Devil

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”  - 1 Peter 5:8-9

I’m not one who finds the devil lurking around every corner.  I’m also not one to think that every bad thing that has happened to me has been the work of the devil.  Frankly, most of my lifetime wounds have been rather spectacularly self-inflicted.

Unlike some of my friends, I’m not seeing the upcoming presidential election as some sort of ultimate battle between evil and good.  As a Christian, if you just want to look at the candidates’ apparent theology, then frankly you can vote for neither. (Although, unlike four years ago when I wrote in a candidate’s name, this time around I am voting for one of the major candidates, to be certain).

Yet, Scripture is clear, that the devil is real and looks for opportunities. Peter describes this opportunistic outlook as “a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  That is a vivid visual. Yet even a lion is an opportunistic animal.  They look for the weak links and take advantage.  I’ve long heard it said that the devil is in the details.  The small things.  The things we might overlook or brush by.  Or ignore.

The devil is real.  He is more than a piece of cute artwork. He is not the kid in the red outfit that might visit your front door this evening. He is more than the name of a professional sports team. And he can really influence us.

Peter says, “resist him.”  How?  By “standing firm in the faith.” Which means a Scripturally well-grounded prayerful faith can surely resist the greatest of evil.  And it can discern the “devil in the details’ also.  Faith is not founded in the wild emotional highs, nor should it be devastated by the deep emotional lows; although we experience both, sometimes frequently.

Our faith is grounded in a Savior that we love because he first loved us. (visit 1 John 4:19).  Our faith is based not on our ups or downs or external influences but on the knowledge that God so loves us that He gave his Son for us.  And deeply entwined in that fact is that the same God that so loved us will not let us go (visit John 10:28) if we are his. No matter what the devil is doing.

Be alert, for the devil is at work, make no mistake.  But don’t give the devil more credit than he deserves.  And trust in the One who loves you so much….

Politics

For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. - 1 Peter 1:24-25

Are you sick of the commercials yet?  Especially here in Western Pennsylvania, it has seemed like a particularly nasty political season. One candidate tearing down another, ad nauseam.  The term is ad nauseam is fitting, since it means “something unpleasurable which has continued to the point of nausea.”

Dear political candidates.  Please read 1 Peter 24-25.  There, got that off my chest.

In the passage Peter is quoting Isaiah 40:6-8.  For those of us that like to have our egos inflated once in a while – sorry.  This passage places humanity where it should be.  Our own glory will wither and fall.  It will blow away in the winds of the “frankenstorm” that is about to hit our area.  Basing our self-worth on what we do or by tearing down others is pure folly.

But even though God’s word puts humanity in its proper place, our inherent self-worth is also derived from the word of the Lord which endures forever. In spite of what we really are in overall scheme of things, we remain apex of God’s creation, the part of his creation that he has gone after, loved, and wants to redeem.  Our, your, my, self-worth comes from the fact that God so loves us that he sent his one and only Son after us for our redemption. (visit John 3:16,17; Romans 5:8-10; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 John 4:10) 

Don’t think we need redemption? Really? Just watch all the political advertisements on TV this evening.  The great news is that redemption is available.  Don’t know if you’ll see that on TV this evening, but it is the truth nonetheless.

Dear political candidates.  Jesus loves you too.

Intolerance

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me….” - John 14:6

There has been much said in the blogosphere about a recent post by Marilyn Sewell in the Huffington Post.  The author is a Unitarian Universalist, and the article is titled “Saying Goodbye to Tolerance.” In it, she rails rather intolerantly about Evangelical Christians. She admits that this is what she is doing.  And.... she is speaking about me.

Among the things she complains about is those who warn of “eternal punishment for those who don't believe in the one true path to salvation….” She means those who believe Jesus as the only source of Salvation.  Through my time as a Christian, eventually as a student at a liberal seminary, and now through 12 years of vocational ministry, I have had that complaint brought up against me more than a few times.  You know, me being one of those evangelicals. It’s OK, I really don’t take it personally.  I don’t.  Most of those who have brought that accusation against me are really fine people that I like.

Their argument is not with me.  It’s not.  It is with Jesus.

John 14:6 is the verse that woke me up out of my universalistic leanings back in 1990.  I was challenged to make a decision.  Is Jesus telling the truth or is he a liar?

Jesus says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me….”  I have studied the phrase in English and with my limited Greek knowledge.  As far as I can tell, there is no way to dance around the sentence.  Then there are those other inconvenient verses.  Such as, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” –Jesus again. (visit Matthew 7:13). Or “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." – Peter (visit Acts 4:12).

Here is the challenge for you this morning: Do you believe what Jesus says? This I can tell you, I do.  And yes I know what that makes me.  Intolerant.  I can live with that.  Will you?

Rain

“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!”  - 1 Corinthians 10:12

Last Thursday evening, a group of us heading down to Grafton, WV, stopped for a bite to eat at a rather infamous mom and pop café not far inside West Virginia.  When we arrived, it was raining, not just cats and dogs, but fat cats and fat dogs.  The 25 foot walk from the vehicle to the café door was enough to thoroughly soak you.  And I – we - got drenched.

We sat down at our customary table, hoping that the wait for the food and the subsequent meal would afford some time to dry out; indeed for the most part that was the case.  But….

About halfway through the meal a leak sprung in the roof, water made its way down through the ceiling, and low and behold a small waterfall developed directly onto our table.   Suffice to say we were a bit surprised, and we looked around to find the waitress and considered what table we should move to.  When the server saw what had developed, she reached under a counter, and pulled out a large plastic container and placed it on the table to catch the falling liquid.  Then she shrugged and said something to effect of, “That’s just the way things are here.”

