for a burial that was to take place the next morning. He tried to climb out but the sides were slippery from rain and he could not make it. He finally decided to sleep in the hole that night and get help to climb out the next morning. A few hours later another person took a shortcut across the cemetery and fell into the same grave. As he tried to climb out of the hole, he heard a voice from inside the grave simply say, “You can’t get out of here.” But, he did!

The point is that the very thought of a dead person moving and talking is enough to spook just about anyone.

The whole group saw Jesus alive! They heard him say, “Hi!” They saw, but they did not believe—because truth and belief are two very different things. Sometimes we believe what is not true and other times we doubt what is obviously true. “They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.” Because they could not deny their experience they found an alternative explanation so they would not have to believe that Jesus had come back to life again.

Their doubts were real. Some would say their doubts were absolutely normal and legitimate. And Jesus did exactly what he always does for sincere doubters. He gave proof to help them believe.

Evidence number one was his appearance. He proved himself to their sense of sight.

Evidence number two was his voice. He proved himself to their sense of hearing. “He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself!’ ”

Evidence number three was his body. He proved himself to their sense of touch:

“Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

Are you familiar with what is called the skeptic’s prayer? A skeptic is someone who has trouble believing. There are those who struggle to believe but find it hard. There are so many questions and too many doubts. If they are sincere seekers for truth, there is a prayer that may be helpful. It goes like this: “God, if there is a God, please show yourself to me. Help me see your truth and believe.” There are tens of thousands of people who have sincerely prayed such a prayer and sincerely searched for the truth that have come to resounding Christian faith. While it does not have the same results for everyone, it is a good place for doubters to get started.

For those that day who saw, heard and touched Jesus there was an interesting transition in their disbelief. We are told, “They still did not believe it because of joy and amazement.” That is different. It is sort of “disbelieving belief”. It is like the woman who answers the doorbell to be told that she just won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Million Dollar Sweeptstakes and gets so excited that she says, “Me? Who me? I have never won anything!” and then slams the door in the presenter’s face.

“They did not believe it because of joy and amazement.” I think they really did believe!

Jesus pulled up a chair, ordered some broiled fish to eat and started teaching them his last instructions before returning to heaven.

There is something special about last words. They may be the last instructions to your five-year-old before going to kindergarten for the fist time. They may be the exhortations of a commencement speech for a high school or college graduating class. They may be the last letter leading to the end of a relationship, a “last will and testament” or the final sentences on a deathbed. They are special. They are different. And so it was with the final four teachings of Jesus before leaving earth and returning to his home in heaven.

First of all, Jesus taught that his life, death and resurrection fulfilled biblical prophecy. “He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ ”

The Jewish Bible is not organized the same way our English Bible is. While the same content exists in the Old Testament, it is in a very different order in the Jewish Bible. There are three sections in the Jewish Bible: the Law of Moses; the Prophets; and the Psalms. Jesus is saying that when you read through the Old Testament it is full of prophesies about him. In the Garden of Eden there is the prediction of the coming of a Savior. The prophet Micah tells that the Messiah will be born in the little village of Bethlehem. Isaiah describes a suffering Messiah that is an uncanny description of the suffering that takes place in crucifixion. Jesus is saying that he was no surprise to God or to history. All of this was part of the divine plan that was very old. God knew what he was doing. God predicted what he would do. God did it all through Jesus.

Jesus condensed and summarized the prophecies of the Old Testament with his teaching in the New Testament, saying, “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Before returning to heaven Jesus wanted to make sure that they (and we!) got it. Jesus Christ is God’s way to salvation. This was God’s plan from the start. He died to be our Savor, paying the price for human sin and providing the way to heaven forever.

His second final teaching was that our thinking must be illumined. Luke 24:45 explains that Jesus “opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” There is a very great and powerful truth here. It is that we cannot truly understand the Bible by ourselves. We need the light of God to be able to see the truth. We need for Jesus Christ to open our minds in order to understand what the Bible says. Reading the Bible is not just an intellectual experience; it is a spiritual experience. It is a means to encounter God. Unless God is involved, the Bible is just words and stories and teaching like any other book.

My father was pretty healthy for most of his life. Then, in his seventies he became seriously ill and went through several hospitalizations, surgery, blood transfusions and massive antibiotic therapy. One day he told me something I did not know about him, a change that had recently occurred in his life. He told me that although he had been with many people through the crises of their lives he never had a lot of sympathy for people who were sick. He thought they were sort of wimps. He could not understand why they complained and did not just get better. But, he explained, lying in a hospital bed, desperately ill and maybe dying, he understood others as he never understood them before. In other words, his experience opened his understanding in a way that objective observation never could do.

Jesus taught that an intellectual reading of the Bible is never enough. Unless a person experiences Jesus Christ, the Bible will never be understood. We can have an IQ of 200, a Ph.D. in biblical studies, be able to sight read Hebrew and Greek and still not understand the Scriptures. We need the light of God. We need the experience of Jesus Christ.

Every time we open the Bible to read it we should begin with a prayer asking for divine understanding. We should expect more than words. We should expect to experience God.

I have heard many reports from those who have found the Bible boring and difficult to understand until Jesus Christ changed their lives. Then they could not put the Bible down. They read it and loved it and understood it for the very first time. They (and we) are just like those to whom Jesus gave his last instructions—“he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”

Final teaching number three was that the story must be told. Jesus told them, “You are witnesses of these things.” It only makes sense. If this is God’s historic plan for human salvation, if Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy, if salvation from sin and eternal life comes through Jesus Christ, if the Bible is true, if Jesus transforms our lives and thinking and if we experience this for ourselves, we must be witnesses of these things!

As Christians we don’t have to be trained theologians or professional evangelists, but we must tell what we have experienced through Jesus Christ. The way we do it should fit our personalities and relationships, but tell we must! Christianity is a word-of-mouth revolution. It does not primarily spread through televisions ads or religious events. It spreads through our witnessing—telling what we have experienced. Eighty-five percent of Americans who come to Christian faith do so through the influence of a friend or a family member. In Jesus’ last instructions he wanted to make sure we knew that telling the story is up to us.

Jesus’ fourth and final teaching before returning to heaven was that power must be provided from God. Referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Jesus knew we would need help to live the kind of lives God wants us to live. Life is hard and we are weak. The challenges are beyond our resources. So, God promised to send the Holy Spirit to earth to live inside of every Christian.

The Holy Spirit is God, just as much God as the Father is God and just as much God as Jesus the Son is God. However, the Holy Spirit, unlike Jesus, does not have a body and is, therefore, invisible. Invisible does not mean less God or less powerful. God promised that the Holy Spirit would come to live inside every Christian and give us the power to face life and have joy, to be the witnesses for Jesus Christ that he called us to be and to get us through death and into heaven forever.

Jesus taught that he would first leave and go back to heaven and then he would send the Holy Spirit from heaven to earth to take his place. He also told them to stick around in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit arrived (which was a few weeks later on the holiday called Pentecost).

Jesus did what he said he would do. He sent the Holy Spirit and ever since then the Holy Spirit has lived in every Christian as the power source for living. Some tap into his power; some try to live without the power of the Spirit.

In hot weather there are two ways to run an air conditioner. We can run it with just the fan or with the fan and compressor. If it is a hot day we can run the fan for 24 hours and just stir up the hot air. The fan cannot cool by itself. Turn on the compressor and the air will cool. We need the power of the compressor to change the temperature.

So it is with our lives. We can live by our own power just moving the hot air around, or we can tap into the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The question is: how do we get the Spirit’s power in our lives? The answer is really very simple. We must want it, believe and ask for it.

Jesus finished his final four teachings.

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

In some ways this does not totally make sense. It makes sense that Jesus went back to heaven. That was his home and he went there to prepare a place for us to live forever. He wanted to make heaven our home as well. So, in that sense, his return to heaven makes sense.

But what is harder to understand is the response of his friends. They had witnessed the crucifixion and were convinced they had lost Jesus forever. Then he came back to life and they were thrilled to get him back. Then he takes off and leaves them again for heaven. And their response is worship, joy and praise to God. Does that figure?

