From my sermon of Septemper 19, 2004… my 51 birthday!

 

          1 Tim 2:1-7
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle — I am telling the truth, I am not lying — and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.
NIV

 

 

         I think most of you are familiar with the story of Captain Miles Standish… though some of you may need a little jog to the memory to remember why. Miles was one of the leading characters in the classic poem, ‘The Courtship of Miles Standish’, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1858, which seemed to be standard reading fare for many of us during our school years. If you recall, the story centered around the captain having a fancy for the fair Priscilla, but being too shy himself, asked his friend, John Alden, to intercede on his behalf. John has a thing for Priscilla himself, but as the captain’s friend, agrees, not knowing that Priscilla has a thing for him! As John pleads the captain’s case, Priscilla finally pops off, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John!”

 

          The characters of John, Priscilla, and the captain are purely fictional, as are, for the most part, the events in the poem. However, there actually was a Cyrano de Bergerac, although the actual living person bore very little resemblance to the one many of us are also familiar with from an 1897 drama by the same name. This story centered around Cyrano’s wanting to woo the lady of his heart, but believing himself to be unworthy because of his overly-large nose. So instead, he assists a friend in wooing her by feeding him all of his own poems and words of love to use and win the lady.

 

Now, there is definitely a lot more to each of these stories, but these are the parts that I most remember, because they are the parts that I could most relate to back then. You see, I never went through that time of life that most boys do when I didn’t like girls… but I was deathly afraid of them! The word ‘shy’ doesn’t come close to describing what I used to feel whenever any girls were around… especially a pretty one! My tongue would get all tied up in my mouth, my legs would get all weak and rubbery, and my whole body just wanted to melt into whatever background was there and disappear! And I can’t begin to tell you how many times over the years I wished for someone to intercede with one or the other of them on my behalf, just as in these stories.

 

Indeed, I seem to recall trading off with my best friend in high-school and going to the girl he was interested in at the time and trying to find out what she thought about him, while he did the same for me. The results of those inquiries can only be attested to by the fact that I cannot recall at all either of the two that we each approached, nor would I actually state that the whole episode was fact or merely a vague memory of something I wished had happened!

 

Regardless of that, though, I think it safe to say that almost everyone appreciates it when someone ‘goes to bat’ for them, if you will, and that is part of what Paul is telling Timothy in these verses…

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

 

The Life Application Commentary tells us that, “If we live in a country with a good government, our lives move along peacefully and quietly, making it difficult to remember to pray for those in authority. We take good government for granted. But we should pray for those at the top — whether we agree with them or not, whether we voted for them or not. In this way, we Christians can make a difference in the course of our nation. We should also pray for world leaders so that other cultures will be open to the gospel. Pray for your leaders, not just in times of national crisis, but every day — thousands of decisions are made daily that affect everyone. And beyond praying for those decisions that will affect you, also pray for the conversion of your leaders.”

 

Two-hundred-and-thirty-odd years ago, that wasn’t much of an issue… by most accounts, many of the founding fathers of this great nation of ours were Christian… and more than that, they believed in and professed and practiced Christian ideals and concepts. Congress would pray before each session, and sometimes before each vote, and each member paid attention to what was being prayed… George Washington would kneel and pray before going into battle… even the writers of our very Constitution based it on fundamental Christian principles, even though, in the name of ‘freedom’… in this case, so-called ‘religious freedom’… they had to couch it in such words as to make it sound more secular! But who would deny that we were a Godly country, led by Godly men? And the country prospered! We grew and became strong!

 

Yes, over the years we have had to deal with many trials and tests… in the late 1800’s, we had to eliminate the sin of slavery from our shores, and it took a great internal struggle to do so! Yet, as Abraham Lincoln left Springfield to address that struggle, he said, “Without the assistance of the Divine Being… I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well.”  Despite our wanting to be isolated from the rest of the world, we have been drawn into two world wars, each of which were ultimately tests of good versus evil… As Roosevelt addressed congress after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he said, “With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounded determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.”

 

          My point is that, even through all of the trials and troubles… through the wars and strife… through the depressions and natural disasters… and un-natural disasters… those that are man-made… as long as we kept our faith in God and tried to live and conduct our lives and affairs in His name… we overcame each of these things and grew into a strong and vibrant nation!

 

          But times change… people change… and our ideas about what is considered right and wrong have changed as well! People brag about cheating on their taxes… speeding is only illegal if you get caught… shoplifting is a game of chance… and I won’t even start on current ideas about sexuality and marriage! Under the guise of modern sophistication, Satan has been transforming and degrading our morals so much that it is difficult to find and recognize a true Christian concept in this country that has not been altered in some way!

 

As an example, Jesus said to love everyone… so we are taught to love all people, including sinners. By expanding on that, people tell us that we should love homosexuals and unwed mothers because Jesus taught us to love everybody! And that is right and good! But do you see what happens next? Satan takes and adds a modern twist to that by pushing us to accept sinners… not so different from loving them, is it? But what’s the next step? If we love them as Jesus taught… and accept them as Satan encourages… then by default, we accept the sin! By using that train of thought, people tell us, then, that we should accept homosexuality! We should accept drunkards and drug addicts! We should accept promiscuity and gambling and all types of evil… and Satan wins!

 

          Jesus declares, “No man can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” In that instance He was referring to worshipping money, but I tell you the same thing applies to ANYTHING! And frankly, I believe we in this country have become far too attached to our ‘modern-inity’… that is, our pursuit of all things new and modern! We want to be accepted by our peers… we want to be perceived as being ‘with-it’ and ‘hip’ and ‘keeping up with the times’! And if those ‘times’ tell us that a gentle shift in our understanding of the Bible is in order, who are we to argue… after all, it is over two-thousand years old, right!

 

Well, yes, that is correct. But I ask you… where does it stop? Either this book contains the Word of God or it doesn’t! And if it contains the true Word of God, do you really think He hasn’t allowed for social shifts and changes over the years? If this is the Word of God… and I believe that it is… then what is in it is still just as true and relevant today as it was when Jesus actually uttered the words that are contained in it!

