How strong is it?

This past weekend I was down in Mount Vernon, Ohio, a city I love and miss so much. From where I am in Michigan its a four hour drive. Normally I leave after board meetings and go down for Friday and Saturday, so I leave pretty late. That was the case this past weekend.

When I drive for long hours by myself I tend to talk to myself. I play out conversations I've had recently, pray and start talking about something that I'm working through, and then one tangent leads to another. I also find that I finish a thought, and then repeat the whole thing three or four times, because I really love how it sounded, or its a topic I have a lot of passion for. I've really started to notice that some of my most profound thoughts come during long drives late at night.

As I drove late Thursday night thoughts of the church came to my mind. I thought about things from the last sermon I preached, kicked some thoughts around for the one I'm about to start working on, and then this came out of my mouth. "We lay the foundation for the next generation, how strong is it?"

This made me think about something one of my mentors told me once. "I will fail as a pastor before I ever fail as a husband or a father. Someone else can do the work of the church, but I am the only one that can be a husband to my wife and a father to my kids. If my children are raised right, then they will far surpass anything I could ever accomplish in ministry." I've taken the same mindset, because I think its a crucial mindset to have. If I'm a pastor of a church of thousands, but my own family is neglected, callused towards the church because of neglect from me, I have failed in what is truly important.

Every generation passes on a foundation to the next one. Depending on how strong it is depends on what the next generation can accomplish. If the foundation is strong, they can grow, they can expand, they can build and accomplish so much. But if the foundation is week, the accomplishments will depend on the resolve of the generation.

A weak foundation must be reinforced, must be strengthened, possibly totally rebuilt. If the generation is strong, if they are determined, they will take the time, they will rebuild it, and they will press on to build upon it. What could they have accomplished if the foundation had been strong from the beginning?

So what type of foundation are we laying? What values and morals are we passing on? What things are we teaching and emphasizing? I've said it numerous times, the goal of the Christian is to become like Christ, the purpose of the church is to help each other to become like Christ. If this is the foundation we lay, if this is what we teach and emphasize, if this is what we pass on, then the future is hopeful.

Another mentor of mine once said, "If the church would be the church the world would be flipped upside down." If the church would be the church that was made up of members who are constantly striving to become more like Christ and constantly working to help others become more like Christ then the famous quote of Gandhi would no longer be a true statement, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

I don't want that to be said of me, either one of them. I want to be one of the people that John Wesley sought, "Give me three hundred people who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and I will set this world on fire." Are you one of them?

The goal: Become like Christ
The Purpose: Help others become like Christ

Peace be with you

Does my life?

The goal of life is to become Christlike. The purpose of the church is to help the members of it to become Christlike. I've been studying Romans 14 for the last two days and I've really been thinking about this a lot. It talks about having our own convictions based on our maturity in faith, but me living by my convictions can only go so far.

If something that I am not convicted of as being sin causes my brother or sister in Christ to stumble, to not become more like Christ because of something I do or say, I have failed in my responsibility, and honestly I feel that it is sin. I can't demand my rights at the expense of the Kingdom. Just because something is not a sin for me doesn't' mean I have the freedom to do it.

Philippians 2.3-4, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." I need to look out for my brother, I need to help him become more like Christ no matter what that means for me. If something I enjoy doing causes someone to not become more like Christ, I will stop.

I want to advance the Kingdom, not me. I want to become more like Christ and help others to become more like Christ as well. My life is meaningless if it doesn't center on those two things. If I live with any other goal and strive towards any other purpose I am demanding my rights over my responsibilities. I have no desire or intention of standing before God one day and having to explain to him why something in my life, something that was not a sin for me caused someone else to end up in hell.

We as the church need this attitude. The goal is not to demand our rights and to advance our lives over the kingdom. Our purpose is to strengthen the body of Christ by becoming and helping other become more like Christ. Are we willing to set ourselves aside and humbly serve? Are we willing to have the attitude that Christ had and set our rights aside and wrap a towel around ourselves and pick up a basin of water and wash the feet of one another?

Who are we living for?

Four words I had never noticed, two endings and two beginings

Her life ended as theirs began. Or maybe they both started to end at the same time. I was reading in Luke this past weekend and I found four words that I had never noticed before.

When I read the Bible I read the section three times, once just to read it, twice to make highlights, and the third time to write notes. The second time I saw these four words in Luke 8.42, "about twelve years old," the age of Jairus' daughter was almost 12. I have no idea how many times I have read this story, but her age has never stood out to me.