Yes! Worship, joy and praise makes sense if you believe that God’s prophecy is fulfilled, if your thinking has been illumined, if you have a story to tell and if you can count on the power of the Holy Spirit to transform you on the inside.

So, are you transformed? Has Jesus Christ opened your understanding to the Bible? Are you living by the power of the Holy Spirit? If yes, then you can worship, you have joy and you praise God.

I have a question for you. If you could ask Jesus for one thing about your relationship with God, what would you ask him for? Don’t let it be about your job or money or health or house or car or family or friends. It’s okay to talk to God about those things, but if you were to ask Jesus for one thing about your relationship to God, what would that one thing be? Would you ask Jesus to become your Savior? Would you ask for forgiveness for some particular sin? Would you ask him to help you understand the Bible? Would you ask him to help you tell other people the story of Jesus? Would you ask for the power of the Spirit of God in your life? If you could ask Jesus for one thing about your relationship to God what would you ask for?

Ask Jesus now for the one thing you most want in your relationship with God.

Most biographies end with death: the story is over, the life is finished and there’s nothing more to say. But Jesus’ biography was anything but over. Chapter 24 of Luke’s biography of Jesus began with his resurrection, but Easter wasn’t over. Starting at verse 13 Luke wrote:

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things,” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

It was feast time in Jerusalem and the historical record tells us that there were tens of thousands of tourists there. There wasn’t room for everyone to stay. Most had to camp out or stay in the suburbs. That’s probably why two men were walking the seven miles west from Jerusalem back to their home town of Emmaus.

As they walked they were full of the current events that filled the evening news report, much as we would discuss some terrorist bombing or the latest change in the stock market or some new miracle drug on the market. They shared facts, gave analysis and argued their differing opinions.

As they walked along another man caught up with them. He was Jesus, although they did not recognize him. Jesus asked what they were talking about. They couldn’t believe he didn’t already know. One of the original two, Cleopas, asked, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened in these days?”

It was impossible for them to imagine that anyone could be walking out of Jerusalem and not know about the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. By that time the whole city was buzzing with stories and rumors about his body being missing. This guy had to be from out of town.

The truth was that Jesus did know. He knew far more than anyone else did, but he didn’t let on. Instead he asked them, “What things have happened in these days?” This was and is absolutely consistent with Jesus’ style. He has always started where the other person is at. Story after story in Jesus’ biography reports him asking first about the other person, beginning with their questions or starting with their needs. He was a marvelous listener.

When Jesus asked they blurted out the whole story about what had happened:

1. There was a prophet from God named Jesus of Nazareth.
2. He was a powerful speaker and a miracle worker.
3. The religious leaders had him crucified.
4. Lots of people (including these two) had high hopes that Jesus would be the Messiah to redeem the nation of Israel from political oppression.
5. All this was three days ago (and you would think it would be over).
6. Some women went to visit his tomb, discovered the body gone and reported seeing angels. Since a lot of men didn’t believe women in those days, they added that some men also went to the tomb and verified the women’s report.

That was the news and it needed some interpretation, for although we like to say that news should be absolutely objective, the reality is that when something happens it is difficult to not give it some spin or understanding. So Jesus explained:

“How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

This was neither a tragedy nor a mistake. Jesus was no less the Messiah because he was crucified and died. To the contrary, this was the plan of God and the teaching of the Bible. Jesus quoted the Bible from Moses at the beginning of the Old Testament to the prophets at the end of the Old Testament. Story after story, teaching after teaching, quote after quote all predicted exactly what happened. Jesus the Messiah came to live and die and live again in order to redeem the people of Israel and the rest of the human race. Everything had happened exactly the way God said it would happen. It was amazing the way he fit all the pieces into this beautiful picture that explained the news of the day.

“As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them.”

This, too, was typically Jesus. He was so gracious and courteous; he did not impose himself upon them. He wouldn’t come to their table or into their home unless he was invited to do so. That’s how he is. Even today Jesus does not force himself upon us. If we don’t want to take him home, we don’t have to. The invitation is up to us just as the invitation was up to them.

They were fascinated by this man whom they did not recognize. They loved the way he told them about the Bible. They enjoyed his presence. They wanted him to stay, so they invited him for dinner and to be their guest overnight.

But why didn’t they recognize him? They said they were his followers. The truth is that sometimes we just don’t recognize people when we should.

One Sunday after the morning service at Wooddale Church I stood by the door at the end of the center aisle. A woman walked up to me and asked me how to find the person who had been talking up front that morning because she wanted to talk to him. I honestly didn’t know what to say. How could someone sit fifty feet away, look and listen for half an hour and then ask ME where to find me? When I explained to her that I was the guy who had been talking up front she said, “Oh, well you look different standing here.” She said it in a way that made it seem as if I had done something wrong, like it was my fault that I was unrecognizable.

But let me tell you about a more serious case. Some years ago a news story told about parents who received a telephone call from the police that their college-aged daughter had been killed in an automobile crash. They were asked to go to the morgue to identify her body. They went, saw the body and identified it as their daughter. It was the worst experience of their lives.

Several days later they received a phone call from their daughter. They thought it was a cruel prank, but it wasn’t. She was alive! It turned out that another coed of similar size and hair color had borrowed their daughter’s car for the weekend while their daughter had gone home with her roommate. It wasn’t until their daughter returned to campus that she heard what had happened and called home.

How could you possibly misidentify your own daughter? Well, if you were absolutely convinced she was dead maybe any of us could make a similar mistake.

That’s what those two men on the road to Emmaus did. They were convinced that Jesus was dead. When you are already convinced you see—or don’t see—what best fits your convictions. And it’s the same way with people today. Some people are convinced that Jesus is not the Messiah, that he is not the Son of God, that he didn’t rise from the dead, that he can’t transform a person’s life. Even when Jesus comes up close and talks out loud they still don’t recognize and still don’t believe.

When Jesus went into the house they did recognize him. “When he was at the table with them he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.”

It was an ordinary meal. They came in from the highway and they were enamored with this stranger. Increasingly they honored him as special. He had spiritual and biblical insights that touched their hearts, so even though he was the guest they let him lead the meal as if he were the host. The staple food was bread. He picked up the bread and blessed it, broke it and handed it to each one. It was simply a shared meal with a new friend, but suddenly everything changed. In an instant they recognized him to be Jesus of Nazareth. He was alive!

But why did they recognize Jesus now and not before? Perhaps it was the way he prayed. He talked to God and asked for God’s blessing in a way that was unique. Perhaps it was the way he broke bread. Maybe they had been there when he fed 5000 with just a few loaves. Perhaps they saw the nail scars on his hands for the first time. Perhaps it was none of these. Perhaps it was all of these and more.

What took place is called by social scientists a “psychological conversion”. Have you ever stared at a brick wall and seen nothing but blocks in lines and stacks with mortar in between? And then you see a pattern that looks like a house or a person or a geometric shape. You never noticed it before, but now looking at that wall you can’t NOT see that geometric design. Or on a lovely summer day you’re outside with friends and as you look up at the billowy clouds your friend asks what you see in the shape of the cloud. You say that you see nothing but a billowy white cloud, but your friend sees Barney the dinosaur. You look and look but there’s no Barney up there. Then suddenly Barney appears. You see the same cloud in a different way. It’s a psychological conversion.

But there was more going on here. It wasn’t just that they saw Jesus differently. It was that God had opened their eyes and now they recognized him. The Spirit of God did something in their hearts and heads that changed the way they saw everything. Did they do it? Did they make a choice? Yes. Did God do it? Yes. That’s the way conversion works. God touches our lives and we change our minds and conversion takes place. We see and hear Jesus as more than a character walking with us in a conversation about history. We see him as our personal Savior and Lord of life. In an instant, conversion takes place. It is a wonderful and transforming experience. It was for them and it is for us.

“Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” Please don’t think that Jesus disappeared the instant they recognized him. That would be to totally miss the point. Instead, we need to understand something very special about the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus rose from the dead in the same body that was crucified and died. It was the same but different in that he could now move instantly from place to place. In John’s biography of Jesus (20:19, 26) he tells about Jesus going through locked doors into rooms full of people. He could instantly move from earth to heaven. Can we fully understand and explain this? Probably not, but we’ll experience it. The Bible teaches that as Christians we will some day have resurrection bodies like the body of Jesus and we will be able to do the same things!

I love what they said right after Jesus disappeared. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” That is one of the distinctive marks of a converted person; he or she has a heart burning with Jesus! There is a lingering fire from being with him and a lasting love for the Bible and its words. Those who have not personally experienced Jesus simply do not understand this. Their hearts are cold and the Bible is dull. But for those whose lives have been transformed by the risen Christ, the soul is on fire and the Bible is a wonder to learn and understand.

What happened next could not wait till morning. Even though the evening meal was over and it was time to call it a day and go to bed . . .

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

The natural, normal, inevitable response to a personal encounter with Jesus is to share that experience with others. You can’t be transformed by God and keep quiet about it. One of the greatest proofs that a person is a Christian is that she tells someone else. It is the rest of the Easter story: the women at the empty tomb, Simon Peter and now the two from Emmaus.

Recently I received a letter from a man who lives in Chicago. I had written to him about a business matter relating to a book. In his reply he told about sitting next to a stranger on a recent flight from Boston to Chicago. She shared with him her Christian faith. He didn’t remember her name but he did remember that she was from Wooddale Church. I loved the story, not just because she was from Wooddale, but most of all because she experienced Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord and shares her experience with those she meets in her travels.

It doesn’t matter whether it was a long time ago on a seven mile journey between Jerusalem and Emmaus or on a modern thousand mile flight between Boston and Chicago. It is the same now as it was then, that those who have experienced Jesus Christ tell others about him.

I invite to you to your own after-Easter encounter with the risen Christ. Review the story. Encounter the truth. Recognize Jesus. Be converted so that you see him in a completely new way. Be transformed by him. Share the experience with everyone who will listen.

Come Lord Jesus. Teach us as you taught those along that road to Emmaus. Come into our homes. Sit at our tables. Change the way we see you. Make our hearts burn with your truth. Fill our hearts until we gladly and joyfully share you with others. We pray to you, our risen Christ. Amen

The United States, along with NATO allies, bombed Yugoslavia in an attempt to stop the conflict between the Serfs and the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The hatred between people in the Balkans runs very deep. It is political with opposing claims of sovereignty and autonomy. It is ethnic between those with ancestry coming from the west and those with ancestry coming from the east. It is religious between Christians and Muslims. It is a mess! It is rooted in a hatred that goes back for generations.

It is not unlike the divisions between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda, Jews and Arabs in Palestine or a whole array of racial, political and religious prejudices between the peoples of the United States.

It was very much the same way between Jews and Samaritans in the first century Roman world in the land of Palestine. They had political differences, ethnic differences and religious differences to the point that they hated one another. They didn’t even speak to one another. There was no trust between a Jew and a Samaritan. That is why it is especially amazing that Jesus would choose a Samaritan to be the hero in one of the most famous stories he ever told.

Luke describes what happened in chapter 10 verses 25-37 of his biography of Jesus;

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him\ and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

It all started with a question from a lawyer. I’ll skip the temptation to tell a lawyer joke here because it wasn’t exactly a lawyer as we think of a lawyer. This was a religious lawyer, an expert on the Jewish Old Testament and how its regulations were to be lived out in everyday life.

This lawyer did what a lot of people do. He asked a question more to start an argument than to discover the truth. He wanted to test Jesus. Now, I’m sure he was smart, articulate, well educated and very religious. He expected to win the argument. So he asked Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

It was a good question, a great question. Except Jesus knew he wasn’t asking to learn how to get to heaven or to have eternal life. He wanted to trick Jesus. So, Jesus answered the question with another question. He said, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

Have you seen Orthodox Jews with little leather boxes strapped to their heads or wrists? Those boxes are called phylacteries. Orthodox Jews still do today what this lawyer probably did back then. They have pieces of paper with parts of the Jewish law in these containers. Jesus was telling him to read what was there. Knowing exactly what Jesus meant, the man answered with direct quotes from the Bible: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

Jesus told the lawyer that he had a great answer and to just go and do what he just quoted. Jesus had already figured out that this man wasn’t capable of wholeheartedly loving God or of loving his neighbor as himself.

The lawyer did what many of us tend to do. He tried to make himself look good. He did what most of the religious lawyers of his time did. He tried to wiggle out of responsibility by defining neighbor in such a careful and tricky way as to exempt himself from really doing what the law intended. It was sort of like deciding what your definition of “is” is.

He asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” You see, religious lawyers were defining neighbor as fellow Jews who were just like themselves. This way they were off the hook and didn’t have to love or even like anyone who was different or with whom they disagreed. They could hate the people they didn’t like and love the people they did like and argue that they loved their neighbors just like God ordered them to do. Clever, huh?

Jesus took an entirely different approach. Instead of arguing about the definition of neighbor, Jesus called the lawyer and everyone else to loving action. Jesus told a story that we have recorded in Luke 10:25-37. We call it the story of the Good Samaritan.

He starts out by explaining that someone who loves others needs to see the need. Jesus told about a man who “was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.”

Everyone who was listening to Jesus as he told this story knew that this guy was really stupid. He had no business traveling alone on the road that goes from Jerusalem to Jericho. It is one of the most desolate and dangerous roads in the world. Even today you would be foolish to travel that road alone. I have traveled it and I have been awed by the bleakness of the terrain. Virtually no one lives there. There are no towns, gas stations or typical signs of civilization. Back then there were groups of bandits who routinely robbed, beat and murdered travelers. Your best bet was to avoid the road altogether. If you had to travel it you were safest with a large caravan and armed guards. To travel alone was suicidal.

This is a story about someone in need. The issue isn’t how the man got into the mess he was in. He was hurt and needed help. Too often we blame people for their problems and excuse ourselves from helping them. We say that he was fired because he drank too much. She was raped because she went to a party she never should have been at. They were in a car crash because they foolishly drove during an ice storm. He has AIDS because of his sexual behavior. She flunked out because she didn’t do her homework. People bring problems on themselves.

All of this may be quite true, but Jesus says nothing about how someone got in trouble and everything about how to help them out of trouble.

Christian Raymond was a 23-year-old shepherd in France who fell over a steep ravine, catching the edge of the cliff with his fingertips as he did. No one was around to help him, but a bizarre thing happened. As he fell his cell phone came out of his pocket and landed on the ledge near his face. Earlier in the day he had called the emergency number, so he pushed redial with his nose. After hanging by his fingertips for 20 minutes, the rescue unit came and saved his life.

Should the rescuers have told him to be more careful and that he brought it on himself? Of course not! When a man has a need he must be helped. That’s what Jesus was saying.

Along that treacherous road came two potential helpers. Each of them looked at the half-dead victim and refused to stop and help. It is possible that they had pretty good excuses for passing by without helping.

The first one was a priest. At that time in Israel there was a surplus of priests so they served at the Temple in Jerusalem on a rotation basis. It was a comparatively rare assignment. The priest wanted to get to Jerusalem for the high and holy privilege of serving God and God’s people. However, any priest who touched a dead person was technically disqualified for seven days. He would lose his turn at the Temple. So, when faced with the choice of serving in the liturgy or helping a man who might die on him, he chose to go with religious service.

You may see this differently than I see it. I’ve wondered what I would do if I saw a car accident or someone needing help on my way to church services at Wooddale Church. Should I stop to help or hurry along and hope someone else will stop? Would the people at Wooddale Church understand if I didn’t show up? Would it make a difference if it were Easter Sunday morning?

The second was a Levite. He was part of the Temple staff, but not a priest. We don’t know why he kept going. It may have been a safety issue with him. In those days, like today, there were bandits who set up decoys. Stop to help someone and the rest will jump out and get you. It was too risky for him. He decided not to take a chance.

