Our common call on Inauguration Day

A new President of the United States will take office at Noon today. For some, it is a grand day; for others reason to mourn. My friends are scattered along a line that extends from revulsion to admiration. There is no questioning that Donald Trump aims to change America’s government policies.  Regardless of our political persuasions, there is one thing all Christians should do today and every day with regard to those who hold positions of power and influence. 

The Holy Word directs us "I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth." (1 Timothy 2:1-4, NLT)  Before you say, “well, of course, we should that, but … “ remember that is God’s word, not Jerry’s suggestion.  

Our prayers for those who are ‘in authority’ need not be accolades of blessings. We should pray for wisdom to be granted, for justice to prevail, for evil to be restrained, for insight, for compassion, for good counselors to be found. Let me ask you, just how often and depth do you pray for those who are in office?  Do you pray for local school board members to make our schools places where there a solid education can be obtained? Do you pray for our state officials to use the taxes they collect to make our lives better? Do you pray for Congress to pass laws that are just?  Will you pray for Trump and Pence to lead this nation in a way that is honorable?

For some, Trump may appear to be an enemy of things held dear.  
Remember that Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies!

Others see him as a man who will confront challenges in our country boldly. 
Pray for his wisdom!

So many angry words have been stirred up by this election. Deep emotions will pull at us when we see a man that so many regard as unfit for the office sworn into the Presidency.  Let’s choose obedience to the Spirit today. Instead of adding our own opinions to the fire, let’s offer up our prayers be they tears of sorrow or shouts of joy.

Consider this Proverb and pray. " Good leadership is a channel of water controlled by God; he directs it to whatever ends he chooses. We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives." (Proverbs 21:1-2, The Message)

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Father, I come before You today

To confess that You are higher than any,

That Your will is supreme.

I ask that peace will come to our divided nation.

Work in my heart to seek to understand, to accept,

To demonstrate my own commitment to You by my gentleness.

We pray for our new President and his administration-

That they will humble themselves before You,

That they will be just,

That they will find wisdom greater than their own intellect,

That they will walk with You.

Teach Your church to be the advocate of all people’s dignity, 

Not just to try to protect her privilege or influence.

Many issues divide even Your people, Lord;

Things that we see so differently.

Holy Spirit, work deeply in us.

Give us ears to listen, and keep our words honest in the struggle.

You have given America a place of great privilege.

For this we give you thanks even as we recognize the

responsibility that comes with that place.

Teach all of us – Democrat and Republican –

Black and white – rich and poor – man and woman –

About Your purposes and lead us to life everlasting.

All this I pray in the Name of Jesus.  Amen

Some say it is too good to be true

We love to compare ourselves to others. Oh, we may not admit it but we wonder if we measure up, where we stand, don’t we? Where we went to school, how much money we make, grades we get, the place we live, the clothes we wear … there are so many ways that we try to figure out if we are ‘good enough.’  When that impulse goes to church, the result is not pretty. It is the ultimate tragedy.

In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he tells the younger pastor to confront some teachers who were trying to play on human pride, who were negating the grace of Christ with another ‘gospel.’ "Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer." (1 Timothy 4:2-5, NIV)  Those teachers claimed that becoming acceptable to God meant being ‘good enough’ by keeping rules about sex and food.

That false gospel is still around.  Keeping religious rules as means of finding a place in God’s family tells us that if we do this or that, refuse to go here or there, give this much, wear this and do not wear that – it is a very long list – steals the heart of Christianity for millions.  It is an attractive lie because it allows a person to keep score, but it is a denial of the very grace of God, shown us in Christ Jesus.  I wonder if Paul wept as he wrote these inspired words to some people trying so hard to save themselves?  “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand." (Colossians 2:21-3:1, NLT)

We are reconciled to God, our Father, by Christ Jesus, not by doing enough good things. Salvation from sin does not come through knowing more about theology, greater efforts at spiritual discipline, or practicing rigid self-denial. If we could possibly arrive at some state of holiness by ourselves, Christ would not have died for us! "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:4-5, NIV) "—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV)  We accept a free gift, offered by God because He is full of love, and we are saved. That is the Gospel of Christ.

