A REAL Jubilee, Jesus said

One of the accusations hurled at Christianity by those who do not believe is that “terrible things have been done in the name of God.”  Yes, that is true.  Many wars were waged in God’s Name.  With religious conviction some are haters of this group or that person.  I know that and grieve.  Now, imagine a world without Jesus Christ.  He is Light, Life, brings Peace, gives dignity to those forgotten by the rest of the world.  Because of Him, the world is a better place!  

Jesus set aside the blind justice expressed in the phrase "an eye for an eye," and taught us to forgive.

 This, He said, is how God treats those who come to Him seeking forgiveness.   He took up the cause of the oppressed, the weak, the marginalized, and taught us the value of all persons.   At a time when children did not count for much, He held them in His arms and taught us that knowing God was possible only to the one with the faith and heart of a child.    He took God from behind the curtains of the Temple and brought Him to us, teaching us that He is not just the Transcendent Almighty One.  He is also the Waiting Father who looks down the road for us to come home.    And, yes, He erased the debt of sin by becoming 'sin for us' and dying on the Cross as the Final Sacrifice.

No wonder the angels prefaced His birth with the announcement of "Good news of great joy for all the people!"     Luke 4, about the beginning of His mission, tells us that He read Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth, describing his God-given work this way. "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies." (Isaiah 61:1-2, NLT)     Before He sat down that day, He astonished the congregation telling them,  "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:21, NKJV)    

Those in the synagogue that day understood His words better than we do.  Jesus choose a text that spoke of the Year of Jubilee, the 50th year in the cycle of 7's that God told His covenant people to observe.   Every Jubilee was to be a re-start:  debts forgiven, slaves freed, land restored to families who had lost it. It was a radical plan and most scholars agree that the Jews observed it only symbolically, if at all.  Jesus announced a kind of divine Jubilee - a new beginning, a time of cancelled debts, an era of freedom!   Christian, would not agree that individuals need renewal and hope?  That is why He came and He has entrusted that message and mission to us.   Wherever we go, in His Name, we announce a new era for humanity.  We are not people of the Letter of the Law or blind justice or mighty swords that bring death.   We are people of the Spirit, people of Life.    It is my passion to have a ministry of grace that builds bridges for all people to know God's Presence and Power through Christ Jesus.   

There is a message of Christmas that is sentimental and sweet, centered on a young mother, a patient father, and a Baby in a manger.   However, that is not the Message of Christmas.   The real message was the one that God sent to the shepherds - "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."(Luke 2:9-12, NIV)    He is both Messiah and Master, the Promised One for whom you have longed for ages, and the One who will defeat sin, death, and Hell!

Christian, look past the manger.  See the Son of God, the Man who reconciles humanity to the Creator.  At the invitation of Christ, come home to your Father.   He will give you back what sin stole from you, release you from the debts that enslave you, teach you how to live as God planned for you to live, and give you hope and a future.  All that, and Heaven, too.

Go, tell it on the mountain,

Over the hills and everywhere!

Go, tell it on the mountain,

that Jesus Christ is born!

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On a Rescue Mission

I was at the Jersey shore, enjoying a day at the ocean, about 12 years of age and carefree.  Playing in water that was about waist deep, I suddenly found myself in the grip of a hidden force that pulled me off my feet. Frantically, I watched the safety of the sandy beach grow further away. Coughing and choking, I tried to swim back.  Suddenly, a man appeared next to me and told me to hang onto him as he dragged me to safety. 20 seconds of sheer terror is how I remember that day.  I was caught in a ‘riptide.’ It’s like a river in the ocean that causes a strong, narrow current that flows directly away from the shoreline. Most ocean drowning deaths are caused by rip currents, hidden and very dangerous.

This thing we call life can be wonderful one moment and fill us terror in the next. There are rip currents that are hidden just below the surface of ordinary things.  The boss calls us into the office and changes our whole life when he says, “Your position will terminate in 30 days.”  The doctor looks concerned and everything changes when she says, “It’s malignant.”  We wake up one day to find that our best friend has inexplicably become our foe. Can we survive the rip current that drags us towards the dark depths?