Obviously, Jesus disapproved of the actions of both the priest and the Levite. There is a lesson here for us. It is that our seemingly valid excuses for not getting involved with the needs of others are rarely legitimate. We should listen to Jesus when he tells us to skip the excuses.

Instead, Jesus introduces the hero of the story who helped the hurting. He couldn’t have shocked his listeners more then with his choice of a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans hated each other and certainly didn’t help each other. The lawyer would have assumed the Samaritan to be the villain, not the hero.

The Samaritan not only stopped; he became involved. He was a good man with good credit. He was willing to use his resources and reputation to help someone who could not help himself. He was prepared in advance with oil and wine (an emergency first aid kit) just in case. He showed no hint of pride, self-preservation or selfishness. He saw a man who needed help and he gave him the help he needed.

Father Tim Power is a good friend of mine. He was the founding pastor of Pax Christi Catholic Community here in Eden Prairie. Father Tim tells an interesting story about George Conn, a Presbyterian minister in Virginia who had a second job as a reserve chaplain in the United States Navy. He was new to the chaplaincy when he was called on to marry a couple in trouble. The groom was 18 and in jail for desertion. His bride-to-be was 17 and six months pregnant. The marriage would make the bride eligible for military medical benefits. The chaplain thought, “This is not the sort of thing they teach you about in seminary; two children quickly getting married for all the wrong reasons—in a hurried service, performed by a strange minister, before the groom is shipped off to be punished.”

But he did what he was assigned to do. He performed a very short ceremony at the jail. The bride looked scared, desperate and pathetic. The vows were repeated, the rings were quickly exchanged, there was a brief kiss and a benediction. Then this Presbyterian minister did what was his custom in all the other weddings he performed—he shook the groom’s hand and kissed the bride on her cheek. She jumped backwards in shock. Tears flooded down her cheeks. Wide eyed with amazement she asked, “You would kiss me?”

There he stood, a Naval officer in his dress uniform, decorated with stripes representing rank, authority and importance. “You would kiss me?” she asked.

That’s what Jesus is talking about here—helping the hurting, loving the desperate, reaching out to the troubled, caring about those no one else cases about. That is the way to love one’s neighbor and that is the way to love God. Action, not argument!

So who’s who in this famous story? If you were asked to play one of the characters, which one would be the best fit?

Are you the traveler who make stupid choices that left you stripped of your possessions, beat up and half dead? Are you in trouble, hanging by your finger tips from a cliff? Are you the one who is hurting?

Maybe you would play the part of the priest, on your way to do something important. You have appointments to keep and people to impress and God to serve. You don’t have time to help those who are desperate and dying.

Would you be asked to play the part of the Levite? You’re an otherwise good person, but you want to play it safe; you don’t want to take chances and put yourself at risk. You don’t want to get yourself hurt or lose what you have. You know that if you connect with someone who is desperate you might be sucked into that person’s problems.

Or are you the Samaritan, willing to go out of your way, willing to spend your money, willing to get dirty to help someone who may not even deserve the help you offer? Are you willing to kiss someone no one else would even touch?

Who’s who in this story?

If I were casting the story of the Good Samaritan the person I would choose to play the part of the Samaritan is Jesus himself because, in a sense, this is a story about Jesus. As the Son of God he was willing to give up prestige, power, position and wealth to step down from heaven into our human mess and help us sinners. He loved us; he loves us all the way. Jesus knows how and why we’ve gotten ourselves into the messes we’re in and he loves us anyway. He reaches out and kisses us, helps us, heals us and loves us. This is the story of the crucifixion. This is the hope of Easter. Jesus is our Good Samaritan.

What if the half-dead man along the roadside had refused the Samaritan’s help? I suppose that could have happened because in reality it does happen. But, it would have been the most foolish thing that traveler had ever done.

If that person along the side of the road is you, accept Jesus’ help. Let him be your Good Samaritan. Let him touch you and heal you. Let him love you and carry you. Accept his gifts. Accept Jesus Christ.

I can think of no better time than on the first day of Holy week, the anniversary of the time when Jesus gave his greatest help of all, to pray a prayer of commitment to God. Tell him you are hurting. Tell him you are a sinner. Ask him to be your Samaritan. Ask him to be your Savior and the Lord of your life.

If someone accurately predicted the outcome of the next general election would you be impressed? Suppose the prediction was made 40 years in advance? Would that impress you?

The reality is that people guess the future but they don’t predict the future. We make our guesses either on the basis of what we want to happen or by extending patterns from the present into the future. Sometimes future-guessers actually get it right.

But what if someone accurately predicted events that no one else even imagined, events that seemed outrageously unlikely? At first we might be skeptical, but once a prophet gets it very right we are much more likely to listen and believe.

Near the end of his life, Jesus made some amazing predictions. He wasn’t predicting just for fun or to impress. He predicted the future in order to impact the way Christians live their lives. Let’s take a close look at Jesus’ top predictions in Luke 21:5-37.

In Luke 21:5-24 Jesus predicted that Jerusalem would be destroyed. It all started when “Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God.”

The temple in Jerusalem was an impressive place. It was largely constructed of white marble. The pillars in and around the temple were 40 feet tall, each made from a single stone. Elaborate golden ornaments decorated the temple. One of the most famous was a huge golden vine with clusters of grapes as tall as a man. The front of the temple had large gold plates that reflected the sunlight. Historians say that on a bright sunny day at the right angle you couldn’t even look at the temple because the reflection was so brilliant.

From a distance the white marble showed up more than the areas covered with gold. They say it looked like a mountain covered with snow. It was the center of the universe for Jews, their pride and joy, the place where God dwelled and where they came to worship him. It was unthinkable that anything bad could or would ever happen to the temple. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

Jesus added details to his prediction of destruction. There will be political conflict, natural disasters and social upheaval. He explained what it would be like: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great sings from heaven.”

Horrible circumstances will become everyday events. Jesus continued:

“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!”

Typically, pregnancy and the nursing of a new baby is the best of times for a mother, but Jesus is saying that a time will come when everything is going to be backward; everything is going to be turned upside down. There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and be taken as prisoners to all nations.

Jesus’ prediction that Jerusalem would be destroyed came true. Forty years later, in AD 70, there was a Jewish revolt against Roman authority that went from AD 68-70. The Roman army mounted a siege of Jerusalem from April to late August AD 70. The inhabitants were forced to cannibalism within the walls. Jerusalem was completely destroyed.

The Jewish historian Josephus says that one million one hundred thousand Jews were slaughtered by the Roman army. Another 97,000 survived and were carried into captivity as slaves. The city itself had every building destroyed. All trees were cut down. There was virtually nothing left. It was genocide. It was obliteration. It was absolutely awful.

Jesus’ prediction came true. He knew the future before it happened!

In the midst of Jesus’ amazing prediction about the destruction of Jerusalem he predicted severe persecution for Christians. As we look at Jesus’ words in Luke 21:12-19 I ask you to adopt a special mindset. Think of these words being directly applied to you. Imagine that Jesus is saying that you will be persecuted because you are a Christian:

“But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your advisories will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.”

Jesus made it clear that Christians would not be exempt from the troubles that afflict other people. More than that, Jesus was saying that Christians would specially suffer because they were Christians.

What Jesus predicted not only happened in the first century but in every century including our own. Around the world today hundreds of millions of Christians suffer discrimination, unemployment, harassment, rape, forced prostitution, beatings and death because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

Suppose you knew you would suffer for being a Christian. Would that change your mind about following Jesus? What if you knew that your loyalty to Jesus might cost you your job, your marriage, some of your friends, members of your family and most of your money? Would you choose to believe in Jesus if you knew it might include physical pain and even death?

Some ask why they must suffer if they believe in Jesus. Perhaps it is the wrong question. Jesus promised that many of his followers would suffer because they believe. Jesus taught that discipleship can come with a price. The first century Christians considered Jesus to be worth it. Many concluded that it was an honor to suffer for Jesus.

