Life Sucks?

 

A younger friend, who is a pastor, recently announced his next sermon series title – “Life Sucks.” When I read it, I laughed, amused by his summary of Ecclesiastes, that book in the Bible from which he will be taking his texts. In fact, it is a book full of cynicism. For example, Solomon writes "I hate life because everything done here under the sun is so irrational. Everything is meaningless, like chasing the wind." (Ecclesiastes 2:17, NLT)  Who has not felt that way at least occasionally, especially in this recent year of tumultuous politics and pandemic chaos?

I, too, have felt the pull to become cynical, perhaps even bitter.  If I spend too much time just looking at the surface of things, I am likely to sigh "What's the use of it all? Who cares? What is accomplished that tomorrow won’t undo?”  Do you ever feel that way?   If we give that temptation any room in our thoughts we are dangerously close to spiritual apathy, giving up and giving in to the darkness that surrounds us.

The word of God presses an important principle into us. What is it? Patient endurance!  There are times when the reality is difficult, when it seems that the sun will never shine brightly again. Andy Stanley reminds us that "The daily grind of life is hard on visions. Life is now. Bills are now. Crisis is now. Vision is later. It is easy, therefore, to lose sight of the main thing, to sacrifice the best for the good. All of us run the risk of allowing secondary issues to rob us of the joy of seeing our visions come to completion. Distractions slowly kill the vision." (Visioneering, Multnomah, 1999)

Pastor James of the first church in Jerusalem  points to the labor of the farmer to illustrate how we must meet that temptation slip into a ‘whatever, how cares’ kind of apathy.  "Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near." (James 5:7-8, NIV)  Be patient! Let God work.  

Charles Colson worked at the pinnacle of power in the Nixon White House and lost his way. In the Watergate scandal, he pled guilty to a felony. He lost his law license and was sent to federal prison. At the time, he was a baby Believer, a new Christian, and his faith took a beating.  When he was released, he wondered what to do, what it all meant, how his life would find any meaning.   

He waited on God, for 18 months! His memories of encounters with other forgotten, hopeless men in those awful places became the tools that God used to reshape Colson’s vision and a ministry called Prison Fellowship was born. Colson gave the rest of his life to bringing God’s hope to those most of the rest of society had written off as unworthy of care!  He wrote “So out of my prison experience, paradoxically, came a challenge which has turned out to be more fulfilling than anything I could have imagined. Freedom lies in obedience to our calling.”  (The Good Life, 2005, Tyndale Publishing)

If we seek results too soon, if we insist on a continual sense of fulfillment, we will grow frustrated.  If we make ‘success’ our measure of happiness we will be in a constant state of unrest looking for the ‘next best thing.’ Therein are the seeds of disillusionment and failure. We need the ‘long view,’ the patient endurance that characterizes the lives of those whose ultimate hope is gaining God’s commendation.

This is Friday and today, as with every Friday, I know that it is my responsibility to complete the message that I will bring to the congregation on Sunday. That ‘job’ can be viewed in two different ways. If I approach my desk to fill up pages with words 'to say on Sunday' because it’s ‘my job,’  joy will be lost.  My likely goal will be just to ‘get it done.’  If with the sense of my calling, remembering that I have the opportunity to help somebody whose lost, confused, or without hope to find the Way,  that vision will keep me in pursuit of God’s best, for His glory.

Never lose sight of the `why' behind the `what.' 
Refuse to live just to survive.
Ask God for quiet hope, for patient endurance, for faith to live for what might be invisible at the moment. 

King David, at the realization of a dream, sang this:
"O LORD, you brought me up from the grave;
you spared me from going down into the pit.
Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:3-5, NIV) 

Here is a word from the Word.

"So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!
Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will.
Then you will receive all that he has promised.
"For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.  
And my righteous ones will live by faith."  (Hebrews 10:35-38, NLT)

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Good God Almighty 

I can't count the times
I've called Your name some broken night
And You showed up and patched me up
Like You do every time
I get amnesia I forget that You keep coming around
Yeah ain't no way You'll ever let me down

Good God Almighty
I hope You'll find me
Praising Your Name no matter what comes
'Cause I know where I'd be
Without Your mercy
So I keep praising Your name at the top of my lungs 

Tell me is He good (He's good)
Tell me is He God (He's God)
He is Good God Almighty

You say Your love goes on forever
That Your mercy never stops
So why would I assume
You'd be somebody that You're not
Like sun in the morning
I know You're gonna be there every day
So what on earth could make me be afraid 

Praise Him in the morning
Praise Him in the noon time
Praise Him when the sun goes down
Love Him in the morning
Love Him in the noon time
Love Him when the sun goes down

Jesus in the morning
Jesus in the noon time
Jesus when the sun goes down
Jesus in the morning
Jesus in the noon time
Jesus when the sun goes down

Ben Glover | David Crowder | Jeff Sojka
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Bouncing off the bottom of life?

