Oh, What a Savior!

 

On Maundy Thursday afternoon I sat for a time in the sanctuary at Faith Discovery Church, a room that is a sacred place for me, resting in the Presence of God, waiting in prayer, and meditating on Jesus’ journey to the Cross.  The cross that decorates the wall is beautiful polished wood, draped in purple, accented with lights not at all like Calvary’s cross. 

In my imagination I let the cross transform itself into a bloody rough hewn Roman instrument of tortuous execution. A Man hung there, naked, bleeding, beaten to a pulp, groaning, crying out “My God, why have you forsaken Me?”   

Are you horrified? Does that disturb your sensibilities, a scene you would rather forget?  I understand. We tend to clean up history, don’t we? We smooth away the rough edges, attempt to explain the evil, and ignore the horrors. It’s the way we cope with a world where the wonderful and beautiful can quickly turn into the awful and ugly.   As much as we might wish to sanitize our human experience, the inescapable fact is that we are capable of unspeakable cruelty and evil. The stark assessment of God is this - "For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard." (Romans 3:23, NLT)  

So what hope is there for us, for the world?  That is exactly what we remember today.  Our hope? The Cross of Christ!  We will never appreciate the scandalous love of God for us, the amazing grace that is freely given to us, apart from seeing sin for what it is, joining that man who came to Jesus humbly and cried, “ Be merciful to me, a sinner.” 

We need not wallow in guilt or shame, however. The complete message is one of reconciliation and restoration, a renewal not accomplished by discipline or denial, but by transforming love. "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross." (Colossians 2:13-14, NLT)

Come with me to the Cross today. Once a sinner, I am now a saint, because of the One who willingly hung there to bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth, to restore the broken relationship between the Father and me.  And, you can be made whole, too.

The word from the Word for this Good Friday comes from the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah.  They are ugly, yet beautiful, describing our Savior.  May you see God’s love in them. 
"He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all." (Isaiah 53:3-6, NLT)

"But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and fill him with grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s plan will prosper in his hands." (Isaiah 53:10, NLT)

(Video of this blog at this link)

(You are invited to a service of worship at 7 PM at Faith Discovery Church, a quiet reflection on the Cross)

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Hallelujah What A Savior (Gethsemane)

Man of sorrows what a name
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim
Hallelujah what a Savior

Bearing shame and scoffing rude
In my place condemned He stood
Sealed my pardon with His blood
Hallelujah what a Savior

Guilty vile and helpless we
Spotless Lamb of God was He
Full atonement can it be
Hallelujah what a Savior

Lifted up was He to die
It is finished was His cry
Now in heaven exalted high
Hallelujah what a Savior

When He comes our glorious King
All His ransomed home to bring
Then anew this song we'll sing
Hallelujah what a Savior

Philip Paul Bliss

© Words: Public Domain

In the Presence

I am a man with a busy mind, a do-er who is task-oriented. Those traits complicate my interactions with other people and I constantly coach myself, with varying amounts of success, to be ‘present.’  The best relationships exist when both people are paying attention, fully engaged.

For most of our marriage, Bev and I were people with full schedules and busy lives;  partners in parenting, building a home, sharing ministry responsibilities. I learned a whole new dimension to marriage 8 years ago when she was diagnosed with advanced cancer that was likely to lead to her death.  The next 20 months we grew closer than we had ever been, intentionally fully present to one another. In her last months of life, she wanted me around all the time, not to do anything for her but to be there – my presence reassuring her.

Let me ask you an important question about your Christianity – do you live ‘in the Presence’ of God?  More than what we do for Him, what we give to Him, God desires to know us. Our Christian experience is first who we are rather than what we do. 

The Gospel of Luke tells a story about two sisters who were Jesus’ friends. He visited their home one day and Martha was busy getting a meal prepared. Mary sat talking with Jesus, soaking up His Presence. Martha’s frustration boiled over and she said  “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”  (Luke 10:40)  Jesus’ reply to her was a gentle rebuke. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better." (Luke 10:41-42)  He was not devaluing Martha’s service but rathe reminding her that relationship takes priority.

Paul teaches us to "pray continually!" (1 Thessalonians 5:17)  That directive is about ‘being present’ to God’s Spirit, about keeping our heart and mind open to Him, aware of His love.  In a world that is full of noise, with chirping smartphones, blaring TV’s, and days that grow long His voice can be lost in the cacophony of busy-ness. Even our so-called ‘worship’ gatherings in our churches are often a whirl of song, words, and graphic displays that allow little time for knowing God’s ‘small voice’ that we hear only when we are present to Him.

The wisdom of the Spirit speaks to us  inviting us to a new way of living that is marked by a transcendent peace. "Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. " (Philippians 4:6-7, The Message) 

Life is so much richer, so much better when we learn to live centered in His Presence.

