Follow

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said…

Matthew 4:19 NIV

Are You A Follower?

The mushroom is an interesting plant.  It does not require sunshine; it can be found in dark corners under logs or tucked away beneath a shroud of leaves.  Mushrooms provide for the forest a critical function.  They fasten themselves to dead logs and gradually break them down, thus clearing the forest floor of stockpiling old wood.  Because the mushroom is a fungus, it sends out tiny spores that are too small to be seen by the naked eye.  These spores flit about upon the wind, having been found as high as thirty-five thousand feet, soaring about in the jet stream with commercial airliners.  When a spore lands upon some dead piece of plant material, it starts to grow, taking out of either a log or a fallen pile of leaves the nutrients it needs to thrive.  As we well know, although mushrooms are tasty on pizza and in spaghetti sauce, the wrong types of mushrooms when eaten can kill you.  Suppose you have a friend who is an expert on mushrooms and warns you not to eat a particular mushroom growing in your back yard.  You had plans for that mushroom and had hoped to add it to your salad.  How would you respond to her admonition?  Are you the sort to be offended by the directive to not eat the mushroom or would you be grateful for the correction?

The other day I was in a church service when a college student gave her thoughts about what her church should do to stay relevant in an ever changing society.  She shared her concern that if young adults are going to be a part of churches, they want be free of judgment and condemnation.  Of course I can’t think of too many of us who want to be criticized for our behavior; we all like to get a pat on the back and be affirmed.  Yet, should the church metaphorically chop out the rules and commands in the Bible that many find incomprehensible or even reprehensible to keep everyone happy?  What are we to do with all the “thou shalt nots” and “thou shalts” found in the Bible?  Is God too restrictive for our generation or those who follow?

The student, during her presentation on what the church must do to stay relevant and inviting, made as the centerpiece of her talk the contention that her church must be all about love.  Without love being exhibited she argued, young people will not want to be a part of the worship services or Bible studies.  Who could argue with her!  What sorts of people want to join a church that is hateful and mean spirited?  Yet here is where we must careful.  Is it “loving” to ignore the commands of God or never speak of them?  Should we pretend as if the commands of God don’t exist to get those outside the church to “buy into” Christianity and believe the Church is comprised of loving people?

The Bible insists that God is love.  God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16 NIV)  Rightfully, we emphasize our own behavior in this equation.  Because God is love, we too must live in love.  But let us turn this around for just a moment.  God is love.  That is the insistence.  God is love.  Continually God is love.  In every circumstance and interaction, God is love.  With every determination God makes God is love.  This reaches into every single aspect of God…what we know of Him and what we don’t.  God is love.  His motivation is pulled out of love, His relationships all come out of love, each word that comes from Him is determined by love.  Consider this carefully.  The verb in the statement is one of continuous being.  In every single way and at every moment in time, God is love.  It is not that God is loving which of course is important but not the critical point.  It is that God is love in every way…not just in what He does but also in how He thinks, what He believes, the way He makes decisions and what He commands.  God is love and that filters down to what He insists His people do.  Even the commands of God are love.

Let us go back to the discussion of mushrooms.  If you know that the person who tells you that you must not eat a certain mushroom ever is filed with love and only says what He does to you because love directs Him to do so and not just any love but perfect love, then the way you think about the command to not eat a certain mushroom must be evaluated with that in mind.  Suppose that the person who told you not to eat that one mushroom also knows all the ramifications of eating the mushroom and all the particular outcomes of eating the mushroom and out of love has given you the command.  What do you make of what you have been told?  Is it restrictive?  Is it limiting?  Is it hard to accept?  It might be.  But the way we view the command must fit the character and the knowledge of the one issuing the command.  Should you be embarrassed to tell your children not to eat the certain mushroom that is growing in your backyard?  Should you keep the warning to yourself because you are afraid of what others will think about you if you tell them not to eat the mushroom growing in your backyard?  What if everyone in the world insists that eating that mushroom in your backyard is the best thing for you and that only fools would demand the mushroom remain off limits?  Does the command become less loving or unnecessarily restrictive simply because six billion people don’t like it?