The next verse talks about a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years. When this happened she was ceremonially unclean in the Jewish world. She was unable to associate with people or take place in worship services. Her life was over, she was a social outcast, and no one could make her well, no doctor.

Jesus comes back to Capernaum from Gergesa and people are waiting for him. Jairus, the leader of the synagogue there, comes to him and says that his daughter is dying and asks Jesus to come and heal her. I have seen one story portrayal which has his daughter being sick her whole life and finally dies here, maybe that is the case, so maybe as soon as she was born they lived dreading the day she would die, the day they would have to let her go. But maybe this was a sudden illness that had grabbed her just as she was starting to enter womanhood. Either way his world is crashing down at this moment.

On the way the hemorrhaging woman works her way through the crowd to get to Jesus, knowing that if she can just touch the edge of his robe she will be healed. She touches him, and the Bible says he stops and asks who touched him, it says that he felt the power leave him. As this man's world is crashing Jesus is wondering who pulled on his sleeve! The woman comes forward and she tells him her story, he says to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace." He gives her life back to her. She is no longer a social outcast because of her condition, she can now live her life as a member of the community.

As this happens someone comes from Jairus' house and tells him his daughter has died. His world has just ended. This woman had gotten her life back, but now he feels his is over. His daughter, his princess, is gone. The person who brought the news tells him to leave Jesus alone, but Jesus hears this and says, "Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well."

They go to the house, Jesus takes three disciples and her parents with him, he tells here to get up and she does. His world has been restored, his life has been given back to him.

Two miracles 12 years in the making, two worlds, two lives, ended, but two lives where restored. For twelve years this woman goes around as a social outcast, and possibly for 12 years this father has been wondering if his little girl will make it. But the whole time God is at work. Then finally he comes to them, and restores their lives.

I look at life, right now things are going well for me, but the last few months were rough. I spent a lot of time wondering, asking a lot of questions. And finally last week I was watching Brave Heart and God gave me my answer, "Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it." Life was restored.

I got two text messages in the last three days from two of my Proverbs 18.24 brothers, both of them going through rough times. But I know that God is working. The whole time that I was struggling God was at work, and I know that as my brothers struggle God is at work.

These miracles were 12 years in the making, but when they occurred two lives were fully restored. There was a song I used to love as a child, "He's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be. It took him just a week to make the moon and stars, the sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient he must be, he's still working on me." Even if the answer is 12 years in the making when Jesus restores your life it is totally worth it. For 23 years I've been searching for something, something that I thought I had finally found, but right now it looks like I'm still searching, and that's ok. "Your heart is free." Yes, God has delivered it, God has given it back to me. The question is will I "have the courage to follow it."?

It won't always be the easiest road, but the road is worth it, because the road leads to Jesus and restoration.

Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it!

Flossing and Jesus

Yesterday I preached on Philippians 1.27-2.11 with the main theme is Jesus simply your savior or is he the Lord of your life? It was interesting to watch they congregation, more to listen to the congregation, it was dead silent. Honestly, I didn't know if I would be able to preach this sermon, but I feel that it went really well.

The thing that really seemed to silence the crowd was the question I asked about the biggest threat to the church. It isn't the government. It isn't Islam or any other religion. It isn't Atheism. The biggest threat to the church is disunity. If the church has made Jesus the Lord then we are united around him, but if the individual members of the church haven't submitted to him as Lord, simply accepted the grace from a savior we aren't unified.

A savior is easy to have, because a savior just gives, he doesn't ask for anything but out sin, the stuff we don't want anyway. But the Lord demands all of you, he deserves all of you. This is where it gets hard.

In the sermon I used the illustration of oral hygiene. Hopefully everyone brushes their teeth, but that is not total oral hygiene, that's the basic entry level part of it. There is also mouth wash, and mouthwash is great. It takes 30 seconds and it gives your mouth a nice minty fresh taste, it gets some of the stuff that brushing missed. But brushing and mouthwash aren’t enough. There is one more part of oral hygiene, a part that less than half of Americans do daily, but it is the most important part, flossing. Regular flossing aside from just preventing gum disease and bad breath is also linked to a reduced incidence of heart disease, and can actually increase life expectancy. Flossing can make you live longer. So why don’t more people do it? It’s time consuming, it’s hard, it hurts.