 

          So again, I tell you… read it! Know and understand what it says! Let God talk to you and explain the true meanings and concepts that it contains! Pray for that understanding! Then, stand up for what you know to be true! Stand up for what Jesus says, and don’t be influenced by those wanting you to be ‘politically correct’! And then pray for those very people!

 

          Pray for those who are trying to tell you that Jesus’ teachings are two-thousand years out-of-date! Pray for those who are striving to make individual choices more important that moral ones! Pray for those who are fighting to keep religion away from our children and out of our schools and out of our lives! Pray for the scientists who seek to disprove the existence of God… for the social reformers who want equality for homosexuals and gays… for the drug pushers and bar owners and unethical employers and prostitutes and all of Satan’s minions, that they may come to see the Christ and know the God that we know… pray that they can learn to accept Him as Lord of all and to change their ways!

 

          And while you’re at it… pray for our leaders! Pray for the lawmakers and politicians that they may once again hear and fear and follow the Words of God and make this country and this world into the place God intended for it to be!  And then, pray for our country itself… Pray for our world! Pray for the tyrants who want to rule at any cost… Pray for those leaders who seek fame and wealth at the cost of their constituents… Pray for those who do not accept our Christianity and are fighting to destroy it by destroying us!

 

For, as our verses say, God wants ALL people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth!

 

And what part of ALL do you not understand?

First published in August 2003

Jesus Christ – Superstar… During the early ‘70’s, these three words could cause as much controversy among Americans as mentioning Kent State, Woodstock, or Vietnam.

 

A close friend of mine, Exxxxxx, belonged to a Baptist church in Worden, and they had decided to take a closer look at this phenomenon that was sweeping the nation and decide for themselves if it was sacrilegious or not. Exxxxxx was appointed to prepare samples of the music and bring it to a special meeting set up just for this purpose.

 

Since he and I had worked together in the Technicians’ Club when I was still in high school (he was then a senior while I was starting college), he came to me for help with his project. The original two-album cut was eighty-seven minutes long… seven minutes too much to fit on the longest 8-track tape then available. Besides, the ‘council’ did not want to spend that much time. So Exxxxxx selected which songs he thought were the most controversial and wrote a script to connect them together. Using borrowed microphones and amplifiers from the high school, I set up a recording studio in my ‘den’ at the farm. He had asked me to do the reading, so, surrounded by banks of tube-type amplifiers from the school, and my solid-state mixers, turntables and eight-track tape recorder, we sat down together and produced a forty-minute version complete with narration. (I opened it, of course, with, “This tape is a product of the Luebbert Recording Studio.”) Then, at the appointed time, I set up a large stereo PA system in their church and played our masterpiece for the thirty-odd people who had gathered to hear it that evening.

 

To make a long story short, after much discussion and disagreement, the general consensus was that anything that might encourage people in general, and teenagers specifically, to even think about Jesus must have some redeeming value, and it was voted to approve letting their youth listen to it. I felt like Exxxxxx and I had made a very good case for our side and approved of their decision whole-heartedly!

 

Perhaps I was wrong.

 

I had grown-up in the Church… I had been ingrained with the teachings of Christ, Paul, and Peter. And when I had first listened to the opera, I had noted all of the mistruths, half-truths, and inconsistencies that it contained. And yet, as I continued to listen to it over the years I found myself accepting it more and more… primarily because I heard it more than I ever heard from the Bible, but also because I liked what it said more than what the Bible said!

 

Over the last few years I have had an opportunity to attend a large number of seminars and meetings, sometimes with (my then wife), sometimes alone, aimed at assisting those who work with and/or are interested in youth and youth ministry. Many of these have been focused on finding new ways to teach an ‘old’ message… the Good News of Christ! And I have seen many different ideas come and go… some pretty radical.

 

Group Magazine is a youth-leader oriented publication that we received for some years. (While we were the youth sponsors the church subscribed to it for us… afterwards, we paid for it ourselves.) Most of their articles and ideas are very upbeat and are aimed at connecting with the youth of today. An article earlier (that) year was titled It’s Time for a Revolution in Youth Ministry. It talked about lowering one’s approach by coming ‘down’ to the youth’s level and doing whatever it takes to get their attention. The next issue contained this ‘Letter to the Editor’.

 

      Concerning the article “It’s Time for a Revolution in Youth Ministry,” (May/June 2003)—we don’t need a revolu­tion, we need revival… The real rea­son teenagers are falling away from our churches, from our youth groups, and from God is because all many churches have to offer is a shallow Christianity. When a church promotes Christian rock concerts… singers who look just like hard rock groups. . .  and a feel-good type of Christian living… (then) of course we’ll have shallow teenagers. The teens will stop “feeling good” about [their] Christian life and realize that the church or youth group isn’t really offering any more than the world has to offer…

A. J. Potter

Ottumwa, Iowa

 

Where have we learned our convictions from? The Bible? Or from the lyrics of a favorite song we learned in our youth? Have our ideas about morality come from the teachings of Jesus… or the TV? Is our concept of truth grounded on the bedrock of God’s Word, or is it pushed and pulled by every new tide of ‘popular’ thinking? And if these things are true for US, what ARE we teaching our youth?!

 

It is very true that Christians must by necessity live IN the world. But we must be very careful not to become part OF the world! Our Christian faith… our Christian teachings… MUST be held to the levels that Christ demands them to be!

 

Otherwise, it’s all for naught!

First printed in August, 2001

Not everyone appreciates my sense of humor. In fact, there are some people who wouldn’t believe that I have one! And I admit, sometimes a person has to get to know me fairly well to realize that there is a twinkle in my eye as I make some deadpan comment. If I’m around people who I know don’t know me that well, I have to try to make my humor very obvious. And this has always seemed to be the case. Most of the people that I went to high school with would have told you that I was deathly serious about everything that I did. Indeed I was told at one time that the prettiest girl on our bus (who later became the homecoming queen the year after I graduated) had made the comment, “You know, Luebbert wouldn’t be so bad if he just wasn’t so serious all of the time.”

