Monthly Archives: September 2024
“Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses”
“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:4 ¶ And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
Acts 1:5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Ascension
Acts 1:6 ¶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Acts 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (English Standard Version)
Recently, while preparing for a small group Bible study group meeting, I suddenly noticed the obvious. Jesus does not tell his disciples that they will witness. Rather, Jesus tells them that will be witnesses.
Now you might ask, “What is the difference?” I am so glad that I am writing this post, because I can anticipate questions that you may not even be asking. I HAVE THE POWER!
Of course, there may not actually be a difference. After all, a witness is a person who witnesses. Right?
Well, yes, but being a witness is more than simply something we do. Being a witness is something we are.
Think about it for a minute. Let’s say that you witness a crime. Does it matter the sort of person you are? You bet it does! If you are a person who is prone to exaggeration or who has any number of other problems or issues, that might get in the way of being a good witness. If a blind man says to the police, “I saw the whole thing, officer,” his testimony might not be very persuasive in a court of law.
Fundamentally, a witness must be an honest person, a careful observer, and not have a vested interest in giving a particular testimony about the matter at hand. Character matters. I think that many of us who name the name of Christ have forgotten that. I have often forgotten this myself. The saying that comes to mind is “Your life is screaming so loud that I can’t hear a word you’re saying.”
I have occasionally known people who didn’t need to say much about Jesus because they were consistently Christ-like. I haven’t known many folks like that. I have seldom been that person. But some people do exist.
Being Christ-like—also known as being witnesses to Christ—is not something we can do by our own willpower. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come upon the original disciples to give them the power to be his witnesses. I don’t think this promise was merely for them. Their experience of divine filling is a template and an exemplar for every generation and every person. To be witnesses we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we’ll be witnessing without being witnesses. And this would mean that we are not doing Jesus any favors. As a friend of mine said many decades ago, “The Christian life is awfully hard to live without God.”
“A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands”
A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years.
So, while I was running hot water over my hands in the church’s men’s room, I prayed out loud. (Hey! Don’t you judge me! After all, the Bible says that we are to pray without ceasing, right?)
“God, my hands hurt a lot. If I am doing something I shouldn’t or if I’m not doing something I should, please let me know what to avoid or do to participate in my own healing. I do believe in miracles, so if you want to do something miraculously immediate, it would not hurt my feelings. On the other hand, if my pain would in some way glorify you, don’t take it away. May not pain or any miracle take precedence over loving You and others, LORD.”
And whether it was God directly, or the prayer itself, or the hot water, or all of the above, my hands did suddenly start feeling better. Altars aren’t the only place where prayers can be answered. Sometimes bathrooms will work, thank you very much!
“Waiting and Seeking”
“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
Lam. 3:23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lam. 3:24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lam. 3:25 ¶ The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
Lam. 3:26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.” (English Standard Version)
Lamentations is about the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in the 6th century B. C. It is a book filled with raw emotion and darkness. The shines through in the verses that lead off this post, but immediately, the Darkness reasserts itself.
But even remembered sunlight is good. We need to take seriously the pain and the darkness, but we also need to remember the Light. And what is this Light? It goes by many names: the goodness of God, mercy, and deliverance are three of those names.
Faith taps into the goodness of God, his mercy, his deliverance. But faith has two seemingly contradictory aspects. Did you notice those “contradictions” in vs. 25? Let me highlight them for you.
“The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.”
Waiting and seeking: which one should we do? Both! The Christian faith does not, cannot, choose between action and meditation. It embraces both. Are there some Christians who tend to be better at action, while other individual Christ-followers are more contemplative? Probably so. However, we all need both. Seeking means there are things we can do to experience the presence of God. Here is a very partial list:
- Pray.
- Read the Scriptures.
- Worship with other believers.
- Worship by yourself.
- Do works of love for others.
- Commune with nature. (God is not nature, but it is God’s creation.)
But waiting and hoping is also important. We cannot compel God’s presence by our actions, even if God does require them. Our works are required, but are not sufficient. If we were simply told to seek, we would wind up with either pride because we might think we’re seeking really diligently, or we would end up with despair because we would know that we’re not really seeking all that diligently. And neither pride nor despair are ways of finding the One who is seeking us.