Indeed our waterfall was but one of several in the café; although I would argue ours was more picturesque. And so we continued with our meals….  

Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians cautions us about sin and pride.  Some sin is obvious – it drenches us like getting caught in a rainstorm and we hurry to flee from the results.  That is good.  But sometimes sin just moseys its way into our lives like a frequent dripping pattern.  We can all too easily get used to and even comfortable with it.  All we need is the large plastic container to contain the sin.  And shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh that’s just the way things are here.”

“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!”  Sometimes the rain is hard to judge….

P.S.  We will be back at that same café tomorrow night.  I’m praying it doesn’t rain….

Beat

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” -  Psalm 51:12

How was the weekend?

If you are like me, sometimes by Sunday afternoon I’m beat.  After all, I’m a pastor, and I do work my one hour a week on Sunday mornings.

I think it can be safely said that much of what goes on in most of our lives has a tendency to beat us down.  Work pressures alone in a sluggish economy weigh heavily on many people.  People unemployed, underemployed, employed but worried about the future of their employment.  I know so many people who are living on financial edges.  I ache for them.  It probably has the long term effect of breaking their hearts. The net effect of such living (like many do these days) is that many decent hardworking people are beat. Simply beat.

The verse above from one of my favorite Psalms is about being refreshed.  But seriously note who it is that does the refreshing.  It is God.  David (the author) writes “Restore to me….grant me….”  He is asking (praying) God to do it.

If you are trying to restore joy and your spirit through your own efforts…it won’t work.  What it takes is to slow down enough, to quiet yourself enough that you can hear God’s “still small voice.” (visit 1 Kings 19:12)  Pray.

You can’t do it yourself; but you can prepare yourself for God’s blessings.  Allow him to restore the joy of your salvation; allow him to grant you a willing spirit….”

The only work you need to do is to be open for God to do his work.

And he wants to.

Have a blessed week!

Take Heart

"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD" - Psalm 27:14

I like the phrase, “take heart.”  It means to receive courage or comfort from some fact.  Hard to do sometimes when we are waiting; waiting on the Lord.

On the other hand, this verse also warns us to not move ahead of the Lord.  Sometimes we just feel a need to take some sort of action – I think that is our nature to a point.  Our hearts frequently are comforted by the fact that we are doing something about…(you fill in the blank).

So we bolt ahead, and do things, even good things, that may ultimately be out of the will of our God for us.  That, for me, is when real trouble begins.  And hearts break, feelings are hurt, failures happen.  And comfort is difficult to find.

The courage sometimes we need is found simply in waiting. And trusting.  God through Christ is in control.  He is. Sometimes, God is telling us, “Wait…for me.” 

Take heart in that.   

Words

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” -Psalm 19:14

For those who have church backgrounds this little snippet of Psalm 19 should certainly ring a bell.  Generations after generation of pastors have said these words just prior to preaching their sermon each and every Sunday.  In my 12 years of preaching, I have so resisted, simply because the repeated words seem to have become a rote expression; having lost any meaning through the years of hearing them over and over again.  The Lord’s Prayer can get that way also, I suppose.

And it isn’t that I don’t want my words on any given Sunday to be pleasing in the Lord’s sight.  I do.  But what about…Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and….so forth?   You see we Christ trusters and followers sometimes tend to compartmentalize our lives.  Come on guys, you really know that is true.  We might expect to hear such words as found in Psalm 19 on Sunday, and we might even breath out those words on the Lord’s day.  But come Monday….

Here’s a question for a Wednesday.  If you were arrested today for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?  That questions needs to be asked of me also.

Peter writes, “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” (visit 1 Peter 4:11) And I’m guessing that applies to every day of the week.

So as you go about whatever the Lord has for you to do today…think on these words. Consider them deeply. “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Will your words be such? I know it’s not Sunday, but…..

Prosperity

'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.'  Jeremiah 29:11

Every time I read this passage, a visual comes to mind.  A man, slightly plump, wearing a bathing suit and a Hawaiian type shirt, sitting on a beach chair under an umbrella at the water’s edge.  The sound of squawking seagulls surround him, but then, he’s probably listening to the Beach Boys on his IPod, so the birds don’t bother him.  To me, the visual represents prosperity. 

I do own an IPod; I’ve never liked the beach.  Let’s not get into my physical shape.

And this visual is not what probably came to mind when the Lord gave Jeremiah this great promise. The promise was given through him to Israelites that had been carried away into exile.  They had no idea what their future would look like; hope must have been hard to come by.

But here it is.  Nothing to do with a beach.  Or some slightly plump man.

It had everything to do with adversity.  It still does.

Christ believers and trusters understand that following him is no outing at the beach.  It includes a trip of mistrust, skepticism, ridicule and, frankly, persecution.  Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (visit Matthew 16:24)

Ouch.  I want that beach chair.

But more than that, I want the hope and a future that the Lord promises.  I do understand it will be on his terms; prosperity can be defined as “flourishing and thriving.”  Mother Teresa flourished and thrived in a most difficult ministry.  I doubt if she own a beach chair.  The promise of Jeremiah means no matter what we are facing, God has our back; good will come from it.  Faithfulness will be rewarded.  Believers have an ultimate promise to bank on.

Guess I’ll be rid of the beach chair.  Can I keep my IPod?