In Jesus’ prediction to his followers he promised both suffering and protection from suffering. That seems like a very strange combination. Yet that is exactly what happened. Christians were seriously persecuted during those years yet they were also delivered from the Jerusalem massacre. Because they heard and believed the predictions of Jesus they fled Jerusalem for the town of Pella before the siege by the Roman army of Titus began. They suffered but they survived.

In Jesus’ next words he switched from a first century prediction to a prediction that would be at least two thousand years later. Prediction number one was limited to the area around and in Jerusalem but prediction number two included cosmic signs affecting the entire earth and beyond. Jesus said in Luke 21:25-26:

“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”

When these great cataclysmic events take place all around the entire globe Jesus will come back to earth again. This time he will not be disguised in humility as he was the first time. Instead, he will return as a powerful and a triumphant conqueror (Luke 21:27-28):

“At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

The return of Jesus Christ to earth is the climax of all of human history. History is not happenstance. We do not live in a random world. God is the ruler and God is moving everything toward a planned fulfillment of purpose. God will bring everything together when Jesus returns to take over and rule the world. He will confront injustice. He will make wrong things right. It is the hope and anticipation of every Christian. We are convinced that all that happens from suffering to pleasure will then fit together and finally make sense.

This is more than some wild idea in Jesus’ planning. He assures us as Christians that this is guaranteed to happen. In order to explain his guarantee, he told them this parable:

“Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

“I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Jesus used a fig tree to make his point. When a leafless tree starts to sprout leaves you know what’s coming—summer. When the poplar, maple and ash leaves of Minnesota trees start changing color and dropping to the ground you know what’s coming—winter. Have you ever known a year when the leaves sprouted and summer didn’t soon follow? Of course not! In the same way, when the cosmic signs begin to appear you can count on the coming of Jesus back to earth. It’s a sure thing.

When these signs appear we know that we are within a generation of Jesus’ return. It could happen all at once or be spread over a period of time but it won’t be more than a single generation. How sure is this? Jesus says that heaven and earth may pass away but what he is predicting won’t pass away. It is absolutely sure to happen!

Jesus did not make these amazing predictions just to satisfy our curiosity or to show off his prophetic powers. He gave these predictions to change the way we live between now and then. Jesus is very specific about how Christians are to live. In Luke 21:34-36 he tells us:

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Jesus gives some specific advice: Don’t let your heart get so weighed down that you are distracted from Jesus. Apparently that was a problem then, but it’s also a problem now. Some people get so overwhelmed with life that they don’t have time for God. They are so focused on problems that they forget about Jesus. The three most likely ways for this to happen are: 1.) Dissipation: life has no purpose or direction; no focus. 2.) Drunkenness: allowing alcohol or drugs to distract us from God. 3.) Anxieties of life: just worrying about all the stuff that fills up life—having the oil changed; the stock market; exams at school.

I believe that this is a very common phenomenon. Christians get so absorbed with life and its problems that we close God out, lose purpose in life and get weighed down every day.

“Be always on the watch.” Jesus was concerned that the problems of life and the sins of society would become routine to us so that we would no longer take the threats seriously. Christians must keep up our guard!

It is easy to take dangers for granted. That’s the way I look at the potential of California earthquakes. I’m grateful that I live in Minnesota. I would rather shovel a foot of snow off the driveway than crawl out from under tons of building rubble. Every time I visit California I hope that the next big earthquake will be some other time. Yet I see people building expensive houses on stilts over the San Andreas Fault. What are they thinking? But if you live with danger long enough you start ignoring it.

Jesus said that the way to prepare for massive future changes is to pray. Prayer is not mostly to ask God for something, it’s mostly to connect with him and align our will to his. That’s what we need to do as we live in anticipation of what is sure to happen. If we don’t pray, the anxieties of life and drunkenness and dissipation take over. Just as regular tune-ups keep a car running, a piano on key and a furnace ready for cold weather so prayer is what keeps us in tune with God and prepared for the time when Jesus comes back to earth.

The year 2000 may be best known in history for the mapping of the Human Genome. For the first time in history the genetic code of the human body was actually completely mapped out. Scientists anticipate a time when we can each be told our likelihood for having a heart attack, aneurysm or cancer. Some people say they don’t want to know that they will someday have breast or prostate cancer; they’ll just deal with it when the time comes. But medical scientists warn that those who know can be prepared and ready.

Jesus has given us a glimpse of the genome of history. It’s all mapped out—from the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 to the yet-to-be fulfilled prediction that he will come back to earth again. He gives us this information so that we can be ready. He wants us to be prepared. He wants us to live differently because of what he has predicted. What he says is simple and straightforward:

Jesus will return.

It could happen any time.

Be ready.

There is a bedtime prayer you may have learned as a child:

Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

What does it mean for the Lord to take a soul? What does it feel like? Where does it go? What does it look like? The Old Testament sufferer Job said in Job 14:14, “If a man dies, will he live again?” Whether young or old, suffering or sound, we all end up with the same questions: What happens to us when we die? Is there life on the other side of the grave? What’s it like?

One day an attorney sat in his client’s office to discuss the drafting of his will. The client kept saying, “If I die, I want my children to have the family business.” “If I die, I would like my wife to be well provided for.” “If I die, I want a big chunk of my estate to go to charity.” Finally, the attorney interrupted him and said, “Mr. Conrad, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ you are going to die; it’s a matter of ‘when’, because you are going to die. We are all going to die.”

Questions about death came to Jesus a couple of days before he himself died. It was a group of Sadducees who confronted him. Sadducees were the aristocracy of first century Jewish community in Jerusalem. They claimed to be descendants of the ancient high priest Zadok.

Let me give you a quick lesson about Sadducees and Pharisees. Both are mentioned often in the biography of Jesus. Both groups were major players in first century Jerusalem. Pharisees were legalistic in their lifestyle. They believed in the Old Testament plus thousands of additional rules and regulations. They believed God plans and knows our future. They believed in the resurrection from the dead, in angels and demons and in the coming of the Messiah. They were the fundamentalists of their day. By contrast, Sadducees were quite secular and usually wealthy. They, too, believed in the Old Testament and gave particular authority to the first five books of the Old Testament, but no extra rules. They believed in unlimited human free will—that we determine our own future. They did not believe in resurrection from the dead, in angels or in demons. They did not expect Messiah to come. They were the religious liberals of their time.

Many of Jesus’ most famous conversations were with Pharisees, but his conversation about life-after-death was with some Sadducees. They came with a trick question intended to show Jesus and everyone else how silly it is to believe that there can be life after death. Let’s look at the conversation from Luke 20:27-40:

Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angles. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

They were talking about what happens to us forever and ever and those Sadducees had some bad assumptions. Bad assumption #1 was that we are all dead forever—like mosquitoes and flies and seaweed—we live for a short time and when we’re dead, that’s it. No more feelings. No more thoughts. No more relationships. No more anything. We’re done. The Sadducees assumed that “there is no resurrection.”

Our assumptions often shape our thinking on everything in life. If we assume that there is no God, if we assume that the Bible is not God’s truth, if we assume that there is no life after death—we will find “facts” to support our assumptions.

I recall a conversation from several years ago between an atheist and a Christian. The Christian assumed that the Bible is true, that Jesus is the means of eternal life and that he would go to heaven when he died. The atheist assumed that the Bible is not true, Jesus is not the means to eternal life and when you are dead—you are dead. Near the end of the conversation the atheist asked the Christian, “What if I’m right and you’re wrong?” The Christian replied, “Then I will have lived a good life with great joy and I will die and stay dead.” Then the Christian asked the atheist, “What if I’m right and you are wrong?” The atheist replied, “Then I will have made the worst possible mistake of all of eternity.”

The Sadducees assumed that when we die we’re dead forever. However, in arguing their point with Jesus they made a second bad assumption. They assumed that ‘forever’ is more of today. Please understand that they didn’t believe in life after death, but when they allowed for it for argument’s sake they assumed that life after death would be a straight-line continuation of life as we now know it.