“A Pastor or a Teacher?”
I went to the Asbury University President’s Brunch yesterday morning with Sharon. It was billed as a non-fundraiser. I have learned to be skeptical of such claims. However, it really wasn’t a fundraiser! It was a wonderful time. The university paid for everything, including valet parking. It was good to meet new people, all of whom had some connection to this university that I love. I came more alive in this setting. Years ago, a good friend who was also one of my students in a New Testament Greek class, said “You come alive in the classroom.” Lois was right. Apparently, I even come alive in academic settings at the Westin Hotel.
I got a chance to chat for several minutes with Kevin Brown, Asbury’s president. He was very generous with his time. He heard a bit of my story. I told him that I had been a pastor for a long time and am now teaching online courses for Southeastern University. After listening, Dr. Brown asked me a very thought-provoking question: “Would you say that you are primarily a teacher or a pastor to your students?”
Simple yes-or-no questions can bring me to a screeching halt. Like a deer caught in the middle of the road, I stopped, unable to go this way or that. If you stop in the middle of the road, you sometimes get struck by the truth. That is what happened to me.
My wife walked up as I was struggling with the answer. When she was apprized of the question, she responded with one word: “Both.” My wife has a way of cutting to the chase.
Here is the thing as best I understand the “thing”: We are all called to help others along in our pilgrimage. The word “pastor” historically means “shepherd”. A shepherd—at least a good one—takes good care of his flock. So does a good professor. So does any person who does any kind of good work. Moms, dads, nurses, doctors, counselors, utility workers, engineers, and everyone else who does anything else that is at all worthwhile have the privilege and responsibility of caring for others. No exceptions.
And we all do learn from one another. Or, at least, we should. Therefore, we are all teachers. We may not know it, but we are. We teach by our words, but more so by our deeds. We teach by our silent attitudes. We teach by returning or making phone calls.
So, while it may be true that the words “pastor” and “teacher” may be defined more narrowly, they also have some broader and deeper connotations. As good as Dr. Brown’s question was, there is an even more profound question: “Am I being a good pastor-teacher today? Am I building people up? How can I do better at that?
“Even When We Mess Up”
One of my students in the Luke-Acts course I’m teaching right now online made a very perceptive comment in a post to another student’s work. She and the other student, Mackenzie, agreed on an excellent point: God can even use our mess-ups for his purposes and glory.
Here is Victoria’s comment:
“Mackenzie, your perspective on how “each character [in Luke] fulfills the will of God in some way or another” is quite interesting. While a character like Peter can find himself denying Christ in chapter 22, it remains evident in the chapters before that God is using Peter to advance His Kingdom. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that you would even argue that this event of Peter denying Jesus “fulfills the will of God in some way or another.” I do believe that God should not, can not, and will not be limited by our actions. I believe He has the ultimate and final authority in how the events that play out over time will affect the advancement of His Kingdom.” (Victoria Damian, used with her permission.)
When I was a pastor, I did some teachings on the Apostle Simon Peter. One of my visual aids was a graph which showed the ups and downs of the Rock on which Christ was to build his church. The chart had sharp spikes upward, followed almost immediately by plunges well below the base line. Of course, after the coming of the Holy Spirit (recorded in Acts 2), the progress was perhaps less spectacular, but far more sustained. However, even in Acts, Peter had his ups and downs.
What does all this tell us about ourselves and about God? When it comes to us, Peter’s erratic discipleship could give us some hope and comfort. A lot of us (and I speak from experience here) are anything but consistent. Sometimes we wonder, “Can God use such an up-and-down person as me?” Looking at Peter, I would say that the answer is a resounding “Yes!” We can take some hope and comfort from this, as well as the determination to go on.
In terms of God, Peter is a sign to us all that God can, does, and will still use us. Messing up does not mean that God has given up on us. Yes, we certainly need to repent. Yes, we need to do things differently. But God does, in fact, use us. I have heard it said that God used cracked pots. I have also heard that God uses crackpots.
Good thing! Also, God thing!