Yes, but not alone. This is one of the reasons I why I am so thankful for the Church, the Body of Christ! In a healthy church, we are all lifeguards. When we see someone floundering, being dragged under by currents, we will offer a hand, come alongside to pull him to safety, or- at least – we will help him stay afloat until the current gives out.  You need to be more than an attender of a local church!  Today you have the opportunity to build strong connections to others. Tomorrow, you may be crying out for their aid.  When life is hard you’re going to need more than songs and poems. You’re going to need robust relationships, unconditional love, people who will drag you to safety!

An authentic church is not a place where nicely dressed people, with beautifully ordered lives, show up for a couple of hours a week to boast about their accomplishments or to pray pitiful prayers for people whose lives are ‘such a mess.’ It’s a place where real people celebrate God’s goodness and hang onto each other for dear life. It’s a ‘family’ where hurting people are re-connected to the healing Presence of the Spirit. It’s a spiritual hospital where sinful people find a Savior who restores them to the wholeness that God created them to enjoy.

Have we forgotten what the announcement of Jesus’ birth was about? It was not about a coronation!  It was the start of a rescue mission. "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. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21, NIV)

If you’re enjoying a sunny day at the beach in your life right now, give thanks!

If you’re caught in a rip current that is dragging you down, YELL for help- to God, to a trusted fellow Christian.

A simple prayer will suffice – “Lord, help me!” There’s hope in Him. The teenage girl who became the mother of Jesus, found her life turned upside by a divine visitation that seemed more like a riptide than a blessing, at first.  “Mary,” the angel said, “you have found favor with God, so He’s going to make you pregnant and you will become the mother of a son whom you will name, Jesus.”  Her neat, unremarkable life was sucked into a current.  How would she survive the ridicule, the tough days ahead?  Faith! Tucked into the story of her encounter is a phrase I want to leave with you today. "Mary said to the angel, “But how? … His reply, “Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:34, 37, The Message)

Remember! A Savior has been born. He is Christ, the Lord!
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Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled.

Joyful all ye nations rise,

Join the triumph of the skies.

With th'angelic hosts proclaim,

“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace.

Hail the Sun of Righteousness.

Light and life to all He brings,

Ris'n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die.

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Come, Desire of nations come,

Fix in us Thy humble home.

Rise the woman's conqu’ring seed,

Bruise in us the serpent's head.

Adam’s likeness now efface,

Stamp Thine image in its place.

Second Adam from above,

Reinstate us in Thy love.

Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hark The Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn)

Charles Wesley | Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

© Words: Public Domain

Omphaloskepsis

Yes, it is a real word and it means:  “contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation.”  (Merriam Webster Dictionary)  Sometimes we jokingly call it:  “Navel gazing.”  I don’t recommend the practice, frankly.   You could walk into a terribly hard wall or over a steep cliff while focusing intently on your belly-button!  Seriously, we can (and each of us does, from time to time)  become so wrapped up in ourselves– individually or as a group – that we fail to see the wider world. Our ideas, our emotions, our goals become so all-consuming the rest of life disappears.  Have you ever been mesmerized by your own belly-button?  Probably not, but more than a few of us have fallen into absorption with ourselves.

I recently heard a speaker ask-  “When you enter a room  which thought is predominant in your mind: “Here I am!” or “There you are!”?  Think about that. Is life about gaining applause, garnering attention, making a name for yourself?  Or, is it about serving in a way that forgets the “me” in favor of the “we”?  Jesus was not shy about asking us to forget about ourselves, was He?  Just in case we have forgotten, here’s what He said. “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.’”  Paul, a man who served Christ at high cost to himself, urges us to the antithesis of contemporary American value of Self-love. By the Spirit’s inspiration he says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:3-5, NIV)

Navel gazing can take two different forms, each producing the same result.  The first is expressed in feelings of grandiosity. “You are so fortunate that I am here because I’m so wonderful, wise, and good.”  Or, it may be found in feeling of extreme worthlessness. “I cannot do anything or contribute anything because I am such awful person.”  In each instance, the focus is on Self.