In the economy of the Roaring 20’s he was a new breed of stock investor, a true analyst. His reports caught the attention of some key financiers, valued by those investing on Wall Street and he started to build his wealth. Under the cover of his financial acumen, Bill had a secret. He loved alcohol.  It took over his life and he was broke and dying.  His doctors told him to stop drinking or die, but the addiction was so strong.

On his third trip to a hospital, Bill Wilson finally reached up and asked for help. “If there is a God, let Him show Himself now.”  God found him and Bill Wilson, along with “Dr. Bob” Smith, founded a movement that has helped millions get sober and stay that way:  Alcoholics Anonymous.

One of the cornerstones of the AA way is that a person needs to ‘bottom out’ before they will be ready to lay the foundations of a new life. It’s a paradox. Strength is born in a moment of utter desperation. Step One says “We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.”  

I do not mean to suggest that we ought to give ourselves to self-destructive behaviors to try to find meaning or change. It is true that coming to the end of ourselves, through choices that destroy our illusions of mastery or because of circumstances that are simply beyond our control, provides the opportunity to discover the grace of God; a whole new way to live.

Are you bouncing off the bottom of life? 
Perhaps this last year has wrecked you emotionally.
It might be the ruins of your marriage.
It may be an addiction that has eaten away at you from the inside out.
It might be the approach of mid-life and the realization that nothing you have done seems to matter.
It may be a crushing sense of guilt or shame over wrong and/or sinful choices that lays heavily on you. 

I know it sounds like a cliché but I want to invite you to LOOK UP and ASK GOD for hope.  Not all crises produce great transformation. They can but some people refuse faith and become one of the ‘living dead,’ without hope, their lives a steep spiral into oblivion.

God loves you, dear friend, and will help you find a new life, giving you a new heart!

One of the ‘big lies’ of life is wrapped around the idea that it is ‘too late.’  The Devil will whisper that you are too guilty, too broken, too weak … to change. In one sense that is true. WE are ‘slaves to sin’ and destined for destruction except for the fact of God’s amazing grace.

In Luke 15, we find Jesus’ story of renewal.  A wayward son, who had squandered his father’s wealth and broken relationship, bottomed out. He found himself far from home, hungry.  "About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything." (Luke 15:14-16, NLT)  Broke, starving, alone, and ashamed- sounds desperate to me. How about you?

Jesus went on “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man.”  (Luke 15:17-19, NLT)  He was still thinking that maybe he could negotiate his way out of desperation by making a deal with Dad. 

He went home and what did he discover? "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." (Luke 15:20-24, NIV)  Really, for the first time, he began to understand the depth of his father’s love!

How I pray that you know the depth of your Father’s love today. God is not interested in ‘making a deal’ with you. He does not want you to grovel in shame. He invites you to ‘come home.’ God’s grace is scandalous, dear friend. We cannot earn it and to attempt to do so becomes a hindrance to experiencing His love in all its fullness. God does not do probation, does not ask the impossible of us. He loves us, weeps over us, and waits for us to return to His embrace.

If you’re feeling broken today, if life is out of control, if the way ahead is hidden in darkness there is HOPE. So, what can you do? Look up and ask Christ Jesus to make you alive again to the Spirit.  He promised this to His wayward people of long ago: "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 11:19-20, NIV)  The promise remains.

Oh yes, the road to restoration is sometimes long, often hard.  Ask any recovering alcoholic! Step One is just that, the first step.  God gives strength, hope, and renewal and asks us to walk with Him, led by His Spirit into a new life as disciples (devoted followers) of Jesus.

Here is a word from the Word. This passage finds its way into my CoffeeBreak blog often because in these words I find so much joy, such strength for life. May you find the same. 
"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. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For 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. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:4-10, NIV)

_______________

Lord I Need You

Lord I come I confess
Bowing here I find my rest
And without You I fall apart
You're the one that guides my heart

 Lord I need You oh I need You
Ev'ry hour I need You
My one defense my righteousness
Oh God how I need You

Where sin runs deep Your grace is more
Where grace is found is where You are
And where You are Lord I am free
Holiness is Christ in me

Where You are Lord I am free
Holiness is Christ in me

So teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You
Jesus You're my hope and stay
And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You
Jesus You're my hope and stay

Lord I need You oh I need You
Ev'ry hour I need You
My one defense my righteousness
Oh God how I need You
My one defense my righteousness
Oh God how I need You

Christy Nockels | Daniel Carson | Jesse Reeves | Kristian Stanfill | Matt Maher

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Our New President

 

Since my birth these United States have been led by 12 different Presidents! - Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald J. Trump. Looking over that list I see some heroes and some … well, not so great men.  But, each was my President. 