Now I have to admit that I did, and do, take a lot of things in life pretty seriously, but that has never kept me from seeing and enjoying all of the things that make life worth living and enjoyable. And one of those things, for me, has been to perpetuate the perception that I am a very serious guy. My closest friends in high school and college knew this, and we had a working arrangement. I would interpret or, if necessary, set-up situations that would allow me to make a deadpan comment, which would let them come back with a witty repartee and get most of those around us laughing. We worked as a well-matched team, pulling together for the jokes and the laughs, with me playing the straight man and them getting the punch line. The thing is, we were the only ones who fully realized that we were working together.

That is not to say that I wasn’t, sometimes, truly serious! I recall a girl that I dated for a few weeks the summer after I graduated high school. She was going to be a sophomore, and could have been a poster girl for ‘blond’ jokes. The first time that I drove her out to our farm, I pointed to the Herefords grazing in the pasture and said, “There’s hamburger on the hoof.” “What!!!” she said. “Hamburger on the hoof!” “What do you mean!?!”   “That’s where hamburger comes from!” “No it’s not!!!”  “Yes it is! Where did you think it came from?” “From the store! Oh my… I’ll never eat another hamburger!!”  After about four weeks of educational experiences like this one, I’d decided that enough was enough. Sitting in my car on a dark, deserted country lane, I tried to tell her that there was more to life than just fun. “Life is not a game!” I said. “It is serious, and must be lived that way if you want to make anything of it!” She started crying, almost hysterically. When I finally got her to calm down enough to talk between sobs, she explained that her last boyfriend had broken up with her by telling her that ‘life is just a game!’ Needless to say, she was very confused.

Throughout history, many religious orders/sects have believed that the Bible contained no room for humor. It seems that every word was to be taken literally, and if it didn’t say it out-right it didn’t apply. As two obvious examples, this is why certain denominations won’t allow musical instruments in the building (it isn’t specifically mentioned), and why others are against dancing (too much danger of enjoying yourself too much). Indeed, we all think about ‘old-time’ preachers spouting their “hell-and-damnation” sermons to our not-so-distant ancestors. And sometimes we all still need to be reminded that Hell is as real a destination as Heaven, and a lot easier to get in to if we are not careful!

On the other hand, there are some out there that would have us believe that following Christ will bring us good fortune in this world, and strive to make their buildings and programs appeal to people on a physical level. The actual teachings of Christ will be distorted or ignored in order to be more palatable to today’s generation.

I believe that what God really wants is somewhere in the middle if you will. Following Christ and doing His work is a very serious business, and should be treated as a great responsibility. After all, being a Christian is a way of life, and how we live that life must reflect Christian values. When God calls us, as He does each of us, we must be ready and willing to do whatever it is He is calling us to. We must also live our lives so as to be an example to the world at large, not a stumbling block! All of this requires dedicating our lives to studying, praying, and worshiping so that we might recognize God’s intent, and be ready to respond when needed.

But NOWHERE does it say that we can’t enjoy ourselves along the way!! In fact, we read about how the early Christians celebrated their new lives in Christ, even in the face of being persecuted. Today, those fears of persecution are largely in our own minds, yet we refrain from publicly celebrating our beliefs for fear of offending someone. A non-Christian might see us and question our sincerity about our faith. One of our fellow Christians might see us and wonder what we have been up to. So we hide our faith… our Christianity… away from our daily routine, bringing it out only on Sunday mornings and ‘special occasions’ to parade it around a bit.

Our first responsibility as Christians is to do God’s work. But the work should be joyous! Can you imagine everyone getting together at, say a soup kitchen, and singing as they helped out because they where so happy to be doing God’s work? How do you suppose the recipients of that help would respond? Wouldn’t they want to know where all of that happiness is derived from?

God didn’t intend for us to be miserable in this life. Yes, Heaven is offered as a ‘reward’, if you will, but the peace of knowing and loving God, and being loved by Him, is fabulously wonderful today! Rejoice! Enjoy the life that we have been given, for that life comes through God, and is made wonderful by worshiping Him.

BE HAPPY!    GOD LOVES YOU!!

First published in October, 2003…

 

I bought my first white hat sometime during my senior year of high school, and except for about six months in the early eighties (when is was considered ‘high fashion’) I have worn one ever since. Indeed, by the time that I had first married and moved to Jacksonville I had began to convert my entire wardrobe to correspond with it, and today, except for work uniforms, I own and wear nothing else.

 

Meanwhile, my friend Henry had picked up a genuine Australian bush hat sometime in high school and generally wore it out when dressed for society. I recall one warm day at Pere Marquette when he, our friend Susie and I were hiking the trails and battling bugs… Henry and I wound up taking off our t-shirts and hanging them under out hats, foreign-legion style… I’m sure that the three of us made quite a sight for any who chanced to see us!

 

          One fall, after my wife and I had lived in Jacksonville for a time, Henry came up for a weekend visit, and he and I went for an evening walk around the grounds of MacMurray College to compare notes on how our lives had been going. It was the last of October, and though Jack-O-Lanterns and such could be seen in various dorm room windows, as well as the houses around the outer edge, the chill in the air caused the campus to be pretty well empty, .

 

          As we were walking north past the (then) new student union building, a girl came through the doors, shouting back inside to somebody as she left. As she turned to walk towards us, Henry and I both thought it was Susie! Now, neither one of us had seen her in at least two years, and the coincidence of running into her here seemed staggering. We both stared at her with totally dumbfounded looks on our faces as we waited for her to recognize us and say something.

 

It wasn’t her! She stared at each of us staring at her (the best word here to describe what she was probably thinking was ‘terrified’, but she showed no signs of it) and finally said, as she walked by, “I’m sorry fellows… the costume party for tonight was cancelled!”

 

          After she passed us and we came to realize what had just happened, we both lost it, hysterically. Realizing how stupid we must have looked as we stared was only part of it… “We’re not wearing a costume,” we said to each other. “We always look like this!”

 

 

          I made a conscious, deliberate choice, all of those years ago, to dress in western-style clothing because of what it represents to me… the ideal of the ‘gentleman cowboy’, who stood for everything that was ever considered good, true, honest and noble. And it is very true that when I started dressing this way, I was very much alone, in this area, in doing so. Still, that was the image that I wanted to project to the world, and still do, even if in today’s world not everyone sees me in the same light that I see myself. I know what I’m standing for! The same exact idea applies to the image we Christians present to the world.