Not only was that a bad assumption then, it is still a common bad assumption today. I hear it often. Golfers assume they will play the fairways of heaven with a scratch handicap. Musicians assume they will play in a combo or orchestra or will be vocalists in the choir of heaven. Others talk about dancing, reading, water-skiing or mountain climbing. They never seem to consider the possibility that forever may be radically different from everything we now currently experience.

Based on their bad assumption that forever is more of today the Sadducees used marriage and Jewish law to make their point. They cited an obscure Old Testament law in Deuteronomy 25:5 that required a man to marry his brother’s widow if his brother died childless. Then the first child born to the second marriage would be legally counted as belonging to the dead brother. It is called Levirite Marriage (“levir” is Latin for “husband’s brother”). “What if . . . ?” the Sadducees asked. What if she marries a third and a fourth and a fifth and a sixth and a seventh brother and she never becomes pregnant—and then she, too, dies?

No one ever claimed that such a thing happened. This was totally hypothetical. If it did happen I hope brother 5, 6 or 7 would request a sanity hearing or a murder investigation before a wedding ceremony! (Actually, this was an Old Testament rule that was rarely followed and probably never followed in Jesus’ time.)

The Sadducees were really just trying to make a point. “Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” They were saying that it’s absurd for there to be a resurrection because she couldn’t and shouldn’t be married to all seven brothers at the same time. But their premise was flawed. Their fatal error was that they assumed the future will be like the past, that heaven will be just like earth and that eternity will be just like time. It was and is a common mistake. It was and is a bad assumption.

Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.”

Jesus taught that in heaven our relationships will be different from those we have here on earth. Because people won’t die in heaven there will be no need for children to be born. Since children are a primary purpose of marriage, marriage will no longer be needed as a basic human relationship. There will be new and different relationships provided by God that we cannot now comprehend but which will fulfill and satisfy us in wonderful ways.

Some people read this as very good news. They feel they have already been married to this person too long and heaven wouldn’t be heaven if they have to be married forever. Other couples want to extend the contract from “until death us do part” to “forever and ever, Amen.”

Charleen and I have had this discussion many times. We have known each other all our lives and have been married to each other most of our lives. It is hard to imagine life without each other. We love each other very much and we thoroughly enjoy being married. We’ve talked about setting a meeting place in heaven so we will be sure to find each other. If we aren’t married there we would at least like to hang out together.

But, we are all doing what the Sadducees did. We are assuming that the future is an extension of the present. Not so, says Jesus. It is going to be really different. It is going to be better. We are not going to be disappointed. We are going to like it better than anything we can imagine. So don’t worry. Trust God. The God who created the best of this world has something far better coming up forever.

Jesus’ second teaching about forever is that admission is limited. Jesus taught in Luke 20:35 that “those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead” are the ones who will be admitted into heaven.

Heaven forever is not for everyone. There are very specific admission requirements and those who do not meet the requirements will not be admitted to heaven. This teaching is not very popular among lots of people. The common assumption is that everyone goes to heaven when they die. It is assumed because that’s what people want. But it should not be assumed—because that is not what God says. God says the only way to get into heaven is to be considered worthy of admission. Since we are all sinners and not worthy there is only one hope—to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and get in on his worthiness. We will never make it on our own. The only way into heaven is under the auspices of Jesus. That’s why it is so important to become a Christian before you die.

Jesus’ third teaching about forever is that there will be no more death. Jesus said in Luke 20:36 about those who are Christians that “they can no longer die.” Because sin and death are linked and because there is no sin in heaven, death becomes an impossibility. Of course, heaven would be an awful place if we were miserable and could not die. But heaven is wonderful and happy and forever—and we cannot die, so there will be nothing to worry about!

Actually, this is getting back to where God first started with the Garden of Eden. He designed this perfect place and put his creatures in it with the expectation that joy and fulfillment would be theirs forever and ever. But human sin created a long, dreadful interruption. So, Jesus came to set everything straight, and those who believe in him and follow him end up with the best of everything—forever! It is truly eternal life.

Jesus’ fourth teaching about forever is that we will be like the angels. For some people that is not the best of news. They imagine that we will be playing boring music while sitting on clouds and wearing long white robes. Hardly!

Angels are magnificent, powerful, good and godly. They are the highest and happiest of God’s creatures. In many ways they are better, smarter, stronger and more creative then any of us humans. And they have no sin. But they are not human. They do not have our human souls and wills. They are not created to be like God the way we were created.

Imagine that you could be 100% you but also have the best of all that angels have and are. Imagine being you only better, brighter, more beautiful and more fulfilled—the best of everything that God intends. Jesus says that we will forever be like the angels.

His fifth and his final teaching to the Sadducees is that God gives life. Jesus quoted from the Old Testament story when God talked to Moses by a burning bush in the Desert of Sinai—a story the Sadducees had no doubt about in their belief system. Moses addressed God as “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The words were carefully chosen. By that time in history Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had all died; yet, God is still their God. Those who are dead forever don’t need a god. Only those who are living need and have God.

The point Jesus was making is that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob continued to live after their deaths. Jesus was insisting that God is the God of the living. God gives life and even those who have died physically still exist and live spiritually. God will not let death be the final victor. He is the God of the living—and those who believe in him can and will live forever.

There is so much more to say, so many more Bible teachings, so many more glimpses of what heaven and forever will be like. Jesus’ teachings are powerful and important but they don’t answer all of our questions. It seems to me that they are at best glimpses of what it is like on the other side of death.

Remember when your friends took a fabulous vacation to Hawaii or to the Grand Canyon or to the Florida Keys or the Oregon Coast? They bought a picture postcard with room on the back for a name, address and a short note. Perhaps they wrote something like this: “Having a great time. This place is fantastic. Wish you were here!” It wasn’t enough for you to really experience or understand the magnificence of Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, Key West or Oregon, but it was enough to tell you that it is very different from Minnesota.

The Bible is like a postcard from heaven. It’s a glimpse, a snapshot, but you have to experience it for yourself to really understand how great it is. And, Jesus says, “Wish you were here!”

I hope you will be there. The good news is that if you really want to be there you can be. Make guaranteed reservations by believing in Jesus Christ as your only Savior and Lord. Accept him as your ticket. Trust him as your Savior and acknowledge him as your Lord. Someday you will experience wonderful new relationships, you will have the forever life of God, you will never die and you will be just like the angels.

John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife and sister-in-law boarded their single engine plane at an airport right across the highway from the high school from which I graduated. He piloted the plane toward Cape Cod, but they never made it. Their plane crashed into the ocean not far from Nantucket Island. Almost immediately there was worldwide speculation about a Kennedy curse. Could it be that he, his wife and sister-in-law tragically died because of some sin he committed or a series of sins in the Kennedy clan?

When a day-trader-gone-wild shot and killed innocent people in and around Atlanta, was there something spiritual and supernatural behind what happened? Or when Oklahoma City’s Murrah Federal Building exploded taking hundreds of lives of unsuspecting visitors and workers, was there some spiritual connection between what happened and their deaths?

Every generation has its tragedies. And every generation wonders about the spiritual and supernatural meaning behind the otherwise unexplainable catastrophes that steal the lives of otherwise healthy people. Plane crashes. Epidemics. Tornadoes. Hurricanes. Droughts. Mass murders. What do they mean?

It was no different in Jesus’ generation. Some people came to Jesus with the latest news of tragedy. Worshippers from the northern province of Galilee had been murdered at the temple while they were offering sacrifices to God. The tragic news reminded Jesus of another recent tragedy when the tower of Siloam in Jerusalem collapsed and crushed to death 18 people. Both of these stories raised a practical theological problem that Jesus wanted to answer: “Is suffering always a direct consequence of sinning?” Let’s review the stories that triggered the question “is suffering always a direct consequence of sinning?”

The first of these stories is about the alter murders. We don’t know the exact historical details although it isn’t hard to fill in some of the blanks. Pilot was the Roman governor of Jerusalem at the time. He was notoriously hardhearted and heavy handed. While he did some wonderful things for the city he often stomped out all personal and political opposition. And the people of Galilee were renowned as rebellious. They often opposed Roman rule.