I think the savior and Lord thing is like that. Everyone breathing is alive, that’s like brushing your teeth, you just kind of do it. You have life, but not full life. Then one day someone introduces you to Jesus, they tell you about this awesome guy who wants to take your sin from you and give you eternal life you pray a simple prayer and you're forgiven. That’s like mouthwash, it doesn’t take much time or effort, and it leaves your life feeling minty fresh. But then you go deeper with Jesus, your relationship with him become more intimate, and you realize you need to become less as he becomes more, that you need to give him control of your life, and that you need to become the servant and he needs to be the master. You make Jesus your Lord, that’s adding flossing. Yeah it takes some time and effort, it might hurt a little bit, but studies show that flossing can increase your life expectancy, and the Bible tells us that the life we have with Jesus is better than any life without him. It’s defiantly worth the time, the effort, and the struggles.

Are we willing to floss our lives for Jesus?

The Walk that Saved the World

In January of 2009 and I had the opportunity to travel to Israel and walk where Jesus walked. The trip was part of a class I took that month. One of the assignments was a living document paper, a paper sharing our experience at one of the locations we visited. This past weekend was Easter, and I was reading the paper I had written after getting back from Israel. As I read I felt that this was was I needed to share this week.

So many of these sites stand out to me. I think of Mt. Carmel, the view from the top, it spans the Jezreel Valley to the Mediterranean Sea. The knowledge of the event that took place there in the ninth century BS, it is mind blowing. I think back to the early mornings by the Sea of Galilee, the hazy sunrises, peace and calm before a busy day. I think back to the Jordan Rive, the calm yet freezing water. My mind wanders back to the Mount of Olives and to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus stood here, he prayed in these places, he taught people there. The Garden tomb the place where sin, death, and hell were conquered, communion there, it was an incredible place. All of these sites, and so many more hold amazing stories, but none of them seem to stand out enough to write this paper on.

So which one to pick? What event stands out the most? Which one was the most incredible? The walk to the cross, Via Dolorosa? Yes, that one. The walk that changed the world, that saved the world. It happened on what is now a series of narrow alley ways, and ends at a church that is falling apart, but that walk saved my soul.

In the Gospel of Luke the account is found in chapter 23.1-49. Jesus is brought before Pilate who then sends him to Herod who then sends him back to Pilate. Pilate brings the priests together and announces that neither he nor Herod finds grounds for the charges that have been brought against Jesus. Jesus is not deserving of death in the eyes of Pilate, so he says that he will punish him and then release him, hoping that the people will be satisfied with that. But the people instead cry out for the criminal Barabbas to be freed. Pilate tries to release Jesus to them, but their attitude does not change, and they cry out, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"

Again he tries to release Jesus asking, "What crime has he committed?" and again offering to punish Jesus and then let him go. But still the crowd demands the death of Jesus by crucifixion. Pilate, somewhat reluctantly I imagine,, grants their wish. He releases Barabbas and then hands Jesus over to the mob.

Luke does not record the beating that Jesus received, but the Via Dolorosa begins at the Fortress of Antonio, It is here that Jesus is used in "The Game of the King" as the soldiers beat and torture him. It is here on the stone pavement, that Jesus is given the crown of thorns and the cross. Here is where the procession to Golgotha Begins.

Jesus is carrying his own cross; the Greek word is stauros, "an upright pole or stake." Criminals were nailed to them for execution. There were two beams that formed a "T" shape. The word is in the accusative form, which is used as the direct object. The cross is what is being carried, first by Jesus, and the analog the way Simon of Cyrene, is forced to carry the cross for Christ.

The text says that they seized him, they epilabomenoi him. This is a form of the word epilambanomai meaning to lay hold of, to seize. This comes form lambano and is in the aorist case. Simon is taken and is forced to carry the cross for Jesus. He follows Jesus as they march on towards Golgotha.

Following Jesus is a crowd of women, and to them Jesus says, "Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23.28-31). Also with him are two other men, two criminals, also going to be crucified.

As I walked through the alleyways along the Via Dolorosa, up hills and through some very narrow parts, it took a while to get to the place where Simon takes the cross from Jesus. I kept thinking about The Passion of the Christ, the beating he took, and then he carried the cross. He was beaten to within an inch of his life, and from research I have done, the cross weighed about three hundred pounds. The road was not the easiest to walk on, and back then it would have been much rougher. Jesus was a total stud. He has been beaten and probably can barely stand, but he still carries a cross weighing probably close to double his weight over rough ground and through crowded allies.

Finally they arrive at Golgotha, the place of the Skull. It could have been a common place of execution as is the case with the location of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, or possibly a hill that actually resembles a skull, as is the case with Gordon's Calvary. The location was in a stone quarry along a main high way, and outside of the city walls. Both of these locations match these criteria. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is built on the original site thought to be the location of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Once there, Jesus is stripped of his cloths, nailed to the cross, and then hung between the two criminals to die. Soldiers cast lots for his cloths, they mock him, but he prays for their forgiveness, he shows love and mercy even to those who have just mocked, beaten, and killed him. One criminal insults him, while the other seeks mercy and forgiveness. As the day goes on, the sky darkens, and the curtain in the temple tears into two separate pieces. Jesus cries out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands, I commit my Spirit." And with those words Jesus breaths his last and dies.