Admittedly we must decide if we are to believe the Bible is true or not but if you do, then you cannot throw out the commands of God as something mean and reprehensible if they came from God and He is in every way love.  The commands too are love because He issued them and they are for our good because He tells us that we are to obey them and it is His love that forms and shapes every command of His.  Jesus began His public ministry by issuing a simple invitation.  “Come follow me.”  Many chose not to follow Christ just as it is today.  They did not trust Him.  They did not think He loved them.  They were afraid He would not take care of them.  But some did follow Christ.  It may not have been easy for them to go with Him.  They might not have all received support from family members and friends when they made the decision.  Some may have been despised for following Christ.  Eventually though, each one discovered that Christ is love.  They kept on following Him even when it got rough.  Even when it was frightening and they did not know where Jesus was taking them they kept following.

You cannot follow Jesus and disregard what He says to do.  It is like a Himalayan guide taking her group to the left and one of the members going right instead.  At that point the climber is no longer following.  In John 21 is the account of Jesus talking privately with John and Peter during the period of the resurrection meetings.  Christ told Peter of the painful trials he could expect and the horrible death he would suffer as an apostle but did not mention any troubles that John would face.  Peter asked Jesus what he thought was a reasonable question. "Lord, what about him?" (John 21:21 NIV)  “What about John?”  Our Lord’s reply closed the discussion.  Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." (John 21:22 NIV)  If you are to follow Jesus, then He is in charge of what you do and how you do it.  You can decide to not follow Jesus and He will let you go on your way.  If you are going to follow Him though, then he makes the decisions for you.

At least forty times in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the Lord tells us to follow His commands.  The idea that it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we just love God is ludicrous.  Jesus Himself made it clear that there is no love for God without doing what He says to do.  Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.  (John 14:23-24 NIV)    If we do not obey God, we run the risk of not having Him make His home in us.  This does not mean we are not saved or that we will be condemned for our sins.  It does mean that there is no intimacy with God if we disobey Him, no closeness.  Jesus asked, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?”  (Luke 6:46 NIV)

Six times in the Gospel of Matthew alone, Jesus said to different ones, “Follow me!”  Some did, many didn’t.  Plenty believed He was the Messiah, countless others knew He was sent by God to be a prophet and teacher.  Only a few though decided to follow Jesus.  In Mark 10 is the fascinating account of a fellow who was a great success story.  He came to Jesus though in tremendous need, falling on his knees before Christ, wanting to know how he could inherit eternal life.  Jesus never answered the question though.  Instead He peeled back the layers of religious garb that were strangling his faith.  "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good — except God alone.”  (Mark 10: 18 NIV) Jesus put matters in this passionate Jew’s hands.  He had to decide then and there what to make of Jesus.  Was He good?  Then He was God.  If He wasn’t, then there was no point in continuing the discussion.  Jesus pushed harder. “You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" (Mark 10: 19)  Was this man going to obey the commandments or walk away from following God?  He replied quite firmly, "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."  (Mark 10: 20) Now remember this most important fact about God.  He is love.  Everything He does comes out of love.  God never acts without love driving every part of it.  Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Mark 10:21 NIV)

Some may say that this was a cruel and mean spirited response to this spiritually thirsty soul.  Why tell Him to sell all he had and give it to the poor?  Why push the envelope like that and make the man give up so much to prove his loyalty to God?  Not everyone is willing to follow Jesus and many will turn away.  We cannot say with any real certainty why Jesus told this one man to get rid of his wealth but we can be sure He did so to bless the man and make his life much better.  Some do fine with wealth but most do not.  Some can handle success and fame but the vast majority of us cannot.  If in love our Lord told Him to give his wealth away, then we can be certain Christ was not testing him like a school boy in a class.  Nor was Jesus giving this eager young disciple an initiation rite to see if He was fit to come follow Him.  Notice the psychological reaction of the man when he stumbled over his wealth.  At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Mark 10:22 NIV)

Shouldn’t he have gone away with tremendous happiness because he had great wealth?  When we don’t believe God loves us beyond measure and knows perfectly what is best for us, we walk away from His commands with sadness.  God has a command for you and to follow Him, you must obey it.  It might be Sunday worship.  It could be tithing.  It might be sexual purity or forgiveness or kindness.  The command before you could be some sort of ministry or service or sacrifice.  It might be some habit that you need to quit.  Whatever God is telling you to do, remember that Christ loves you perfectly and His way with you is just what you need to have the best of lives, one that will fill your heart with joy forever.  