Some news-bearers ran up to tell Jesus “about the Galileans whose blood Pilot had mixed with their sacrifices.” It was big news of a great catastrophe.

Do you remember the moment when you first heard about some catastrophe? I was talking on the phone when a friend heard the news and told me that the Challenger had exploded killing all the astronauts on aboard. I was in a rental car in Finley, Ohio, when I heard a radio report about the Oklahoma City federal building explosion. I was in Moscow, Russia, when Wooddale Church missionaries Matt and Terri Miller told me that John Kennedy’s plane was missing and was presumed down. I was driving to the office at church when I heard the news that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.

Jesus was teaching his followers when news arrived of the slaughter of the Galilean worshippers.

History reports at least one other occasion when Pilot ordered his soldiers to enter a temple crowd under disguise and then suddenly throw off the disguises and bludgeon the worshippers. Apparently that’s what happened to those Galileans. They had their hearts on God and they were murdered.

You can’t help but wonder why, so Jesus asked the question that was on everyone’s mind: “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?” People in those days believed calamity was a direct consequence of sin. They assumed these murdered people must have done something terribly wrong to suffer as they did. They must have gotten what they deserved.

There are people today who hold to the same theology. If someone gets cancer or has a huge business setback or faces some other calamity it must be because of sin in that person’s life. It is not uncommon for terminally or chronically ill patients to rehearse everyone they have offended in life and ask for forgiveness in order to receive divine healing.

So Jesus asked, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?” And then he answered, “I tell you, no!” Jesus is saying that such a notion is bad theology. It’s just not true.

But then Jesus adds a seemingly contradictory line when he says, “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” This seems to say there is a direct connection between sin and sickness and death.

Before an explanation is given he moves on to a second story about another recent event. It is the story of the tower tragedy. The tower in Siloam in Jerusalem collapsed killing eighteen people. One Bible scholar has an interesting possible explanation of this story. Pilot recognized the need for a new water system for Jerusalem so he forcibly withdrew money from the temple treasury to pay for it. The Jews were really upset and angry. Pilate then used the money to pay the construction workers. Some people assumed that God punished the workers for accepting the stolen money as wages by causing the tower to fall on them and crush them.

Suppose you accepted drug money to pay your salary; then you were severely injured in an accident. Would you think it was God’s punishment?

Jesus asked, “Do you think those eighteen were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

What is the moral to these tragic stories? The moral is that we never know when tragedy will strike so we should always be spiritually ready.

We live in a world that is contaminated by sin. There is sickness, corruption, injustice, disasters, violence and risk everywhere. No one is exempt. We never know when we will be in a car accident, be assaulted, get a disease or suddenly die. Life is not fair or predictable. We never know when we might be murdered or have a building collapse on us or be in a plane crash. So, we must always be ready. If we have sin on our conscience we must confess it and get right with God. If we have something wrong with a relationship, we should straighten it out now. If life is going in the wrong direction we must not assume we have time to change direction.

Jesus told his followers to repent or perish. To repent is to change direction. It is to stop going the wrong way and start going the right way. It would be tragic to die headed in the wrong direction.

Having said this Jesus then tied a parable to his teaching about repentance. A parable is a made-up story to teach a main point. It was a common teaching tool of Jesus Christ. He said:

“A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

“ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it
down.’ ”

Topsoil in the Middle East is scarce. While vineyards are mostly for growing grapes, farmers sometimes planted trees on any unused little piece of soil. Fig trees were a good choice because they didn’t take a lot of room and typically produced a crop after three years. Except in Jesus parable this fig tree didn’t produce anything. So the owner ordered it to be chopped down. The land was too valuable to have a tree that didn’t do what the tree was supposed to do.

Jesus was probably referring to the nation of Israel in the year AD 70, but the principle applies to us as well. Each of us has a purpose in life. God planted us where we are to produce fruit. If we don’t do what we’re supposed to do, we might as well be chopped down.

What does God want from you and me where we are planted? What is the purpose of your life? Many people have no idea. That is sad—to live life and have no idea why; to be born and live and die and never have a purpose or accomplish what life is supposed to be about.

Other people have mistaken purposes. They say that the purpose of life is to have a good time, make money, be famous or have success. This is like a fig tree that grows leaves but never grows figs. It looks good but misses out on what matters the most.

I encourage you to learn and know God’s purpose for your life. Think about it. Pray about it. Be quick to name the fruit you are supposed to grow. Knowing your purpose can transform your whole life. Your attitude at work, at home, in the neighborhood or wherever you are planted will be different when you can say, “My purpose is to show others the life and love of God in this place.” You will be able to face disappointment with courage and accept success without pride. All of life is about growing the fruit God has called you to grow.

In Jesus’ parable, the gardener intervenes on behalf of the fig tree and asks the owner to give it one more year. It is a second chance to do what it is supposed to do.

It’s just like Jesus to bring this into his story. Jesus intervenes on our behalf to give us another chance. For those who have wasted years of life, for those who have lived without purpose and direction, for those who have born no fruit for God where they are planted Jesus says, “Give it one more shot. Allow one more year. Let her try again. Give him another chance.” It is still the theme of repentance. Remember, repentance is changing direction. Quit going the wrong way and start going the right way.

If that’s you, listen up to Jesus’ parable. Take this as a gift from Jesus. Seek for and live your God-given purpose in life. Do it now. Don’t wait. Don’t waste another day just taking up space. Be and do what God wants you to be and do where he has planted you—now!

With Jesus’ gracious offering of a second chance he adds a serious warning about the last chance. He says, “If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” In other words, the tree doesn’t get 100 years to do what a fig tree is supposed to do. It needs to produce figs or make room for a tree that will produce figs.

Jesus warns us not to waste our lives. Don’t assume we can go on indefinitely without fulfilling our God-given purpose in life. There’s a limit. There’s an end. There’s a last chance.

Some people may hear these teachings of Jesus and take them negatively. They resent talk about catastrophes and warnings about going the wrong way in life. Religion can sound so restrictive. Jesus may seem so pessimistic. Where’s the freedom? The grace? The fun?

Well, let’s be fair and let’s understand. Imagine that you get a terrific new job with a new car as a perk. You will represent the company around town and maybe even across the nation. You will go to wonderful places and meet lots of interesting people. The boss gives you directions as he hands you the keys to your new car. They include six right turns and four left turns to get to the highway you need to take. He warns you not to take some tempting shortcuts.

As you drive away you see the highway you want but it’s much closer than you expected. The problem is that there is a left turn arrow with a red circle around it and a slash through it. There is also a sign that says NO LEFT TURN. You decide to turn left anyway. Next there is a sign that says DO NOT ENTER, but you keep going. A delivery truck is coming straight at you but you are driving a big SUV so you swerve onto the shoulder and into a nearby ditch and have a near miss. Back on the road you keep going until you see a huge sign that says WRONG WAY. What are you going to do? Keep going or change directions?

Jesus says, “ . . . unless you repent, you will perish.” It’s simple. If you’re going the wrong direction, turn around and go the right direction. If you aren’t fulfilling your purpose in life where you are planted, grab your second chance and do what you are supposed to do.

The sum of it all of this that Jesus loves us and wants the very best for us. But he warns us against going the wrong direction. He invites us to turn around and follow him, go the right direction and experience the transforming delight of fulfilling our God-given purpose in life.

One of the early Soviet cosmonauts insisted that neither God nor heaven existed. He said that when he rocketed above the earth and into orbit he looked for heaven and it was not there. Other critics insist that the Bible teaches an outdated cosmology with a three-story universe—heaven above, hell below and earth in-between. It is even considered primitive to say someone died and went up to heaven. After all, which way is up and which way is down on a round earth? What is up for us may be down for the people of China. It all just doesn’t make much sense.

What people fail to understand is that the Bible is a book that was written in human language using ordinary human expressions. This is the way we talk. For example, in the United States we frequently refer to up north, down south, back east or out west. If you are not from the east it’s not back anywhere as far as you are concerned. People who live in California probably don't think they are out of anywhere. If you were born and raised in Minnesota you probably don't think of Minnesota as being up north. And it gets even more confusing if you're from the Twin Cities because the Twin Cities are in southern Minnesota so you're up north in Minnesota and down south in the Twin Cities. It can all become very contradictory.