 

In the third chapter of Colossians, Paul is addressing what the well-dressed Christian should be wearing. He says, first, that we are to, “Put to death… whatever belongs to …our earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed.” And then he tells us that, “…as God’s chosen people”, we should, “clothe …ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

 

Wouldn’t it be great if being a Christian were as simple as changing our outfit? But think about it… how many outfits do you have in your closet or dresser? Does putting on that ‘nautical’ dress make you a sailor? Do that straw hat and blue-jeans mean you’re a farmer? Does wearing that ball-gown make you a great dancer? Or, do wearing gym shorts and shoes make you a track or basketball star? Of course not! No more than dressing up in ‘Sunday’ clothes and attending service makes you a Christian! True Christianity is ‘worn’ on the inside and shines through to the outside!

 

So, what do your friends see when they look at you? What image do you present to the world? Are you trying to be ‘hip’, or ‘cool’, or ‘groovy’, or whatever else they call wanting to be ‘accepted’? Are they seeing a reflection of themselves and the world… or do they see Christ? Can they tell what you stand for by looking at you… and your life? Or are you too embarrassed to let it show?

 

In Mark 8:38, Jesus says, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” If you are a Christian… if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross for our sins… then there is only one other question that remains… does anybody but you know it? For if the world does not see Christ-in-you, then Christ is not in you! It really is just that simple.

 

Does the world know that you are a Christian???

 

From a May, 2004 sermon of mine…

Acts 16:16-34

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God — he and his whole family.
NIV

During the very early ‘80’s, I worked for what was then the largest people transporter in the world… and the only thing we carried was school children! As an example, at our Edwardsville, IL contract alone, we hauled 6000 kids a day 600 thousand miles a year… and we did it on thirty busses and two vans!

 

While my main job was trying to keep all of them rolling, I also had my school bus license and drove as a substitute or extra-curricular driver almost everyday. Since I knew both the mechanical and the driving side of the bus I was often sent to other contracts to train drivers. On one such occasion one of the official company safety people was there as well and accompanied me on one such training session. He was so impressed by my ‘techniques’ and methods that within a month I received a certificate from the head office in Kansas City naming me as a ‘Certified Drivers Instructor’! I thought that was really neat… but when I asked, there was no raise that went with it!!! Oh, well.

 

            What I would do, often as not, was to load my trainees up on a bus and head out to as deserted a stretch of country road as I could find and park on the side. There, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, schools, the shop, and kids, I would sit and expound on safety issues first and practical issues second. One issue that always came up had to do with the impression that most seemed to have of the bus not weighing anything, and I think it was my stock answer to that that most impressed  the safety man that day. I would point to the passenger rating printed above the door and say something like… “A medium sized bus will carry 60 people. If you figure an average weight of 100# per student and you’re loaded to capacity, you have at least 3 tons of cargo on board… and it is a cargo that is totally precious and irreplaceable! Add to that the weight of the bus body itself, and the fact that your cargo is constantly moving around, and the conscientiousness and skill of the driver becomes paramount!” Sometimes, it was like a switch going off inside of their heads… I could literally see some of them come to grips with what I had just said. Those who had applied for that training with the idea that it would be an easy job suddenly had their mindset changed by those words with the realization of the responsibility now carried on their shoulders… and that’s how it should be!

 

            These verses tell more of the story of Paul, Silas, and Luke during their stay in Philippi. And again, there are several points that various commentaries try to draw from it. Matthew Henry’s Commentary asks, “How came this testimony from the mouth of one that had a spirit of divination? Is Satan divided against himself? Will he cry up those whose business it is to pull him down?” He then builds a case for it being either Satan not able to help himself in declaring the cause of God, or in some way trying to discredit the Gospel by having the woman attach herself to them for whatever reason.

 

            Meanwhile, The Life Application Commentary points out that, “Faced with the loss of their slave girl’s fortune-telling ability, the Philippian entrepreneurs were furious. Never mind that Paul and Silas were speaking eternal truths, never mind that the poor slave girl had been delivered from an awful existence; these men could only bemoan their economic loss! The gospel would also later hurt Ephesian idol makers financially, resulting in a citywide riot. When people care more about their own economic well-being than the glory of God and the salvation of lost souls, it is a clear sign of idolatry, greed, and worldliness.”

 

            The same source tells us how, “Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten, and placed in stocks in the inner cell. Despite this dismal situation, they praised God, praying and singing as the other prisoners listened. Did they “feel” like worshiping? Probably not. They were likely aching, tired, and scared. But they were determined to give glory to God, who they trusted was in control of their situation. They clung to the hard-to-understand truth previously announced by Jesus: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me”. The radical response to worship was a decision of their will. No matter what our circumstances, we can choose to praise God. Others may even come to Christ because of our example.”

            And each of these are very good points… ones that I’m sure have been and will be preached and expounded on a number of times over the years. I, though, would like to talk this morning about the jailor in the story. The jailor was nobody special… his job wasn’t particularly noteworthy… he was just an ordinary person doing an ordinary job. We might assume that he did his job well in that he seems to have been entrusted to oversee the prisoners on his own, and that he had probably had that job for some time. For those reasons we can assume that he knew the penalties for letting prisoners escape. Guards were responsible for their prisoners and would be held accountable for their escape, and the punishment was usually the same sentence that would have been the prisoner’s. Furthermore, that had been demonstrated not long before upon the keepers out of whose hands Peter had escaped earlier in Acts. So when the jailor was awakened by the earthquake and found the prison in ruins and the doors and stocks open, he naturally assumed all of them were gone, and determined is was better to end his own life than suffer the death which the authorities would likely condemn him too. Imagine his shock… and maybe even disbelief, at first… on discovering that no-one had left!