God’s Presence is available to you, dear friend. He is not just a Friend to pastors.  (Joke there!)  But, knowing His Presence requires intentionality and we learn to ‘practice the Presence of God’ in the words of Brother Lawrence.  Forget elaborate prayer techniques! Reject the idea that you must go somewhere or be someone else to know God richly. Just learn to reject the nonsense thoughts that clutter your mind. Invite the Holy Spirit to draw you into His Presence. Be responsive – delighting in the little moments, the simply laughter, the quiet tears, the beauty and the brokenness is that ordinary life.

He is there, in it all!  One author observes that “When we walk in the presence of God, the busiest moment of the day is no different from the quiet of a prayer altar. Even in the midst of noise and clutter, while people’s voices are coming at you from all directions, asking for your help with many different things, you can possess God with the same serenity as if you were on your knees in church.”

Jesus’ words are packed with promise. Meditate prayerfully on them and let this Holy Week conclude with knowing His Presence near.  “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father. “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love." (John 15:5-9, NLT)

(Video of this blog at this link)

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Holy Spirit

(a song of adoration and invitation)

There's nothing worth more that will ever come close

No thing can compare You're our living hope

Your Presence

 

I've tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves

Where my heart becomes free and my shame is undone

In Your Presence Lord

 

Holy Spirit You are welcome here

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere

Your glory God is what our hearts long for

To be overcome by Your Presence Lord

 

Your Presence Lord

Your Presence Lord

Your Presence

Oh God how we love Your Presence Lord

 

Let us become more aware of Your Presence

Let us experience the glory of Your goodness

 

Bryan Torwalt | Katie Torwalt

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Jesus Culture Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

Consider Jesus!

 

The scenes from the streets of Ukraine are hard to look at, aren’t they?  The horror of war is even worse when it involves murder of civilians. I cry “why, Lord?”   Though I hear no audible response, I do find this in the Gospel record – “I suffer, too.”  Before we get to rejoice on Easter Sunday, we must walk to the cross and for good reason.  

 In an era when so many Christians want only victory the Bible takes us to the awfulness of the Cross to explain God’s response to evil, sin, and brokenness. We have so little patience these days. Along with faster internet and instant oatmeal, we want an instant maturity, a fully developed character in a day.  We want the ‘kingdom come’ now.  I love miracle stories, but mostly our God prefers to let us walk among sinners, just like He did:  loving, hoping, caring, being light in the darkness.

Isaiah saw the mission of the Messiah and described it this way: "He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed." (Isaiah 53:3-5, NLT)  God entered into His creation, born a baby to Mary, lived in the real world, felt hunger and pain, and ultimately suffered an ignominious death on a Cross.

Our God allows us be fully human, gives us freedom to choose, and even when our choices -as well as those of a sinful world- are crushing us, He does not usually rush in to change everything. Instead, He stands alongside of us, offering to lead us to lead us to life in the middle of a dying world.  Somehow in all that, we are transformed.   

By the Cross, we are lifted and in the hope of the Resurrection we learn to live with tears, while we hope for the moment we are revealed as eternal children of God beyond the reach of pain. Our wise Father knows that we could never be who He desires us to be, we would never love Him as He desires us to love, we could not grow into mature saints without fiery trials. We, like Him, are called to ‘take up our cross’ where we die to Self, to this world, so that we can be raised to a new life. 

There simply is no Easter without Good Friday, no celebration of an Empty Tomb without a Full Cross!  Meditations on the Cross are so gruesome, so unpleasant, so bloody awful – we want to rush on quickly to the Resurrection, but we must not.

Yes, Christian friend, the suffering is part of this broken, fallen world. God leaves unexplained the ‘why’ of evil, but clearly calls us to renewal through the suffering Savior. There is purpose in the tears, though I am not filled with pleasure in the discovery. But, as He leads, as I accept the Comforter (the Holy Spirit) I will find “green pastures, quiet waters, and a restored soul.”  (Psalm 23)  

 The way of discipleship sometimes descends into darkness, leads occasionally through searing pain, does not evidence great triumph in every circumstance, but the disciple who humbly seeks is always led by the Spirit as he is ‘made into the likeness of Jesus.’  God’s ultimate desire for us is not blue skies and untroubled minds. It is that we would love Him more than life itself and find our Hope in His embrace.  

So, in the middle of Lent, the season of suffering before the Victory, here is a word for suffering followers of the suffering Savior.  Jesus "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. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:6-11, NIV)

God lead us to the Cross, even as we keep the Empty Tomb in view. Give us strength to walk steadily in faith, growing in grace so that the glory of God shines brilliantly through us in this very dark world. In the name of Jesus, Amen

(Video of this blog at this link)

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In The Cross Of Christ I Glory 

In the cross of Christ I glory
Tow'ring o'er the wrecks of time
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime

When the woes of life o'ertake me
Hopes deceive and fears annoy
Never shall the cross forsake me
Lo it glows with peace and joy

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day

Bane and blessing pain and pleasure
By the cross are sanctified
Peace is there that knows no measure
Joys that through all time abide

© Words: Public Domain