The Way of Peace

John 14:27 NIV

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Happy?

Anxiety seems to be on the rise as is depression.  One in twelve Americans struggle with depression and forty percent of Americans say they are experiencing more anxiety than they did last year.  Is there anything in particular that drives up your blood pressure?  What gives you a tension headache or causes you to lose sleep?  Has your temper caused you problems or discouragement zapped your strength?  What takes away your peace?    When you lose it, how do you get it back?  There are so many opportunities for you to become frustrated and discouraged and angry and even worried that it is no wonder so many struggle with maintaining their tranquility.  Perhaps you would like a bit more quiet in your soul…a little more peace.  Let’s talk about it!

Most of the time the way peace is reestablished is by a change in circumstances.  The bill gets paid.  A new job makes life better.  A divorce ends the fighting.  The prognosis improves.  If it is only a shift in the situation or the environment that changes your mood, then the quality of peace is haphazard and chaotic.  It comes and goes with the roll of the dice.  There is no depth to the peace, no staying power that withstands tough times.  The Bible has much to say about peace and plenty of examples of peace experienced during trying times.

Few would say that they are at peace when suffering, fewer still would be calm and undisturbed when dying while in great pain and yet it is possible.  As the early church leader Stephen, one of the first twelve deacons in the Christian community was being executed through stoning, he was not like most people.  He prayed without showing any signs of bitterness or anger.  While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60 NIV)  Of course this is not normal: Stephen’s reaction and perhaps we would add that it is not natural.  Yet it happened.  A human being with a human body and brain was able to pray for God to show his attackers mercy without any indication he was angry, bitter or despondent.   Without further comment, let us just admit that under terrifying and horrific circumstances, a human being can maintain peace within.

A second example of this same response to a terrible crisis is found in one of the books of the Bible written before the time of Christ.  Daniel, the ancient man of God, was ordered like everyone else in the Persian Empire to pray to no one other than the emperor or face execution.  Because he was faithful to the Lord and unwilling to renounce his loyalty to Him, Daniel continued to openly pray to the Lord.  Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.  (Daniel 6:10 NIV)  Again, such adamant loyalty to God at the risk of death is not normal and yet that is still how Daniel responded.   And so judgement was rendered against Daniel.  So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"  A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed.  (Daniel 6:16-18 NIV) There is no record of Daniel pleading for mercy or demanding a lawyer or weeping in turmoil.  He simply accepted the sentence and peacefully waited to be killed.  Of course that did not happen and it was certainly a miracle that saved Daniel. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den.  When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"  Daniel answered, "O king, live forever!  My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.  Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king." (Daniel 6:19-22 NIV)

If for a moment you can just look past the supernatural aspect of Daniel’s rescue, consider carefully the peace Daniel possessed in the midst of a terrifying crisis.  Not only did he calmly keep praying to the Lord when the threat was so great but he also faced his execution without a hint of worry or complaint.  That may be even more supernatural than the angel protecting Daniel from the lions.  Such great internal strength is rarely found among people, not even God’s people and yet there it was.  Peace!  Once more in the Old Testament is an account worth examining if we are to see what sort of peace you can have.

The prophet Elisha had a group of apprentices who he was training to be missionaries in Israel.  They set about building a dormitory to house them all, cutting down trees for the construction.  However, the project had its difficulties.  As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"  The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?"   When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.  "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it. (2 Kings 6:5-7 NIV)  Once more, this predicament was solved through the supernatural intervention of God but before the remedy came, Elisha was unperturbed by the crisis the apprentice encountered.  Rather than panic or fret, Elisha calmly assessed the situation and knew what to do.  That sort of reaction is not strange or unknown in normal human circumstances.  There are plenty of people who stay calm when crises hit because they are skilled at problem solving.  What is telling is that Elisha is identified as a “man of God” which means something here.  As a man of God Elisha lived in peace when his friend fell apart.  There is a “man of God” sort of peace that we need to consider when it comes to anxiety and depression.