Some people misunderstand the amazing grace of God and turn it into a license to sin.  Others abuse God’s grace and refuse to grow into a beautiful kind of holy life.  But, that does not change the Truth we are made right with Him by the gift of grace.

Are you duped by preachers who give you a system of religious rules?

Have you been freed from slavery to sin only to be enslaved to a new tyranny of Religion?

Look again to Jesus. Thank Him for a gift that changes from the inside out. 

Don’t insult God by reminding Him of your successes while trying to hide your sins and failure. Instead, radically trust the message of the Gospel – Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!  A new life will emerge from that forgiveness, one that is beautiful with a true holiness shaped in you and me by the Holy Spirit.  Do you think that it is too good to be true?

The word from the Word points us to the experience of the ‘father of the faithful’ – Abraham – reminding us that he did not receive his place because of anything he had done, but because God loved and chose him.  Be inspired to greater devotion as you read. "So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.” If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift." (Romans 4:1-5, The Message)

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This Is Amazing Grace

Who breaks the power of sin and darkness

Whose love is mighty and so much stronger

The King of Glory the King above all kings

Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder

Who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder

The King of Glory the King above all kings

 (Yeah) (Oh) This is amazing grace

This is unfailing love

That You would take my place

That You would bear my cross

You laid down Your life

That I would be set free

Oh Jesus I sing for all that You've done for me

Who brings our chaos back into order

Who makes the orphan a son and daughter

The King of Glory the King of Glory

Who rules the nations with truth and justice

Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance

The King of Glory the King above all kings

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain

Worthy is the King who conquered the grave

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain

Worthy is the King who conquered the grave

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain

Worthy is the King who conquered the grave

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain

Worthy worthy worthy

Jeremy Riddle | Josh Farro | Phil Wickham

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A New Thing or Tradition?

Tradition. Is it valuable or should we discard it in favor of the ‘new,’ the novel? In the formation of our spiritual life should we be always on the lookout for the next revival, a fresh world from the newest ‘prophet’?  Can the experience of people who lived centuries ago guide us in our pursuit of God in 2017? The answer to both of those questions is yes! What role does tradition play in forming our understanding of life, about God?

My formative years were lived in a revivalist church where we hardly thought of the traditions of Christianity. We were excited by what God was doing in the world right now. The fervor and excitement was wonderful, but the excesses were numerous as each preacher tried to find some ‘new word.’ Many spun off into speculative even silly error. When I speak with those who were raised in churches that were locked into tradition a common complaint is about practices that made the Gospel hard to understand, obscured by words and in forms of another era.  Without the benefit of tradition, those things learned by previous generations and passed down to us, we have to start from the beginning, making many of the same errors, rebuilding many of the same arguments. We can gain much from the collective wisdom of our fathers. Without a fresh experience of God’s Presence in our lives, our faith will die, becoming ritualistic, disconnected from the daily choices that we face.

The inspired Word tells us to “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16, NLT)  At the same time, God reminds us that "anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT)  We are informed by those who walked with God in the past, and the Spirit is doing a fresh, new work in us today. We both forget the wisdom of the Church and lock ourselves into the past to our peril.

The strength and weakness of our American way of life is our love of the new, our common failure to appreciate the wisdom of the past. We are enamored with youth, giving scant value to old.  Remember that famed slogan of the 1960’s that told the hip generation -  “Never trust anyone over 30.”?  Those who adopted it as their own threw away traditions and values of their parents.  America plunged headlong into the chaotic social revolution that has brought us the confusion in which we are living a half century later. What might the world look like with new respect for the wisdom of the past matched with the innovations that a new generation brings?

As Christians, we must marry what our fathers learned, gleaning from their experience, while seeking God for His revelation for our time.  Here is a word from the Word addressing both veteran Christians and those new to faith.  May God help us to find the Truth.

"I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you who are young in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one.
I have written to you who are God’s children because you know the Father.
I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.

I have written to you who are young in the faith because you are strong.

God’s word lives in your hearts, and you have won your battle with the evil one." (1 John 2:12-14, NLT)

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Father, teach us to be grateful for those who have gone before us

And to look eagerly to what You would do in our time.
Make us wise and yet ready to continue to learn of new ways of faith.

Make the Way clear. Steady us.
May we leave a clear path for those who come after us.

In Jesus’ Name.

Amen