“A Confrontation in a Kroger Parking Lot”
My wife was waiting for a lady to pull out from a parking spot in a Kroger parking lot. She had waited for quite a while, but when the lady finally pulled out, another “lady” who had just come around the corner from the other direction whipped into the parking space. My wife is not known for being confrontational, but she did speak to the lady about it. The woman just shrugged her shoulders and walked toward the entrance to the store.
There seems to be an epidemic of rudeness these days. Everything has become a competition, even finding the closest parking spot. On the other hand, perhaps we are just in too much of a hurry to be courteous. Or, is it that we are all so self-obsessed that we think that everything should be for us and our convenience? I am reminded of a tagline—as best I can remember it—from a radio personality in Cincinnati who did radio skits that purported to be investigative journalism: “Our right to know supersedes everyone else’s right to exist.”
Perhaps all the above are contributing to our individual and collective rudeness? In any case, I feel as if courtesy ought to be placed on the endangered species list.
If I am right that competition, speed, and self-centeredness are all involved in our rudeness, what might help to breed more courtesy in our world as well as in the Kroger parking lot? Here are a few suggestions that border on the obvious.
- Recognize that not everything is a competition, so don’t turn it into that!
- Slow down!
- Realize that life is not about you. Instead, life is about us.
“The Crushing Debt I Owe to God”
“A Sinful Woman Forgiven
Luke 7:36 ¶ One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.
Luke 7:37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment,
Luke 7:38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
Luke 7:40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
Luke 7:41 ¶ “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
Luke 7:42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Luke 7:43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Luke 7:44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
Luke 7:45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
Luke 7:46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
Luke 7:47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
Luke 7:48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 7:49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”
Luke 7:50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”” (English Standard Version)
I was so familiar with this story that I overlooked something obvious. In the parable that Jesus told within the story, he seems to imply that he is the one that this sinful woman owed a great deal to. Look at verse 41, and I think you’ll begin to see what I’m saying. This becomes crystal clear when Jesus tells the woman that she is forgiven. The other dinner guests realize that this is the claim of “this” man. (See verse 49. The word “man” is not actually in the Greek manuscripts, which may suggest dismissiveness.)
Now I do realize that not all the aspects of a parable necessarily point to some deep spiritual truth. However, in this case, I suspect that this detail of the parable is important. In the story and in Jesus’ words of forgiveness to the woman, it is strongly implied that all the moral and relational debts we incur are ultimately held by Jesus. Yes, we are in debt for our wrong-doing to our parents, our children, our friends, our coworkers, and the convenience story clerk that we treated unkindly. But, in the final analysis, we are in debt to God.
Why? To paraphrase a Tina Turner song, “What’s God got to do with it?” Doesn’t our wrong-doing just affect the ones we wrong?
No! That is just a lie we tell ourselves in order to keep ourselves from complete despair. This lie also helps us to keep doing the same stupid wrong stuff that is just racking up more debt.
Here is the truth that I ignored for many decades: Wrong-doing hurts everybody. It hurts the ones that I hurt and everybody they interact with. It goes on to affect—or should I say that it goes on to infect—all the people that the second generation of victims interact with. And so on, and so on, and so on.
Of course, it also affects and infects the wrong-doer, doesn’t it?
I remember watching a bit of true tv crime show that was featuring a man who was convicted of some very serious felonies. Before he was arrested, he was living in a homeless shelter, talking to no one but himself. It is, of course, impossible to say which came first, the mental health issues or the crimes. However, I think it is safe to say that doing wrong to others is not good for your mental health. When you harm another person, you harm yourself.
But back to the question of what God has to do with human wrong-doing. Why would our moral debts be ultimately held by God? Well, for one thing, if we take the Bible with any seriousness at all, God is the Creator of all things. That includes you and me and all the people that we harm. If Jesus was God with skin on and with skin the game, then, by the very fact of creation, God is the ultimate owner of our debts.
But there is something else besides creation. The Bible teaches that God actually loves us ornery cusses. In fact, there is one verse (1 John 4:8 and 4:16) that says that God is love. In fact, I believe that God is the Ultimate Lover. And because God is the Ultimate Lover, the best way to hurt God is to fail to love people.
So to quote the actual title of that Tina Turner song, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”, the answer is:
EVERYTHING!