When Charleen and I were in Australia we discovered that Australians resent having their country referred to as being down under. Down under what? In fact, most Australian gift shops sell maps of the world with Australia on the top and the United States and Europe on the bottom.

In other words, up and down, back and out, north and south, east and west are all matters of relationship. They all depend on where you are and where you are talking about.

The same may be said about heaven. What makes it heaven is relationship, not whether it is up or down. It's about where a person is and in what direction a person is headed. I suppose we could summarize the theology of heaven by saying that heaven is someplace else. It is the home of God. Or perhaps the simplest definition of heaven is that it is where Christians are not now but someday will be. Heaven is where Jesus came from and where we all want to end up.

For such an important place the Bible says surprisingly little about heaven, but we are given a very quick preview in Luke 9:28-36. It is a glimpse not unlike a flash picture taken in a totally darkened room. For an instant you feel as if you can see everything but it is quickly gone. You like what you saw but you wish you could see more. What we have here is a preview of heaven that is tied to a glimpse of the glory of Jesus Christ. It happened one day when Jesus . . .

. . . took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightening. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

What happened that day on that mountaintop was surprising and shocking. Peter, James and John were already impressed with Jesus. They had heard his amazing words and seen him perform spectacular miracles, but nothing could have prepared them for what they saw that day. It was almost as if Jesus had been wearing a disguise and then, for that fleeting moment, he had taken off the disguise so they could see what he was really like. The Son of Man had come to earth and taken on humanity. He wore our skin and our clothes and looked just like us. But that day on that mountain he showed the way he looks in heaven.

Jesus’ face looked different. Matthew’s biography of Jesus in Matthew 17:2 says Jesus' “face shone like the sun.” The change was startling. It was still Jesus. They recognized him. But they saw him as they had never seen him before.

Jesus’ clothes became as bright as a flash of lightening. Imagine standing six feet away from a strike of lightening and staring right at it. Not for a split second but for minutes. Brighter than anything you have ever seen before—so bright that the brilliance burns its image into your eyes and onto the screen of your brain. Mark writes in his biography of Jesus in Mark 9:3, “His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.”

It’s hard to imagine an ordinary human comparison. Think of a woman living in your apartment building. Each time you’ve seen her she has been bundled up in heavy winter clothes. When you first met her she was changing a flat tire and there was thick black dirt on her hands and clothes and face. Then one day you see her on television. Instead of grease she has make-up on her face. Instead of winter work clothes she has on an expensive designer dress. Instead of living in the apartment down the hall she is the CEO and majority shareholder of the company that owns the apartment building and many others like it. She is on television to announce her acceptance of the President’s nomination as Ambassador to the Court of St. James in London. You thought she was a nice neighbor but you never dreamed she was so much more.

Or think of the boy down the street who used to deliver your newspapers. The one you tipped $5 at Christmastime. The one you haven’t seen for years. You liked him but doubted he would ever amount to anything. Now it is the day of your surgery and you are pleased that the doctor is renowned as one of the best in the field. As he walks into your hospital room he seems vaguely familiar. He introduces himself as your former paperboy from down the street. You are shocked. You see the resemblance and recognize his voice. It is hard to imagine he is the same person. You wish you had tipped him $50 instead of $5.

But those comparisons really aren’t good enough. Imagine striking a match and a fireball erupts. Imagine turning on a light switch and a nuclear explosion blasts out before your eyes.

No, none of the comparisons is good enough because nothing compares. These men saw Jesus as they had never seen him before and as they would never see him again until the day he would welcome them directly into heaven. They had previewed heaven!

There is a point here that we dare not miss. We are not the center of heaven—Jesus is! The essence of heaven is not happiness or luxury or environmental perfection—it is Jesus! Jesus is what heaven is all about. That is one of the many reasons why heaven is just for Christians. Anyone who is not in love with Jesus, anyone who is not centered on Jesus, anyone who is not completely devoted to Jesus might not find heaven to be such a wonderful experience after all. When we think of heaven, most of all we should think of the glory of Jesus Christ.

But there are other bits of preview for us to see. Heaven is not merely the domain of God. Heaven includes others - - - like Moses and Elijah. They were apparently there to meet and talk to Jesus because they represented the Old Testament Law and Prophets. They were there to endorse Jesus and what he was on earth to do.

These others in heaven will be like Jesus. Moses and Elijah also “appeared in glorious splendor”. They, too, were brilliantly bright but they were also recognizable. Even though they were glorious they were still themselves. They still had their names. They still had their voices. There was enough physical similarity that they could be recognized.

The topic of their conversation was Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection. The record says, “They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” This is a reference to the turning point in Jesus’ life when he heads for Jerusalem where he is destined to die for human sin and arise for eternal life.

All of this hints at what we may expect to experience in heaven. We will be ourselves. We will recognize each other. We will talk to each other with our same voices. We will use our names. Future life will be directly connected to present life. We will be like Jesus. We'll be different. We will be glorious. We will be brilliant. We will be supernatural.

The central theme of heaven will be Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. It’s not that we won’t discuss other topics, but what will be central and what heaven will be all about is the glory of Jesus Christ.

The sneak preview of heaven was difficult for humans to understand. For unexplained reasons Peter, John and James were sleepy. Maybe they had been up late the night before. Maybe they were bored. Maybe praying made them tired. They were awakened with a shock when they saw Jesus, Moses and Elijah. They were like deer caught in the high beams of car headlights—wide-awake and frozen in place.

Peter was the disciple with the motor mouth. There is usually one in every group. They have to say something even when they don’t have anything appropriate to say. As Moses and Elijah were leaving and Jesus’ appearance was returning to the way it used to be, Peter blurted out,  “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

It's hard to figure out what Peter had on his mind. He offered to scrounge up branches and leaves or whatever was available and construct a lean-to for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Did he want to mark the spot? Did he think they would stay longer if they had a pup tent to call home? Did he miss the entire point of what had just happened? Was he just stupid?

Have you ever said something really stupid at a very important moment? (I have, but I’m not going to tell you about it!) Luke added his own observation in verse 33: “He did not know what he was saying.” That’s a kind way of saying Peter put his foot in his mouth.

Here is what I think really happened to Peter and it probably would have happened to us. This preview of heaven and the glory of Jesus was so amazing that he just had no category in his mind to deal with it. He didn’t know what to say or think. He didn’t know how to respond or how to behave. It was too new, too big, too good and too wonderful.

There are no human words or actions that fit something like this. Maybe that’s why the Bible says so little about what heaven is like. We wouldn’t understand it even if we were told. Whatever our wildest imagination of God’s heaven may be, our best guess isn’t even close.

As Peter was speaking, God the Father—who could not stay away and could not remain silent—interrupted him. The record says:

While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”

This was the Father's stamp of approval on Jesus and all he was doing. The God whose home is in heaven had also stepped to earth. His glory was shrouded in a cloud because it might otherwise have been too great for the three human witnesses to survive. God the Father made it clear who Jesus is and what we are to do. Jesus is God’s beloved Son chosen to atone for human sin and reconcile us to God. We are to listen to Jesus and do what he says. Here is the central core of Christianity: 1.) God sent his Son to save the world; 2.) We are to listen to his Son and be his disciples; and 3.) Those who accept and follow Jesus will someday be like him in heaven.

This amazing story ends saying, “The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.” Perhaps they needed time to process the experience. They had to figure it out for themselves before they could tell anyone else. But there came a time when they could tell. Peter wrote about it later in the New Testament in II Peter 1:16-18:

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

In other words, Peter was saying that he could never have made up all of this. It was too majestic, too magnificent. No, he had seen it himself. He heard the words of God. He saw Jesus. He saw what heaven is like.

And you can see it, too! If you are a Christian, you will someday be like Jesus. If you are a Christian, you will someday be with Jesus. If you are a Christian, heaven will some day be your spectacular home with Jesus forever.