About this election….

This applies not only to America but to every nation on earth where the people are involved in selecting their own leaders:

You cannot expect a people to choose Christian, moral leaders when the people themselves are not a Christian, moral people.  Add to that the principle which God Himself has spoken: if a people who have known Him and seen His blessings then turn away from Him, He will – for a time – abandon them to their own devices until they get their fill and turn in repentance.

The problem is not the elected leaders; the problem is the heart of those doing the electing.  Rather than lobbying your friends and neighbours to join your particular political persuasion, pray that individual hearts would be broken and filled with repentance.  Then when you rise from prayer, walk out your door and be the hands and feet of Jesus to all those you come in contact with.  Only through changed hearts will God change a nation.

We Americans – and others – who are aged have a unique experience and responsibility, for we have lived through times of God’s great blessing which younger ones have never known, and which the father of lies tells them through the culture were actually horrible times.  But we have seen the truth with our own eyes, and we are called to make that truth known.

“I will declare that the Lord is good, and His mercy endures forever.”  Go forth, and carry the Light of Christ into the darkness.

God has given you gifts and a calling: will you use them for His glory?

There is no need for any words of mine to be said:

Exodus 31:1-11 (Old Testament reading from the lectionary for today)

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.

“And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle—the table and its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base—the garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests, and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”

Matthew 5:13-16 (New Testament reading from the lectionary for today)

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Immediately after his baptism – in fact, right after God the Father spoke the words, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” – “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.” (John 4:1-2)  Jesus spent forty days in the desert, fasting and disciplining Himself.  At the end of the forty days the devil came to Him to tempt Him.

The Church celebrates Lent so that we may voluntarily unite ourselves to Jesus in the same discipline: forty days of fasting (Sundays are not included as they are feast days celebrating the Resurrection, not fast days) and warring against the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We do not commit to a complete fast (no food), as  we are not Jesus and Lent is not a contest to see who can give up the most.  The key is to be “led by the Spirit” as Jesus was; to fast those things that the Holy Spirit brings to our minds as the things we run to or depend upon instead of Him.

In the Old Testament ashes were used to express grief and sorrow for sins. Job, when confronted by God after declaring his innocence, responds: ” I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.  Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5–6)  The Church uses ashes made by burning completely the palm leaves blessed and waved on Palm Sunday the previous year.  This reminds us that the same people who cried, “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” shortly thereafter cried, “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!” just as loudly.  We are no less vulnerable to sin than they.

Dear Father, guide us through this holy Lent that we may be conformed to the image of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to put on the full armour of God, and lead us in the power of Your Holy Spirit to put to death the lies of satan, the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches which so often keep us from being the people You have called us to be.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen!

Remember, o man [or woman], that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Repent, and believe the Gospel!

(A portion of today’s Old Testament reading, Genesis 22:1-18, from the NKJV):

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.  And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

We all know the story of Abraham and how he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac when God asked him. Isaac was the son of promise, the one through whom God specifically vowed to make Abraham’s descendants like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore.  Abraham believed, he held nothing back from the Lord, and the New Testament tells us he was a type – a foreshadowing of what God the Father Himself did in giving His Son to be sacrificed for the world.

Today in this reading I noticed another parallel I hadn’t seen before. Abraham took his son and two servants and headed off to the destination God had appointed.  “Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.”  Abraham journeyed during those days … days of uncertainty, of doubt (or at least strong temptation to doubt), of dread, of sadness; heading toward an outcome he could not see … and arrived on the third day.

Jesus was crucified on a Friday … and on the third day He rose from the dead. For the disciples and the women who were with them, those days were filled with uncertainty, of clear and definite doubt, of dread, of sadness, and of fear.  They were heading toward an outcome they couldn’t see, and though Jesus had promised them He would arise again they just didn’t understand … so they didn’t grasp the certain promise in the way that Abraham had.  They had no journey, they merely sat in a room and waited … for what?

The point is that we don’t always know the outcome of the trials we are facing. Even if we know God’s promises by heart, we do not know exactly how He will bring them to pass.  We have Abraham’s example of strong faith, and the disciples’ example of weak faith, but in both instances God was faithful to do what He had promised, and everyone involved was overjoyed to see the result.

We can build our lives on this fact. God’s sufficiency is not dependent upon the strength of our faith.  God’s sufficiency is Truth, and we can depend upon it and take hold of it.  Whether our grip is strong or weak, He is faithful and He will come through.

Thanks be to God!

John 6:35-45

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen Me and still you do not believe.  All those the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.  For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

At this the Jews there began to grumble about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.  It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me.”

Did you see what is buried in this that Jesus said?

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them” and “It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me.”

Think about that.

• No one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them.
• They will all be taught by God.
• Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Jesus.

If the Father draws you (and He draws everyone, IF they are willing to respond), He will teach you. If you learn from the Father you will come to Jesus.

Most (but not all) of the Jewish scholars refused to believe in Jesus. Yet they were the ones with the most extensive knowledge of God’s Word.  In the previous chapter Jesus accused them, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” – John 5:39-40

What does this tell us? This is profound:  It is possible for a person to know the word of God – to know the Bible in the way one knows calculus or thermodynamics or nuclear physics – but not know God Himself.  You can study enough to expertly twist the Scriptures, making them say whatever you want them to say, but this will not give you life.  You can teach yourself, or someone else can teach you, but if God has not taught you it won’t make one bit of difference in your life or your eternity.  For if you are taught by God, if you have heard the Father and learned from Him, you will come to Jesus … and you will have life.

So what is your lifelong goal? Is it to memorize the Bible?  Is it to be able to win any Bible argument and silence all your critics?  Or is it to know the author of the Bible and the creator of your being: to know the look of His smiling face … to know the sound of His voice as He sings over you … to know the power of His Holy Spirit guiding and strengthening you … to know the touch of His hand in your life … to know the love of His Son in your heart overflowing to your friends, to strangers, even to your enemies?

Knowledge in the head of words on a page will not give you life. Intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh … knowledge borne in a heart that loves Him and follows Him and confesses Him and obeys Him and is being conformed to His image … that will give you life!

By all means, do pray for Paris.  Do pray for the victims and their families.  But don’t stop there.  Pray for Europe and the Americas.  Pray for Asia, Africa, and Australia.  Pray for freedom-loving people everywhere, but more importantly “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.  Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:2b-3).

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12).  The kingdom of heaven will continue to suffer violence, and those who seek it will need to fight harder and longer to obtain it with every passing day.

Even so, the primary weapon is not military might.  “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

So put on the full armour of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-17, but don’t stop after merely suiting up.  Go on and fight: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:18-20)