At noon today, these United States will have a new President when Joseph Biden, Jr. is sworn into office. Some will celebrate, optimistic about days to come. Some will mourn, knowing that policies will change. Christian, whatever your political leaning, ours is a shared responsibility – to pray for those who govern. Will you?  

Our prayers are informed by two Scriptural truths.

First is this.  Government is God’s plan!  

When we pray for those who govern we join Him in His work.  In a passage that can be hard for us to accept we learn that God’s hand works in human government. "Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong.  So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience. Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do." (Romans 13:1-6, NLT)

 The Lord gives us freedom in this nation to choose our leaders but He is the ultimate source of authority. We honor Him when we choose wisely and when we actively seek Him on behalf of those who hold office- be it our local council or our President.  So, we pray!

Second, Christians are directed explicitly to pray for leaders.  

Paul, inspired by the Spirit, tells us to “Pray for all people. As you make your requests, plead for God’s mercy upon them, and give thanks. Pray this way for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior.” (1 Timothy 2, NLT) 

I’m sure you note that he does not say just to pray for those you think are good, or those with whom you agree.  Imagine the struggle of those first Christians to pray for an Emperor who claimed to be divine and who persecuted them. Makes any struggle we may have pale by comparison, doesn’t it?

As a new government takes office in Washington, we can add our part in helping to make this a just and free society by faithfully praying. I urge you to write the name of our President, your congressperson and Senator, your governor, and local representatives on your prayer list and do what God asks on with bended knees.   

Remember that we are citizen of two realms.
Heaven’s God and Christ claims our first allegiance.
And, we are loyal citizens of our nation.   
Negotiating the road between those two claims requires wisdom, humility, and the guidance of the Spirit.

The word from the Word is from Matthew’s Gospel, a moment when Jesus reminds us of our dual responsibilities.  
“Teacher, we know how honest you are. You teach about the way of God regardless of the consequences. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?” But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Whom are you trying to fool with your trick questions? Here, show me the Roman coin used for the tax.” When they handed him the coin, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.

“Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God.”  His reply amazed them, and they went away." (Matthew 22:16-22, NLT)

_____________________

Father in Heaven, increase my faith so that I will live in obedience to Your call!
I lift America’s leaders, particularly out new President, Joseph Biden, before You.
Grace him with virtues of Wisdom, Justice, Courage, Humility, Faith, Hope, and Love
as he takes us the weighty responsibility of national leadership.
Work deeply in his heart and mind and draw him to a new understanding of Who You are.

Spirit of God, call us, your people, to find our unique place in this world.
Help us to be Bright Lights of Hope, Fearlessly committed to living the Truth,
Selflessly giving ourselves to Serve – God and others, 
People who Pray for Your kingdom to come,Your will to be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Shaken? Afraid?

So many of us are disoriented, shaken, and afraid these days. The pandemic statistics reported to us keep on rising, along with apocalyptic opinions about what’s next. Conspiracy theories, most unfounded, sprout like dandelions on our social media accounts. Having witnessed the self-serving actions of so many of those who are supposed to be ‘leaders,’ we are no longer able to trust our government. Anyone with the temerity to raise a dissenting voice invites scorn or, in some cases, is silenced.  In my lifetime, I do not remember a more fearful time in the world or a season in which basic values appeared to shift so rapidly.  How are you coping, friend? 

If you are not dealing with the change in your world well, there is no need to condemn yourself as weak. One of the most important resources for dealing with fear is community, being together with friends, family, and church. But the fear of spreading the contagion keeps us from sitting down to dinner with extended family. The ripped and torn social fabric, our awful national disunity, does not allow for conversations that could help us find our way. We are not going to church, or when we do, we may find only bland platitudes and/or superficial relationships that cannot address our true concerns.

What then can we do to find peace? 
Is our only response to adopt a brave exterior that masks our inner fears?

There is another Way!
The Proverb says "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." (Proverbs 18:10, NIV)  Sounds good, but what does it mean? 

In Christ, you and I are the people of the Lord. His Name is written on us. Our identity is drawn from who He has declared us to be.  Nearly every week in our worship at Faith Discovery Church, after we conclude the proclamation of the Apostle’s Creed, I say … “I am …”  I hear the response … “A Christian!”   

Today, even if yours is just a faint flicker of faith, choose to rest in Christ Jesus. He does not change, His promises are not ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’  The Truth about our salvation is not subject to vote, veto, or cancel culture!  We are secure in His grasp. 

None of these things - death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, (nothing) in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord because "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37, NIV)  Speak the word of faith and remember that it is Christ who saves. We cannot secure ourselves. He has written His Name on us, declaring us His own possession purchased at great price. Trust that truth.

This is the word from the Word. Note the gifts provided those who trust in the Lord.  "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time." (2 Timothy 1:7-9, NIV)   

Power – the ability to overcome.
Love – the ability to remain relational, not isolated.
Self-discipline – the ability to rule turbulent emotions.