 

That brings to mind some questions… first, we might conjecture as to why the other prisoners didn’t run. I read several ideas about this, but I would think the main reason was that all of them had heard of Paul and Silas before, and had heard them praying and singing throughout the night. When the walls of the prison collapsed, most, I’m sure, would have connected it to the God that the two men had been praying and singing to, and when they didn’t use the opportunity to escape, opted to stay, themselves, to learn more of this powerful God and the message being spread by His messengers.

 

The second question I think we need to address is this… if the jailor was so concerned that the prisoners were gone as to draw his sword to use on himself, why was it suddenly alright for him to take Paul and Silas from the prison to his home… in effect, removing them from the prison of his own accord? Because… between the two incidents he had come to believe and accept the Lord Jesus… and in that acceptance came a change in his priorities!

 

Before, his main concern was for himself … better to die an easy, honorable death by his own hand than a slow, painful, humiliating one at the hands of the authorities! But after, his concern was for the Word of God, and doing what he could to follow and further that Word. He took Paul and Silas home, dressed their wounds, and had his whole family listen to their story! He was just as likely to be held responsible for their not being in prison… but now he was doing the right thing by God!

 

When I told my trainees about the heavy cargo they would be responsible for, and reminded them of how precious it was, I could sometimes see the look on their faces change as they came to grips with rearranging and rethinking their priorities… this wasn’t going to be something they could just coast through… it was something that they really had to think and care about! And the same may be said of each of us when we accept Christ as the Son of God.

 

Far too often, people profess to being Christians without really meaning it. Oh, they go to Services most Sundays, and may even attend Sunday school occasionally, but never seem to have time to get more ‘involved’ than that. They may put a few dollars towards doing God’s work each week, but are very careful not to cause themselves any discomfort. The fact is, many could be considered Sunday morning Christians… Christians on Sunday morning, but ‘just regular folk’ the rest of the week.

 

When the jailor asked what he must do to be saved, Paul told him he must, “Believe in the Lord Jesus…” And the Jailor believed! But… what happened then? “At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God-he and his whole family.” In other words, once he accepted Christ, he began to act as Christ would want him to!

 

Can the same be said of you?

First published in May of 2003

 

Larry (looking back) – “Uh-oh!”…

 ME – “Don’t tell me it’s not back there!”…

 Larry – “It’s not back there!”…

 Me – “I told you not to tell me that!”

           Those of you who know who Maxwell Smart is will probably recognize the inspiration for that series of comments… it will also date them!

           In the spring of 1971, Larry’s, Henry’s and my senior year of high school, the A Cappella Choir was preparing for the last concert of the year. Since the three of us had collaborated on everything from homecoming floats to sets and scenery for many plays and musicals throughout our high school years, as well as designing, building, and operating virtually every sound and lighting system used there during the same time period, it only seemed natural for us to volunteer to build the props for what was to be our last high school performance. The entire thing was to have a ‘Spring in the Air’ kind of theme, so we decided on portraying a gigantic picnic scene. Our twenty-dollar budget disappeared quickly as we bought the materials to build a 4X4X8 foot pic-i-nic basket, (I know… the spell checker doesn’t like it either, but that’s the way Yogi  always said it!) as well as what the girls on our committee needed to make a 6-foot paper-maché chicken leg.

           We worked in the machine shed on our farm putting everything together except for the final, finishing touches, which we intended to add ‘on site’. On the Saturday of the concert, I borrowed Dad’s pickup, and the three of us loaded our 4X4X8 foot pic-i-nic basket into the back and headed into town.

 Included in the twelve odd-miles between our farm and the high school was a two-mile stretch of highway, and I opted to show them that, yes, that pickup would do 70 mph. (Remember, the speed limit was 65, back then.) As we crossed through town towards the school, Larry chanced to look out the back window. That’s when the above conversation took place.

           Once I realized he was telling the truth, that ‘sinking feeling’ moved into my stomach as I turned the truck around and began to retrace our path. Sure enough, just at the site where I was showing them what Dad’s pickup could do was a large assortment of shattered lumber… actually, most of it was little more than splinters by then!

           We gathered up what looked usable and got the rest of it off of the road, then took inventory and worked out our next step. Using our own scarce dollars and what pieces we were able to salvage, we put together an entirely newly engineered 4X4X8 foot pic-i-nic basket and had it there before the concert. And in point of fact, the 6-foot chicken leg, 8-foot paper plate and oversized fork and spoon that were waiting there for us probably looked better with it than what we had first put together!

          How easy it is, sometimes, to lose track of what our first course of business is supposed to be! I was so easily distracted… by the familiarity of driving on that stretch of road, laughing and joking with my friends, and, yes, wanting to ‘show-off’ a little bit… that I completely forgot about what our main purpose was for being there… the load in the back of the truck!

           All of us should know what the Great Commandment is. In Deuteronomy 6: 4 we are told to, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” In Mathew 22, verse 37, Jesus repeats it as, “the first and greatest commandment.” So it should be very clear to each of us what our priority is supposed to be… what that ‘load’ is in the back of our truck, if you will. But all too easily we let ourselves be distracted with everything that the world has to offer… the colors, the lights, the speed… after all, we live in a secular world, and everything about it is ‘designed’ to distract us with various pleasures!

           But we humans have the power to set our own priorities… we decide what we want to think about… we decide how we spend our money… we decide how to allot our time.

           The story is told of a man with two dogs fighting for his attention. Which dog will survive? The one that he feeds! The other will die! By the same token, God and Satan are also fighting for your attention! And which ever one you feed… that is, which ever one’s priorities you accept… will survive in your soul… and the other will be dead to you!

          What are your values… what are your beliefs… what are your ideals… where is your commitment?

 

What is in your heart? Who is in your soul?

Which dog are you feeding?

 

From an August 2004 publication of mine…

 

         In January of 1976, I went to work for a local school district as their Transportation Superintendent, and one of my first jobs was to change all of the license plates on the nine buses and two vans that were now under my care. As they had just taken delivery of their newest bus in December, which is the one I drove each day, I didn’t think anything about my not having a plate for it, and just really never gave it much thought.