Christian, God formed us in His image, making us capable of love.  Sin broke us, but that was not the end of the story.  God did not abandon us!  He entered our world saying, “There you are!”  He looked for us, loved us while we were ignoring Him. "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) The thought is completed with this promise and call: "Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing." (Ephesians 2:8-10, The Message)

Our gaze turns from Self to Christ.  We are secure in His love, held in His grasp, and filled with the Spirit.  It’s not about me, nor you. It’s about Him!  Here’s the word from the Word. May it turn our eyes to Jesus! "For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18, NLT)  "You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:5-6, NLT)

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Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

O soul are you weary and troubled,

No light in the darkness you see?

There's light for a look at the Savior

And life more abundant and free.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus!

Look full in His wonderful face!

And the things of earth,

Will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

Helen H. Lemmel

© Words: Public Domain

Love and Sex

That there should be boundaries or limits on sex between consenting adults strikes many people as silly. Teens are seldom encouraged to wait until marriage to be sexually active. We might give a little pep talk about ‘waiting,’ but does anybody really expects kids to listen? Instead, we teach them how to avoid pregnancies and disease. Pornography is the guilty pleasure of millions of Americans today: young and old, male and female, Christian and non-Christian alike. Even young kids with smartphones know how to access the raunchiest stuff. A horrified Mom recently told me about the porn she found on the phone of her 12 year-old son. Sadly, he’s not an exception!  Most couples that I marry these days are already living together with no sense that they are doing anything wrong or sinful.

When it comes to sex most are wondering - “What’s the issue here? We’re just enjoying ourselves.” 

Before you decide that this blog is not for you, let me hasten to say that God made sex and He made it pleasurable! There is no way to make Scripture support the idea that ‘sex is dirty and to be avoided at all costs!’  The Song of Solomon is an erotic poem included in the Holy Word that celebrates the pleasure of love. What God did, however, is to create boundaries for sexual enjoyment so that the gift does not enslave, demean, or destroy.

The ugly side of human sexuality is what it does to people when misused. 

Ask any woman was sexually abused what violation that has done to her sense of worth.

Ask any man who was molested how deep the pain goes even decades after the incident. 

Ask a man who has become a slave to porn addiction about the shame he feels after yet another trip through the dark side of the Internet. 

Ask a wife who is married to a man who sees her only as a toy for his pleasure how she feels about herself or her marriage.

God teaches us that sex is not just ‘skin on skin.’ It is spiritual as well as physical. One of the great mysteries in our sexuality is how much it affects our identity, our worth, our health. Consider this wisdom. "You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. …  But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. … Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:12-21, NLT)

Sex is not just for reproduction, though obviously that is a prime reason for it.  Sex, in the context of the marriage covenant and expressed in a mutually enjoyable way, builds and sustains intimacy of the deepest kind.  Our culture thinks it is celebrating sexual liberation with all of the explicitly sexual material in entertainment, in discarding the ideal of marital sex. In fact, what is lauded is lust, not sex.  Just as with any appetite fed without restraint, finding pleasure in sex for its own sake requires ever more and different expressions that lead to debauched behaviors.

Are you struggling with guilt or shame over your sexuality, Christian?  Bring this part of your humanity to Christ. Tell him your struggles. Pray about the ways you are tempted, the hurts that have been visited on you by others in past, the sins that still sting your conscience. Humble yourself before Him and accept the wisdom of His Word, regardless of the mockery of the world we live in.   Thank Him for the gift of your sexuality! 

With the help of a mature Christian, begin to live wholly and holy in this area of life. As with any temptation, run from places where you may fall. Resist the Devil!

There is beauty in holiness. It’s true!  And here is the word from the Word - "Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NLT)