 "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." (Proverbs 18:10, NIV

____________

The Solid Rock

(take a few moments to worship along with Austin Stone as they sing this great hymn!)

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name

When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In ev'ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand

His oath His covenant His blood
Support me in the ‘whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay

When He shall come with trumpet sound
may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne

 Edward Mote | William Batchelder Bradbury © Words: Public Domain

A Kingdom Issue

 

As I begin this CoffeeBreak, I know that I am venturing into a place where it is likely that I will offend. A person cannot discuss race in America in 2021 without quickly awakening myriad responses. The horrific video of a black man death under the knee of a white man on a street corner in Minneapolis sparked a national awareness and created an opportunity for politicians to use the issue to stoke the passions of voters. No one, regardless of political alliance, can realistically argue that America has yet met the challenge of racial equality successfully.

The politics aside, my concern is how Christians grapple with this challenge. Tony Evans, a black pastor from Dallas, TX, in his new book, Oneness Embraced, contends that ‘the fundamental cause of racial problems in America lies squarely with the Church’s failure to come to grips with the issue from a Biblical perspective. … The Church of Jesus Christ has, on a large scale, with some exceptions, missed our calling to… promote a Biblical understanding of the Kingdom foundation of oneness.’   Oneness, Dr Evans says, do not require us to erase our cultural uniqueness in some bland uniformity acceptable to all but rather to choose to live in spiritual UNITY.

Let me make a statement that has no wiggle room by intent. If a Christian refuses fellowship with a person or sees another human being as being of lesser worth because of race or sex, he sins. It is not merely regrettable. It cannot be passed off as ‘the way things are.’  Discrimination is an offense to God who made us one and who loves us equally. 

Jesus repeatedly challenged the accepted discrimination of His day. Jews despised Samaritans and justified their attitude by using the history of Israel’s divide. But, in John 4 we read the story of how He shocked His disciples by challenging 3 social norms in one encounter!  At a well in Samaria, He engaged in a real conversation with –
1. a woman;
2. one was a social outcast because of her moral failures; and
3. a Samaritan by birth.

For Jesus the Kingdom of God was the first allegiance.
In order to meet the spiritual need of a person that social norms would have kept Him from addressing, one who many would have insisted had ‘no right’ to God’s grace, Jesus took a drink from the hand of the Samaritan woman at the well and led her to know God’s love.   

His summation of the encounter is revealing. "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24, NIV)  Don’t miss what He says.  God’s grace is not limited by who you are, where you come from, or what you have done. When we know this foundational Kingdom principle, we are prepared to deal with the sin of discrimination.

The Kingdom calling is solidified as the Church comes into being.  Those bodies of Christians were remarkable in their time for the refusal to observe social norms.  Rich and poor, slave and free, male and female, Gentile and Jew worshiped together, the gifts of the Spirit operating through everyone.  In the Kingdom of God, entered through the grace of Christ Jesus, they fervently believed that every person stood on level ground. 

Paul unmistakably states the principle - "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26-28, NIV)   In the Church of Jesus Christ we cannot excuse, tolerate, or encourage any divisions based on social class, or racial heritage, or gender. 

The sin of discrimination has been acceptable for too long.  Yes, is a subtle one that hides itself behind all kinds of words, that is excused with many rationalizations. But, God’s truth is clear: In Christ there is no ‘us’ and ‘them.’   The Word says that ‘our citizenship is in Heaven.’ (Philippians 3.20)

Friend, when you pray, “Your Kingdom come,” does that include those whose skin is a different color? Do you desire to live under God’s rule with ALL of the human race? I hope that those of us who are ‘in Christ,’ will pray earnestly to be people of the Kingdom – not Republicans, not Democrat, not black, nor white; but Christians who love God.  

Today as America notes the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. for national reconciliation and equal rights. Dr. King was a pastor in Birmingham, Alabama who lived with the evil of segregation and racism, naming it for what it was - sin. His vision of non-violent resistance spared many lives as the civil rights movement gained momentum. 

Ever the preacher, Dr. King drew inspiration from the Scripture, using the picture words of the Old Testament prophets to move the nation.  We hear the voice of the Spirit when he quotes Amos, "let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." (Amos 5:24, KJV)   His most memorable speech given from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 23, 1963 is as clear a vision of equality as we can find. The world he ‘saw’ by faith has yet to come fully to be, but let us, for Christ’s sake, commit ourselves to making it a reality.

I leave this word from the Word with you today. As you ponder it, let God use it to shape your heart and mind.
"With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:6-8, NIV)

________

If you unfamiliar with the “Dream” speech of Dr. King take 15 minutes and listen to his words. They are powerful, challenging, and visionary.

(https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm)