Stories that Amaze

Ira D. Sankey was traveling by steamboat up the Delaware River. It was a calm, starlit evening and and there were many passengers gathered on the deck. Mr. Sankey was asked to sing. Somehow he was driven to sing the hymn "Saviour, Like A Shepherd Leads Us."

"Can you remember when you were doing picket duty on a bright moonlight night in 1862?" asked a passenger.

"Yes," answered Mr. Sankey, very much surprised.

"So do I," said the stranger, "but I was serving in the Confederate Army. I saw you raised your eyes to heaven and began to sing. Music has always had a wonderful power over me, and I took my finger off the trigger.

"Let him sing his song to the end, I said to myself, I can shoot him afterwards." "but the song you sang then was the song you just sang now. I heard the words perfectly: "We are Thine, do thou befriend us. be the guardian of our way."

"When you had finished your song, it was impossible for me to take aim at you again. I thought: "the Lord who is able to save that man from certain death must surely be great and might" - and my arm dropped limp by my side.

"Since that time I wandered about far and wide; but when I just now saw you standing there singing just as on that other occasion, I recognized you. Then my heart was wounded by your song. Now I wish that you may help find a cure for my sick soul."

Deeply moved, Mr. Sankey threw his arms about the man who had been his enemy and together they found their way to the Shepherd.

An old joke, no doubt, but still worth a smile

A new pastor was invited by the local Kiwanians to join their club. The membership secretary reminded him, however, that it was the rule of the club to have only one representative from each profession and that they already had one for the category of pastor. The only profession not represented at the moment was that of hog-caller. Would the pastor mind? "Well," was the pastor's reply, "where I come from, I was known as the shepherd, but, of course, you know your group best."

Nothing like a bit of encouragement on a Monday

9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Ecclesiastes 12.9

Wonderful Juxtapostion

Part of my Old Testament study right now is the book of Proverbs. The writer of Proverbs from time to time tells us the way things are, but then points out the way things are supposed to be. One of the really great juxtapositions in Proverbs talks about the poor: our attitude toward them, and what God wants reality to be.

20 The poor is disliked even by his neighbor,
but the rich has many friends.
21 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner,
but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. Proverbs 14

Great Lines

I'm reading John's gospel right now. One of the things I enjoy about the gospel is some of the great lines. Here are a couple:

John 7
Jesus is talking to his brothers: "6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. "
If you are one of the brothers of Jesus, what do you say to this line? If we didn't know better the words almost sound like Joseph telling his brothers that they will bow down to him one day.

John 8
48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Do they really expect Jesus to say "yes"?

The Importance of the Church and Kingdom

Scot McKnight who wrote the Jesus Creed recently posted 8 marks of a robust gospel. In one of those marks he reminds all of us of the importance of being part of the local church. He writes,

8. A robust gospel emerges from and leads others to the church. The little gospel creates individuals who volunteer to attend church on the basis of their preferences in worship, friendships, sermons, and programs. The robust gospel knows that God's work, from the very beginning, has revolved around three words: Israel, Kingdom, and Church. Again, the words of Paul make this abundantly clear: "In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (Eph. 3:5–6). The mystery of the gospel is that Gentiles have become fellow heirs with Jews in the promise of Christ Jesus. The gospel's intent, in fact its substance, is the creation of God's new society with Jesus on the throne. The robust gospel emerges out of the church with good news and calls others into that same church.

For 13 years I have been teaching a survey of the Bible at North Park University. I eventually learned that we cannot skip from Genesis 3 to either John 3 or Romans 3. We cannot skip from the Fall to the Cross. God chose, instead of sending his Son to redeem Adam and Eve in Genesis 4, to wait. And what God did between the time of Adam and Eve and Jesus Christ was to work redemption in the form of community. The Old Testament is about Israel; the New Testament is about Jesus and the church. The Bible is about God's people, the community of faith. The church is not an institution that provides benefits for individual Christians so they can carry on their personal relationship with God until that church can no longer provide what they need. Instead, the church is the focus of God's redemptive work on earth in the present age.

So "joining the church" isn't an option for Christians. How often do we preach entering into the community of faith, the church, as inherent to what the gospel work of God is all about? The little gospel gives the new believer the choice about the local church; the robust biblical gospel offers the new believer the church along with its Lord. Because ultimately, only a redeemed community is robust enough to do justice to the problems we confront—and the gospel we proclaim.

Hmm.... What happened to Romans 13?

In Esther 3 there is a very interesting bit of info. Here's the text 3:1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. 3 Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king's command?” 4 And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury.
What's so interesting is that there is a direct command from the king and Mordecai ignores it. It doesn't seem like anything will be lost in honoring God (unlike burning incense to the Roman Emperor in the New Testament) if Mordecai bows down to Haman. Granted, Haman is part of an ethnic group that is a deep enemy of Israel--but does that mean that the ruling authorities can be ignored?
The rabbis have long struggled with this. They've come up with a couple of creative solutions, but none with any Biblical backing. One solution is to say that Haman was wearing an idol on a chain around his next, so to bow to Haman was to bow to an idol. Another solution is to say it is only proper to bow down to God. But if this later is the case then there are a lot of folks in the Old Testament who bowed down to kings that are in a world of hurt.
Perhaps a better way of looking at this is to take what Mordecai did at face value: he refused a direct order of the king. Once we've established this and established the Haman is an enemy of the people of God then we begin examining why this would cause Mordecai to refuse to bow. Along with this is the question of how we deal with those who are enemies of God in places of power today. Paul had no problem in Romans 13 telling us to show honor to those who deserve honor and in Timothy telling us to pray for those who rule over us. How do we juxtapose Paul's words with the actions of Mordecai? This could make for a rather fun and perhaps heated discussion.

Thoughts on Civility

It seems that politics and religion can bring out the worst in us. As the Presidential campaign begins to hit more and more negative notes in advertising, speeches, etc. perhaps Christians should show a different way. Here are some rules for civility that were recently published:

1. We Christians should be in the pocket of no political party, but should evaluate both candidates and parties by our biblically-based moral compass.
2. We don't vote on only one issue, but see biblical foundations for our concerns over many issues.
3. We advocate for a consistent ethic of life from womb to tomb, and one that challenges the selective moralities of both the left and the right.
4. We will respect the integrity of our Christian brothers and sisters in their sincere efforts to apply Christian commitments to the important decisions of this election, knowing that people of faith and conscience will be voting both ways in this election year.
5. We will not attack our fellow Christians as Democratic or Republican partisans, but rather will expect and respect the practice of putting our faith first in this election year, even if we reach different conclusions.

By the way, I put the picture in the center just in case anyone wanted to argue about the underlying message of it being on the right or the left. :)

Short and Long Term Commitments

"Sleep is like death, without the long-term commitment."
--Leonard Sweet

Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

This coming Sunday we are starting a new message series at EverGreen. It's from the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes, a book of wisdom literature, takes a hard look at the question, "Does life really have meaning?" The "teacher" in the book examines all of life and comes to the conclusion that life is meaningless. The narrator, who contrasts the teacher in the book, concludes that life is alive with meaning.

What makes for the difference between the teacher and the narrator? It's all about from where you start.

The message series will look at two different starting points for looking at life and how we can grab the starting point of the narrator and so find meaning in what can feel like a swirl of meaninglessness.

If you have folks in your life who wonder how life can possibly have meaning this might be the perfect time to invite them in for both the series and for good conversation with you afterwards.

Since the school year is starting and we're dealing with a teacher we've chosen the title "Are you smarter than a fifth grader". If you are part of the EverGreen community look for a school look and put your "thinking caps" on for some fifth grade Q&A at the beginning of each of the services.