Category: Jesus

We’ve come to the end of another school year… which means an end to another season of writing. This summer will be my last of directing summer camp. Susan and I have worked together many summers and we would both appreciate your prayers for us, our workers, and all the kids who will attend camp this year. With two weddings fast approaching, we anticipate a summer to remember!

The last two writings reflected on a couple of Scriptures that seem to tie together: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain” and “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So what do you think about God’s handiwork? What kind of house is He building? Does the Creator of the earth, the moon and stars, the sun and planets, the universe and beyond know how to build a house? Since there is no ‘shabby’ work in creation, wouldn’t we expect the house God builds to be quite grand? “For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” Hebrews 3:4-6

We are God’s house! The Creator is still in the process of building and He does not labor in vain. We are the stones He is using to build the greatest house imaginable. During my summers of high school and college I worked for Susan’s brother in construction as a stone mason. I saw Steve and others as being strong, ‘building artists.’ Laying rock is much different than laying brick as each piece is unique. The mason uses his hammer to knock off some of the edges before the stone is ready to fit on the house. I was not as talented as my boss, but he was patient with me and paid me according to the number of square feet I laid each day. One time I was about to finish a section of twenty or thirty square feet (which equated to twenty or thirty dollars) when the whole wall came crashing down. Three hours of work had gone to waste in an instant. Can you guess the problem? If you guessed ‘the builder’ you are right, but this was the builder’s error: the cornerstone had not been properly laid. When the weight reached a certain level, the cornerstone kicked out and all my work was undone.

We sometimes question whether we are proper building pieces for God’s house. We are all different with rough edges and imperfections… but our Builder knows exactly what He is doing. When we doubt, He says, “Just look at the Cornerstone. That Rock is perfectly laid and will hold more weight than you can imagine. Trust that I know how to build my house and daily offer yourself as a living stone to be shaped and placed as I see fit. One day everyone will marvel at my handiwork.”

“As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him — you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’” I Peter 2:4-6

Once after telling a parable, Jesus asked a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” We know that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We also know that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” (See Hebrews 11)

Abraham is a great example. His faith led him to believe the impossible and to do anything God told him to do. Will I be humble enough to let God call the shots? James tells us to notice the result of Abraham’s faith. “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.” (James 2:22-23)

The hero in Jesus’ parable was a widow who demonstrated faith by never giving up. She pleaded with an unjust judge for justice. “Something is wrong, sir, and you have the power to change it.” The judge refused time after time, but the woman was undaunted. “Sir, look at this injustice! You have the power to make it right! Will you?” We know the result of her persistence. “Finally the judge said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’” (see Luke 18)

What is Jesus’ message? “The Son of Man is coming! Will he find faith? My Father is no unjust judge! Don’t you think he cares about justice more than someone who doesn’t even love people? Do you believe he has the power to make things right? Then pray like this widow! Put your faith into action… and never give up!”

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.” Matt 24:42-46

“Hey Jude, what’s this we’re hearing about your brother Jesus? Some say he’s become a rabbi?! Some say he’s healing the sick?! Some even say he claims to be Messiah?! What’s going on?”

Jude, James, Joseph, and Simon heard such questions regularly. After Jesus returned to Nazareth after his baptism, the hometown people asked: “‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary and aren’t his brothers and sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’ And they took offense at him.” (see Matt 13:54-57)

Unfortunately, Jude and his brothers were also skeptics. During the Feast of the Tabernacles, they gave Jesus some sarcastic advice: “‘You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” (Jn 7:3-5)

But something changed for Jude. Maybe Mary explained the truth… or maybe it was the Resurrection… or maybe the Holy Spirit convicted a hard heart… whatever happened, Jude became a follower. He wrote a letter to warn Christians of false followers. In his day (as in ours), some “change the grace of our God into a license for immorality” and some “deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” Jude reminds readers of Old Testament stories recounting foolishness, selfish pride, and sexual sin. Jesus taught that false teachers could be identified by examining the fruit of a life. Jude uses similar words: “They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees without fruit and uprooted – twice dead.”

Despite these important warnings, there is an interesting ‘mercy’ emphasis in Jude’s writing. “Mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.” “Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” Jude knew he had received mercy. He remembered he had doubted. He realized he had been snatched from the fire. He must have also remembered his Brother’s beatitude: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Mercy takes a sad song and makes it better. We can thank Jude for a reminder.

“But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.” Jude 20-21

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” Jude 24-25

One of my students shared this week about serving in the city during the Thanksgiving holidays. A few teachers and a bunch of teenagers spent several nights in a church and went out to feed the poor, encourage the hopeless, and invite all to follow Jesus. My student shared with his teenage classmates the clear difference he saw between two opposite kingdoms. So much is obvious: light/darkness, order/chaos, peace/anxiety, freedom/bondage, life/death… but at the end of his talk, he made an interesting statement. “The devil is just as active here where we live as in the inner city.”

I think we would all agree, but we don’t think about it too much because the enemy’s tactics are subtle and the results may not be as obvious: sincerity/hypocrisy, kindness/judgment, contentment/greed, generosity/stinginess, passionate/lukewarm… As always, Jesus is our Answer… He must be my Center, my Source, my Life. If I know I am lukewarm, the solution is not to pretend to be passionate… then I would be a lukewarm hypocrite. No, I must go to Jesus and confess a cold heart. He is the God of holy fire. He can make me passionate and there will be nothing fake about it. If I am consumed with ‘stuff’, I must go to Jesus who reminds me that even gaining the whole world does no good for eternity. When I experience his priceless love, I’ll want to share this love and my ‘stuff’ with those in need. If my kindness is lacking, I need to sit at the feet of Jesus, the Fountain of kindness. Then I must do exactly as He instructs. He’ll show me how to live while molding me into his image.

As we clothe ourselves with Christ, we have everything we need to stand strong in the kingdom of Light. His truth is around the waist (“I am the way and the truth and the life” – Jn 14:6). His righteousness protects the heart as a breastplate (“He is our righteousness” – I Cor 1:30). His faith extinguishes the arrows of the evil one (“He is the author and perfecter of our faith” – Heb 12:2). The gospel of peace makes our feet ready to go anywhere He leads (“For He himself is our peace” – Eph 2:14). His salvation protects the mind and gives us confidence to come to the Father (“He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” – Heb 5:9). And He is the sword that cannot be defeated (“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” – Jn 1:1). (See Eph 6:10-18)

“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all that He has made. As far as the East is from the West, that is how far He has removed our transgressions from us. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord.”

“For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:13-14)

Watchman Nee, a Chinese preacher imprisoned the last twenty years of his life, taught that the first four verses of Romans 7 tell a story about a woman and two men. The first man is this woman’s husband and he is unquestionably perfect. She is far from perfect and, try though she might, she can never fully please him. Oh to be married to the second man, who also is perfect but with a difference… He is full of grace and mercy. If the first husband died, she could marry the second, but there is no chance of him dying. The first man will never pass away. What a hopeless situation!

There is one other way the woman can be released from her first husband… if she dies. And that, says the apostle Paul, is what has happened to all who are in Christ. The first husband represents the Law… exact, perfect, and eternal. The second husband is Jesus… perfect, eternal, and fulfilling the Law completely. We are the woman… human, imperfect, and in great need of help. Married to the Law, we could never measure up. But when Christ died, we died… for we are in Him. “For we know our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” (Rom 6:6-7)

And since He rose, we also have been given new life. “We were buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with Him in his resurrection.” (Rom 6:5-6) As resurrected children we are given a new Husband. “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (Rom 7:4-6)

What a plan! God knew our incapabilities and provided everything we need in Jesus. And now He lives in us! He is the very righteousness of God; He is our righteousness. We now live by faith in this risen One who loves us and gave himself for us. Hallelujah!

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20