 

            One of the really fun parts of that job was taking various groups on field trips and other outings, as well as to most of their sporting events. So it was that I drove that new bus all over central Illinois, to ISU in Bloomington, to St. Louis for a ballgame, and to Eureka, MO for a day at Six Flags… all of this in addition to running my daily route, whenever I was there to do so. (On the days that I knew I would not be back, I arranged substitute drivers and buses to cover it.) So it was that as summer dawned and school let out, I had put some 7-8,000 miles on that new bus already.

 

            Now, summer is the time of year, in a small district like that, that all of the busses are prepared and taken for their Annual Inspection… a very big deal, and very thoroughly performed… after all, these are our children being transported daily! And since I knew the new bus had no problems, I had waited to take it sometime in July, keeping it available for any summer work that might crop up in the meantime. As it sat in the inspection lane and I walked around it with the State Inspector, he looked at the rear and asked, “How come you have last year’s license plate on this bus?”

 

I was shocked! Apparently, they had transferred plates off of the trade-in before I had started, but had failed to order the new plates for that bus, and I, assuming all had been taken care of properly, just never noticed!

 

How easy it is for us to get caught up in our day-to-day-lives! We grow so accustomed to our daily routine that we begin to take many things for granted. For example, there are clothes in the closet and food in the refrigerator everyday for most of us… and yet we seldom if ever give any thought to how or why it’s there! I had done my walk-around inspection of that bus everyday for most of six months, but never paid any attention to what I assumed was right… I just took for granted that it was!

 

Sometimes, the same holds true for our spiritual lives. We get into a routine of saying almost the same words to God in our prayers each day… or worse, we ‘excuse’ ourselves from praying daily enough times that NOT praying becomes our norm… and we just fail to notice! Maybe you make it a point to come to services as many times as you can each month, but get so caught up in thinking about all that you want to do that afternoon, or worrying about that report due on Tuesday that you fail to listen to the message. Your lips may be singing the words of the hymn, but you are NOT worshiping God with all of your heart and all of your mind!

 

Why is it, then, that it is so easy to see those things in someone else? On the odd occasions that I drove a different bus, I could spot and write down any number of defects as I did my walk-around, and I would wonder how-on-earth anyone could have missed seeing and reporting them to me before! And yet, I had driven students all over the state in what was, essentially, an illegal vehicle! (Not unsafe, mind you, just not legal!)

 

In Matthew chapter 7, and again in Luke chapter 6, Jesus asks us,

 

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

 

 

Sometimes, we really need to stop, take a deep breath, and try to look at ourselves with fresh eyes. We need to try to look at ourselves and our own lives as critically as we might look at others. We need to try to see ourselves in the same light as Christ sees us… and I’m afraid that when we do, we will ALL come up wanting!

 

But you know what? That’s OK! Because Jesus loves each of us just as much as He ever did! He will forgive us as many times as we need! And He will help and guide us in making and shaping our lives into what God has in mind for us… all we have to do is be open to that teaching and that guidance!

 

            So… do that inspection… and open up yourself and be honest about what you see… because, while a vehicle inspection may save your life…

this ‘inspection’ may save your soul!!!

One might notice, as you read through each of these posts, that I have what many would percieve as a very conservative view of life and God. I must say, however, that this was not always the case! In some future posts I will address some of the things that have happened to me over the years, what I have done to deal with them, and how they have brought me back around to the teachings of my youth. For the time, though, please consider this article I wrote for a March 2003 publication. The headlines mentioned date from that time, but I think most of you will remember them…



In one sense, this story is not personal. After all, it hasn’t affected me or anyone I know personally in any way. But in another sense, it is very personal to each of us! As I sit and write this, the news is full of the tragedy of over one hundred lives lost in two separate nightclub incidents within a week of each other.

I’m sure by now you all know the stories. In Chicago, club-goers panicked while trying to get away from the effects of mace being used to break-up a fight and became entangled in the stairwell when the exit became blocked from the crush of the crowd. Rescuers had to enter from other exits and pull the people away from the top to get to those beneath. Twenty-some people were crushed to death, and many more injured. Later that same week, an unapproved pyrotechnic device started a blaze in a Rhode Island club where almost a hundred died trying to get out the same doorway they entered. Aside from the needless loss of life, why does any of this bother me? Because it has all happened before!

In 1940, 198 people died in a fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Miss. Two years later, 492 were burned to death in the Coconut Club in Boston. 1977 saw 165 die in a club in Kentucky. 1990 – 87 dead – New York City… 1928 – 40 dead – West Plaines, MO… the list goes on and on.

My point is this… in each of these instances lessons were learned and changes made. Exit lights were installed, codes written and enforced, and the public made aware to BE aware! And still, these things happen! Why? Because we either forget… or we fail to teach the next generation!

In the December 2002 issue of Readers Digest an article written by David McCullough describes how we Americans, at least, are losing our history. He tells of an undergrad telling him after a lecture how she never realized before that the original thirteen colonies were all on the eastern seaboard… how a recent survey at colleges and universities showed that most of those surveyed believed Ulysses S. Grant to be the American general at Yorktown… and how none of the nation’s top 50 learning institutions now require American History as part of the curriculum! And he goes on to explain that without that knowledge… without knowing not only WHAT happened before, but also WHY it happened… these people will be doomed to repeat the same mistakes!

I have noted on numerous occasions how each generation learns from the one before and builds on that knowledge. But if we ignore the lessons of the past then we must, forsooth, repeat them!

The same exact idea holds true for our religious beliefs and faith! How many crazy ideas have you heard people speak that were purported to be spiritual! Recently, many of the youth of this congregation, along with myself and other adults who had occasion to know him, had to deal with the tragic death of a young man who had been a part of our last two mission trips. He had apparently fallen into a ‘cult’ that told him that the only way to be really ‘close to God’ was through death! And his personal knowledge of the Bible and the teachings within were not yet complete enough to show him the truth that WAS THERE!

Someone recently told me that the youth of today are more than just the ‘church’ of tomorrow… they are the church of today, as well! That is a very true and powerful statement. So it stands to reason that if the ‘Bride of Christ’, the church, is to survive, it will do so through the youth of today… and tomorrow. But only if we can pass on the truths that Jesus gave us two thousand odd years ago… a story that will never age… a story that will have the same impact a thousand years from now as it does today – and as it did when Jesus, Himself, walked the roads and countryside of Galilee and Jerusalem!

And yet, we are all prone to feel so superior, so much more intelligent than our predecessors that we fail to accept ANY of the teachings they offer us. And that is a very dangerous mistake! That is why these news stories bother – nay, scare – me… they are such blatant proof that we haven’t learned anything!

The Old Testament records over and over how God’s ‘Chosen People’ would forget their past and wander away from Him until He decided to ‘remind’ them… usually in a very strong way! And unless we are very careful and become more assiduous in passing on the lessons and words of Jesus, then the very same thing could happen here!

The proof is in the headlines!

My then wife and I went to Wisconsin some years back to attend a Youth Specialties seminar, but since it was also our anniversary we each took off that Thursday and Friday and made a mini-vacation out of it. We’d left our house very early Thursday morning and stopped for lunch at a little place about a half-hour north of Milwaukee. The name of the place was ‘Bublitz’s Family Restaurant”, and let me tell you, the owners and the employees that we had contact with definitely had that ‘northern’ twang in their voice.

From there, we headed on up to Oshkosh and went through the Experimental Aircraft Association air museum. And again several of the people there had that ‘Wisconsin’ sound in their speech. But even though we were just an hour farther north than where we had eaten, the sound of their speech was just a little different. On Friday we went to the Milwaukee Zoo, and Saturday was the seminar, held at a big Lutheran church just some blocks north of the zoo. Here, generally, the locals’ accents weren’t quite as pronounced. (Due to my vast experience in such things, I attributed this to the people in the city being more exposed to outside influences by being more connected to the global economy… there are more people from other parts of the country and/or world who move to, work in, or do business with the metropolis.) But there were youth leaders attending the seminar from all over Wisconsin, and one could hear a number of slightly different ways of saying the same thing.

When I first decided to climb up in a ‘big truck’ some years ago and went to work for a local trucking firm, I went to plants all over Illinois and Iowa, was in Wisconsin and Indiana, and pretty well covered the southern states…Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, as well as Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas. And the accents I encountered were many and varied. Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois all have that midwestern sound, but if one really paid attention you could notice subtle differences all along the way. In Dodge City, Kansas, you start to hear a little of the west. The Georgia peach behind the desk south of Atlanta, and the little strawberry blonde doing the paperwork in Enterprise, Alabama both had the sweetest little southern accents you might like, while people in central Arkansas sounded more like Bill Clinton. But the most pronounced accent of any I heard was in the offices of the little cotton plant I went to in the boot heel of Missouri! I had to really pay attention to what was being said or I would just get lost and have to ask them to please repeat themselves…several times!

Before Columbus touched the shores in this hemisphere, each tribe… indeed, each people… had their own language. And I’m sure that even then there were local derivatives. And since the landing of the Pilgrims, the King’s English has been corrupted with such fervor that we now sometimes even have trouble understanding the King’s English! It would seem that wherever you go in this great country of ours, the words we hear are going to sound a bit different. And when you add to that mix all of the people from other countries who come to this country and add their own accents—the range of sounds that one can hear speaking the same words is just amazing! And we’ve only talked about language! There are many other differences that one can notice as you move across the country.

At a truck stop in Mississippi I ordered iced tea with my meal like always, and when it arrived, promptly tore open two packets of sweetener and put in it. Big mistake! Tea is served sweet in that part of the country. A place in Madison, WI, served kielbasas and brats made with a variety of cheeses in them. The point is that all of us are different in one way or another. Some of those differences are due to our family heritage, some to the area where we grew up, and some are learned from the culture and society that surrounds us at any given time.

Sometimes there can even be extreme differences concerning the same topic all in the same town. How many churches are in just your town? And why? A Pastor told me recently of planning a special service for Easter one year and trying to get all of the churches in his area to take part. Out of the 7-or-8 churches, only 3-or-4 agreed to participate. It seems that some of their philosophies prohibited them from associating with anyone else!

In the book of John, Chapter 14 to be exact, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” For all of our diversities… for all of our differences…for all of our independence…for all of our individuality…there is only one way to have eternal life…there is only one way to see heaven and speak with God…there is only one gate. The King James version says, “I am the door,” Jesus is the door…the only door…to heaven. It doesn’t matter if you serve sweet tea with a southern accent, ride a bronco and talk like a Texan, or pull a plow through the soil of central Illinois and talk like ‘normal’ people. It doesn’t matter if you say ‘Hail, Mary’, recite the Lord’s Prayer, or shout ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Amen’. Jesus is our salvation…Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is our Savior and our Lord. Jesus is the only door…the only gate…the only way…to get to Heaven. It doesn’t matter how you say it…you only have to believe it…and accept it!

With some very minor changes, this is a sermon I wrote and gave on Easter Sunday 2003. Please feel free to leave comments or send e-mails… I want to hear from YOU!



Sin is a four letter word! Or so it would seem in the context of many religions today… it must be the new math!

Some of you know that I had an opportunity to go on a ‘Walk to Emmaus’ some time ago, and one of the speakers there said that, “When the Church loses the word ‘SIN’ from its’ vocabulary, it loses the very language of salvation.” Now, I’m not going to preach to you this morning about sin… I’ll save that one for another day… but I do want you to learn what sin is. On my ‘walk’, I learned that sin was simply things being out of order! ‘What’s that’, you ask. Sin is simply a matter of getting things out of order. Sin and Order are directly related. You see, our God is a God of Order! And if you read and study His word, you should be well aware of what that order is.

For example, God’s order for our finances has always been to work, get paid for that work, and then spend what we have been paid to support ourselves. But over the last fifty or hundred years, we’ve been taught that it’s alright to spend our money before it has been paid to us, or even before we earn it! And just look at the turmoil that has caused in the finances of so many people today, and indeed in the world economy… all because we got things out of God’s order! In relationships, God’s order is to fall in love, get married, then sex. But in the fifties and sixties it became acceptable in this country for some to fall in love, have sex, and then get married. Our divorce rate, I heard, is approaching 80%! All because we have gotten things out of the order that God intended! I want to talk to you today just a little bit about order.