“Only Two Kinds of People?”
“Psa. 5:1 ¶ Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning.
Psa. 5:2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
Psa. 5:3 O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
Psa. 5:4 ¶ For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
Psa. 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
Psa. 5:6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Psa. 5:7 ¶ But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
Psa. 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
Psa. 5:9 ¶ For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.
Psa. 5:10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
Psa. 5:11 ¶ But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
Psa. 5:12 For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.” (English Standard Version)
“No One Is Righteous
“Rom. 3:9 ¶ What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
Rom. 3:10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
Rom. 3:11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
Rom. 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Rom. 3:13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
Rom. 3:14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
Rom. 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Rom. 3:16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
Rom. 3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
Rom. 3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Rom. 3:19 ¶ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
Rom. 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
The psalmist seems to be saying that he is righteous and a candidate for God’s love, but some of the folks around him were thoroughly wicked. Paul, however, takes this same psalm—especially Psalm 5:9—and applies it to all humankind.
So, who is right, the psalmist or Paul?
I think that the answer is a resounding yes! Sometimes, those around us are indeed wicked. On the other hand, so are we all. When we make us-and-them distinctions, we are ignoring our own wickedness and adding more wickedness to our own wickedness by our distinctions. I am reminded of the saying, “There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t.” Ultimately, there is only one kind of person in the world: the sinner who is loved by God.
“On Being a Good Ad”
I was buying candy corn for a friend at Ollie’s the other day when I eavesdropped on an interesting conversation. The lady behind me said to the cashier, “This is a really good store with good prices, but I didn’t even know it was here. You should advertise more!”
The young cashier replied, “If we didn’t save money by not advertising, we wouldn’t be able to keep our prices so low! We rely on word of mouth for people to find us.”
Hummm! Things are never simple and straightforward, are they?
And, of course, I thought about the Church. Do we advertise, or do we rely on word of mouth? How excited are we about our church? Do we talk about it to others? More importantly, do we talk about Christ to others? Frankly, I hear Christians talking a lot more about politics these days than I hear speaking of Christ.
The best advertisement for Jesus are people whose lives have been changed for the better by hanging out with Jesus and his people. Are we those kinds of people?
I would like to say a resounding, “Yes!” However, I’m not so sure. I am reminded of an old question: If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? I wonder sometimes if there would even be enough evidence to indict us?
If Jesus is the “Product”—and of course, Jesus is that and a great deal more—then we are the advertisement. Am I a good ad? Are you?
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
- “A Pastor or a Teacher?” September 8, 2024I went to the Asbury University President’s Brunch yesterday morning with Sharon. It was billed as a non-fundraiser. I have learned to be skeptical of such claims. However, it really wasn’t a fundraiser! It was a wonderful time. The university paid for everything, including valet parking. It was good to meet new people, all of […]
- “Even When We Mess Up” September 8, 2024One of my students in the Luke-Acts course I’m teaching right now online made a very perceptive comment in a post to another student’s work. She and the other student, Mackenzie, agreed on an excellent point: God can even use our mess-ups for his purposes and glory. Here is Victoria’s comment: “Mackenzie, your perspective on […]
- “On Playing Chimes and Being Jesus” September 6, 2024“John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (English Standard Version) One of my students did […]
- “A Confrontation in a Kroger Parking Lot” September 4, 2024My wife was waiting for a lady to pull out from a parking spot in a Kroger parking lot. She had waited for quite a while, but when the lady finally pulled out, another “lady” who had just come around the corner from the other direction whipped into the parking space. My wife is not […]
- “The Crushing Debt I Owe to God” September 3, 2024“A Sinful Woman Forgiven Luke 7:36 ¶ One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Luke 7:37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought […]
- “Only Two Kinds of People?” September 1, 2024“Psa. 5:1 ¶ Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning. Psa. 5:2 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. Psa. 5:3 O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning […]
- “On Being a Good Ad” September 1, 2024I was buying candy corn for a friend at Ollie’s the other day when I eavesdropped on an interesting conversation. The lady behind me said to the cashier, “This is a really good store with good prices, but I didn’t even know it was here. You should advertise more!” The young cashier replied, “If we […]
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