The word paratithemai is Greek for "I commit." It means to place by the side or near, to set before. Jesus is entrusting his spirit to God, he is surrendering it to him, placing it in his hands. Jesus has come to do the Father's will, now that it is fully accomplished by him giving his spirit into the hands of the Father.

The day we walked the Via Dolorosa was less busy than the next day. Taht day I remember a few children begging for money, and a few vendors trying to sell their merchandise. But I do not remember many smells. There was the faint hint of the sewer, but other than that, nothing. The next day we had a free day in Jerusalem, and for part of that day we retraced some of our steps. Walking along the same roads as the day before, things were different. They were crowded; there was life there that day. I remember the herbs and the spices, the bread baking, and meat cooking. The strong aromas, the sweet smell of baking bread, the strong fragrances of the herbs and spices sold out in front of the shops. There was the faint odor of the sewer again, but today it was more drowned out. There was smoke in the air. The smells of Jerusalem, undoubtedly some are different, some are new, but many, the herbs, the spices, the bread, those would have been things he would have smelled that day.

The markets were loud and crowded. There were people everywhere. Trying to just walk through the streets and not bump into anyone was a challenge at times. Imagine doing it with a three hundred pound cross while being able to barely stand up. The path would have had to be cleared for him. The other thing, I was just surrounded by people wanting me to buy something from them. he had people who were grabbing at his cloths, spitting at him, maybe throwing things at him. He had people who were mourning him and clinging to him. The walk would not have been easy, not even after Simon took the cross from him.

What did I touch? The road beneath my feet, the stone pavement. Underneath my shoes it was hard and slippery. The hills could be a challenge to climb in worn out shoes with no treads on the bottom of them. Did he have sandal on or was he barefoot? Imagine the stones he must have stepped on, the rocks he must have stumbled over, the hills he must have staggered up.

What did I see? The people, the shops, the items being sold. The carvings, the clothing, the spices, the hand worked objects, people just trying to make a living and survive. He would have passed people just like this, people who could not have cared less about this radical from Nazareth being crucified. All they wanted was to sell the things they had grown, carved, weaved, or cooked. All they wanted was to make a living, to feed their families, to live another day, to be able to come back and do the same thing again tomorrow. How much has changed in two thousand years? How many of these people live the same way? The only reason they care about the death of Jesus in Jerusalem is because it brings countless numbers of tourist each year. They only want to sell what they have and go home.

I think that the Via Dolorosa shows many different portraits of Jesus. Linda McKinnish Bridges discusses many different portraits of Jesus seen in the Gospels. It the Gospel of Mark she talks about Jesus' power and pain. Both of these are clearly seen on the road to the cross. Obviously Jesus sis in pain, he is bleeding from cuts and lacerations from all over his body, he is wearing a crown of thorns while carrying a heavy cross. But in all of this we clearly see his power. Jesus walks to Golgotha, part way carrying the cross, he comforts the women along the way, and even on the cross he offers love and forgiveness.

In Matthew she talks about Jesus as the teacher. Even on the way to the cross he still taught. He showed people what love was, what mercy and grace are. He taught people what taking up the cross for the will of the Father really meant. In Luke she talks about Jesus at the table. He ate with sinners and tax collectors. He offered the covenant of life long friendship to Judas just hours before he was betrayed by him. In John there is the image that Jesus saves. He protects, and that is what we see. In the Garden he protects the disciples form harm. He goes to the cross to save the world, to take our place an pay the price for sin. That is the love of the savior.

The thing that I remember the most about the Via Dolorosa is the beginning and the end. I remember kneeling on the stone pavement where the game of the king was carved. I remember touching the ribbed stones on the floor where he was beaten, the place where he was mocked and then given the crown of thorns to wear and the cross to carry. The stones where cool and smooth, I wonder if he had trouble walking, I wonder how much it hurt his knees when he fell under the weight of the cross.

I remember the end just as vividly, kneeling beneath the altar at the top of Golgotha. I wanted to pray there, I wanted to spend a few minutes there, but we were told to hurry. I think I was there on my knees for less than thirty seconds, and in that time I could say nothing. I had no words. But as I touched the spot where they say the cross stood, I managed to say a simple phrase, "Thank you." That was it, that was all I could say, but honestly, that was enough, what else is there to say?