The church that I grew up in was very fundamental in its’ beliefs, and very ‘anti’ anything that wasn’t black-and-white in the Bible. This included most of the dates listed on a ‘Christian Calendar’, because none of the writers of the New Testament deemed them important enough to include in their writings. Most had been ‘chosen’ by a group of men sitting and discussing various historical aspects of different events and were not Biblically based. For example, we were taught, the day that most of the world chooses to celebrate the birth of Christ has no basis in Biblical history, so the day usually had little impact on our services, other than a remembrance of Christ as a man of peace, and many devout congregations refused to celebrate it in any form… they may exchange gifts to one another as a sign of their love for each other, but there would be no Christmas tree or decorations, nor any acknowledgement of the season.

The one date that they couldn’t argue with, however, was Easter! Jesus rode into Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Passover, and that date is on the Jewish calendar! So, Easter Sunday was Easter Sunday… period. But since Lent was a predominantly Catholic tradition, and so much was made by all of the other denominations about Palm Sunday and Holy Week, no mention was ever made of any of these things during my formative years. Instead, we condensed the entire Easter story into that one Sunday. And generally we concentrated on the death of Jesus on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins… which means that most of the Easter services I went to as a child were very somber affairs. And that’s too bad, because Easter is really about the resurrection of our Lord!

Some years back I had an opportunity to do the service in two small churches over in Pike County. Since it was Palm Sunday, I read the passage about Jesus triumphantly riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey as the crowds all shouted “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Throughout this ‘Holy’ week many places have had special services or commemorations to observe Jesus’ overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers in the temple… sharing His ‘Last Supper’ with His disciples and giving them means to remember Him by… praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and asking those with Him to remain awake… His betrayal by Judas and subsequent trial by the Jewish Counsel, Pilate, Herod, and Pilate yet again… and finally His walk to Golgotha as He dragged His cross, allowed Himself to be nailed to it and hung up until His earthly body was dead! Those who have participated in or at the very least considered these things throughout the week have surely come away with the overpowering feeling of unworthiness that each of us feel as we realize that He did all of this for our sake! And on this day… this Easter morning… we celebrate His triumph over death!

God’s order! To the men and women living at that time, it must have seemed inconceivable… indeed, verse nine of today’s reading (John 10:1-18) says that even after finding the tomb empty, “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” But… we have the advantage of four Gospel accounts and two-thousand-odd years of study to help us see all that happened over this period. And through it all we can see God’s hand at work orchestrating each event in such a manner so as to arrive at the end result… the death of His Son for the remission of our sins.

Did it hurt? Jesus was born into this world as one of us so that He might feel the pain that each of us feels in our lifetime! He knew the pain of loss… He knew the pain of hunger… He knew the pain of frustration and loneliness… He felt all of the same joys, fears, hopes and sorrows that each of us feel over the course of our lives! So, YES… He felt the pain of the lash as it came down on His back… yes, He struggled with the weight of His cross as He was forced to carry it to the hill… and yes, He felt each nail as it was driven into each hand and through His ankles… He felt the agony as His weight shifted to hang by those nails when they lifted the cross up and dropped it into a hole to keep it upright… He felt the thorns of the makeshift crown pierce the skin about His head! He felt all of these things… and knew that He would… but went through it anyway! Why? Because He knew the pain of loss… He knew the pain of hunger… He knew the pain of frustration and loneliness… He felt all of the same joys, fears, hopes and sorrows that each of us feel over the course of our lives… and He knew that each and every one of us was doomed to eternity in Hell unless a sacrifice was made for our sake.


Do you know that there are some clergy… indeed, some denominations… that claim to doubt that Christ actually rose from the dead? They profess that it doesn’t matter… that the life and teachings of Jesus are all that anyone needs to know in order to live a full life! In the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the church at Corinth with these words…


But tell me this–since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.

But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.


So… why does it matter that Jesus was raised from the dead and left behind an empty tomb? Why do we believe that Jesus’ resurrection is the key to the Christian faith? The Life Application Commentary says that since Jesus rose from the dead, just as he said, we can be confident that He will accomplish all that He has promised. Also, Jesus’ bodily resurrection shows us that it is a living Christ… not a false prophet or impostor… who rules God’s eternal kingdom. And, because of the proof of Jesus being resurrected, we can be certain of our own resurrection. Death is not the end — there is future life. The Resurrection is the basis for the church’s witness to the world.

Again, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said, “I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me–that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, I saw him, too, long after the others…” Jesus Lives!!!

In Acts 10, verse 37-43, Peter says, “You know what happened all through Judea, beginning in Galilee after John the Baptist began preaching. And no doubt you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him.

“And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Israel and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by crucifying him, but God raised him to life three days later. Then God allowed him to appear, not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen beforehand to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is ordained of God to be the judge of all–the living and the dead. He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”


Jesus Lives!!! So, how do we deal with those who claim that the resurrection isn’t important? By being aware of God’s order in everything! And the only way that we can do that is through the study of His word and constant prayer.

It is true that as a youth, my church concentrated on the cross on Easter morning. But that’s not to say that we didn’t know ‘the rest of the story’! We studied year ‘round about every aspect of Christ’s life, including His death and resurrection… we may have always spoken about it at Easter, but it was never limited TO Easter! At one of those small churches in Pike County where I preached that Palm Sunday, the pianist apologized for her unfamiliarity of the songs… after all, she only got to play them at Easter time! And that’s not right! The story of the Gospel of Christ… of His birth, His ministry, His miracles and teachings, His death on the cross and subsequent rising three days later all show how God works to bring about His order to things, and should be taught on a never-ending basis regardless of the time of year! After all, life in the Grace of God is not a destination… it is a journey! And to make that journey, we must discipline ourselves to be available to the Holy Spirit, model our lives after Christ, study the scriptures, and live a life of love!

Mary did not meet the risen Christ until she had discovered the empty tomb. She responded with joy and obedience by going to tell the disciples. By the same token, we cannot meet Christ until we discover that he is indeed alive… that his tomb is empty! Indeed, we must all be able to shout with full conviction, “I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!!!”