Icons

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.  - Hebrews 9:26,27

Sunday, David Bowie died.  If you are anywhere near my age, it is a big deal.  Huge.  I have been surprising emotional about his passing.  For me, Bowie was one of those names, if not an artist, that has been in my life and background since I was in high school.  I can vividly remember a high school friend insisting I listen to some new song by this new singer almost like it was yesterday. To say he was –to me and my generation - a cultural icon would be an understatement.

Don’t get me wrong – I was never that big of a David Bowie fan, although there are probably five or six songs by him that, through the years, I have really, really liked.  And no doubt he was creative beyond most ordinary people.  It’s just that some of his creativity just did not resonate with me.  But he was an icon that has always been there in my life, seemingly.  And icons never die. Right?

Wrong.

The writer of Hebrews is very matter of fact about this. It’s almost a throwaway phrase. Just as the writer is really pointing to Jesus and the promise of his return, he inserts, “just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment….”

We need to stop there.

Because it is true.  Even an icon like David Bowie was not above the fact that we live once, we die, then we face judgement.  And in the background today I hear the populist choirs proclaiming that ‘heaven has gained another musician.’

Maybe its true. Maybe heaven has.  But the idea of judgment must include the fact that it is completely possible that another area of afterlife, you know, uh, the one we don’t like to talk about (that I’ll coincidentally be preaching on this Sunday), has gained…another musician.

Some good news is that I’m not in charge of who gets in and who doesn’t. I’d make a terrible judge, and besides, we are told we are not to judge.  The greater news is that I know, and most of us know, who is the judge.  And I know, and most of us know, what it takes to pass the judgment.  As wonderful as creativity may be, as great as some music may be…or in my case, as good as some of my works in my life may have been to this point, these things will not get me or anyone else in.

What will? It is Jesus.  Always has been. Always will be. Icons will come…and icons unfortunately will go.  But as the writer of Hebrews eventually shares “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (visit Hebrews 13:8)

So I guess  the challenge for us then is this. What are we counting on that will help us pass judgment when it comes?  What is it in our lives that is so iconic that we think it will open the doors to eternity? As iconic as I felt Bowie was, the answer is Jesus. It is in him and on him I place my complete trust.  And I would encourage you, even if you are mourning an icon’s death, to do the same.

It’s all about Jesus.  The name that has always been there, and always will be.          

Works

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. -Psalm 62:1

I believe in works.  James said it quite well when, out of frustration I suspect, he penned, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Visit James 2:17

It is. But.

This snippet of a Psalm by David is an early reminder.  Works are good, but they will not save us. Never have. Never will.

Although it is written in a completely different context than those of us that are Christ trusters and believers might think and see through our lenses, still what he says rings true. David seems to be writing in the context of Absalom’s (David’s son) rebellion against him, the beauty of the Psalms, including this one, is that they can and have been applied to people’s circumstances throughout history.

David had done all he could to get out of this trouble. Finally he admits that ‘from him alone comes my salvation.’ 

At a lot of us, OK, mainly me, plus a mess of other people, have spent too much time trying to secure our salvation, thinking that if only we could work/pray/worship/believe/harder, we’ll get there.  Nothing wrong with any of those things, as I said, I believe in works.

But they won’t get you there.  If you can claim the name of Christian in any way shape or form, please know that he work has already been done.  As Paul wrote in Ephesians “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Visit Ephesians 2:8,9)

Let me repeat these words, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Or as David wrote some 1000 years earlier, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation…”

Yes, I believe in works, we need to do them. But I believe in and trust in Jesus.  Nothing is more important.

And let the works spring from that.

Mercy

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…. 1 Peter 1:3

                            

I needed this passage this morning, so I was very grateful to read this when it popped up in my email.  Like many of you, my heart has been aching over the events in Oregon this week; an area of the country I’m quite familiar with.

There is always, after an atrocity like this, the want to push for political action – from all directions.  I even caught myself thinking, “We’ve got to do something.” Maybe something needs to be done, but I don’t fit in well with my denomination’s usual pushes for gun control on the issue.  And I’m not convinced that arming every living thing, including my dog, is the answer either. 

Just kidding. I don’t own a dog.

People on both sides of the issue want a reaction to a problem. And I really don’t blame them.  And both are in some way acknowledging that there is a deeper problem that we are feeling helpless about, hence the need for such reactions.

The passage above addresses the helplessness, and ultimately provides the answer.  I am simply convinced that those perpetrating the violence have not experienced any sort of lasting hope in their lives.  We are all good for temporary hopes (sometimes seen in political actions), but there has to be a longer solutions to this.  Lasting hope.

Peter writes, “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  As someone who has experienced and continues to experience “his great mercy,” my life is filled with “a living hope” that no temporary answers will ever evoke, political or otherwise.  The email this morning just drove it home, again, for me.

As we, as a nation, continue to dismiss our need for God, hope is fading.  I’m persuaded too many people are now living lives void of optimism; and without hope, life, including their own, becomes cheap.   So, here is my reaction to the shootings in Oregon.  I will continue to live a life of hope, as found in Jesus. And will intensify my efforts to share his “great mercy” to those around me, for one never knows when you might reach someone who is feeling hopeless in a world that is moving away from hope.  And Lord, we all are in need of His mercy. All.

And to that, it is available in quantities that are unimaginable ‘through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.’ 

Mercy, for you, for me, for any that will accept it.  There is the hope. And that is what I intend to be about.  

How about you?

Bravado

“I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8

These words, written by David are admirable, as is the rest of Psalm 16.  But…in some way they are not relatable. I admire David’s words, but I’m not sure I can completely share in their meaning. Why?

David says, “I have set the LORD always before me….”  And I have to stop right there. David’s words here are full of Donald Trump-like bravado. Good for him. But that is not me, in that I know that I have not set the LORD always before me.  Those words point directly and boldly at my failings, and they are legion. As Donald trump might yell at me, “You’re fired!”

There is a worship song I really like. Made popular a decade or more ago by the Newsboys, it has lyrics like, “I'm forgiven because You were forsaken; I'm accepted, You were condemned….”

Great, true stuff.  But the song ends with a line sung as sort of a long coda which proclaims, “In all I do I honor You.”

I…can…never…sing…that…line.   Because I know myself.  I all I do?  No way.  To my shame.

But then I’m reminded.  That is why Jesus went to the cross.  Peter puts it like this (paraphrasing Isaiah), “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” (visit 1 Peter 2:24) A tremendous grace note.  A grace that assures me that, “he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken….”

Maybe the day will come that I can write something with as much bravado as David and be able to say, I have set the LORD always before me…  Maybe someday I will get there, or maybe at least close.

But this I know, as a truster and believer in what Christ has done for me on the cross, I know he is at my right hand, and in spite of my sporadic failings, ultimately I shall not be shaken.

He has done the work, that is where the real bravado lies. Thank God!