Let us consider the peace Mary the mother of Jesus had when she found herself facing a financial crisis.  She was with her son at a wedding and it would seem that she was close to the groom, perhaps a relative or a close family friend.  She discovered that the groom had run out of wine for the guests and this was horrifying for the family.  It would have been a source of humiliation for years in the small town if some solution could not be found.  Mary turned to Jesus and told Him the problem.   His reaction may have made sense to Mary but it is hard to understand now.  Literally it was, “What to you and to me?”  What does that mean?  It is not clear at all but Mary’s response is quite clear.  She told the servants of the groom, "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5 NIV)  There is in this a casual indifference on the part of Mary to the wine crisis.  It was now in Jesus’ hands and she could calmly move to other business.  There is a strange, supernatural tranquility that comes over the person who decides a matter is now God’s problem and lets it stay with Him.  It is not reasonable to many; it is almost irrational and yet that is what happens to us when we give our troubles to God and trust Him with them.  God’s peace takes over our personality and with a calmness we cannot generate ourselves, our Lord of peace gives us His own serenity and stills our agitated thoughts. 

When Jesus died on the cross, a transaction occurred which completely alters the relationship between us and mental health.  By taking our sins into His own body, our Lord becomes free to work His own perfect life into ours.  It is not reasonable nor logical either that God would do this or that He does do it.  It is as the Bible puts it, a “mystery”. …the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.  To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:26-27 NIV)  The incredible enigma is of Christ a part of you changes all the rules for personal peace.  Christ is a part of you which means that every piece of His personality is worked into you.  This includes His joy.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11 NIV)  We also gain His hope.  Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5 NIV)  And now, as we see, we also have the peace Christ has.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. (John 14:27 NIV)

The same peace Jesus had when the storm raged as He sat in the boat, that He had when His friend ran out of wine at the wedding, the same peace Jesus had as He was being taken off to be crucified is available to us!  How do we access it?  We pray!  Lord I need your peace.  I cannot get through this on my own.  My God, give me your peace.  I am stressed and worried.  Give me your peace!  It is there for you at any moment.  You don’t have to be fearful or worried or distressed.  The very peace of Christ has been given to you.  You just need to let it work in you.  You will notice a trigger for your anger or fear or worry.  It could be a bill, a health issue, a concern for one of your children, something your husband or wife is doing.  You have experience with these triggers.  They always get you but they don’t have to now.  You start to feel that old destructive emotion building in you:  fear, anger, despair, worry.  Give up immediately.  Admit you are not able to stop what is rising in you.  Pray.  Lord Jesus, I need your peace now.  The authority of Christ over the universe is right then in your favor.  His power demands that calm come over you.  You must trust Him though and that may take you some time.  You are so used to getting mad or worried, used to flailing about and trying to find a solution and so for a while you may have to suffer from depression or stress or anger that hurts you and others but give yourself time to get used to having Christ in you.  As soon as you cry out to God for His peace, He will give it to you.  Right then and there!  Go ahead.  Make use of the precious gift of peace Christ died to make your own.  Pray for peace in you.

One Step Further

Genesis 22:1-2 NIV

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"  "Here I am," he replied.  Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Are You Up For The Journey?

We did this in our youth group and it generated thoughtful discussions.  One of the students was blindfolded and assigned a guide for the activity.  The guide’s task was to get the blindfolded student from one end of a large room to the other end by weaving about through a series of obstacles and barriers.  The challenge was three fold.  The guide could not touch the blindfolded student in any way nor use any device to take him or her around the room.  Secondly, the guide was only allowed to use voice commands or directions to direct the student to the goal.  Third, everyone else in the room also yelled instructions and tried to confuse the blindfolded student during the exercise.  It took great concentration and trust in the true guide for the blindfolded student to make it all the way to the other side.  Of course the blindfolded student had to make a crucial decision before starting.  Once that guide’s voice was recognized, would the student decide to obey it?

There are a number of reasons why we don’t follow the directions of others.  You might not believe that other person has your best interest at heart.  You might think you know more than the person instructing you.  It could be you have been hurt in the past by those you have trusted.  You are not a robot.  You do not blindly obey just anyone because you weigh all the options and then decide on your own.  That is how normal people are.  They are careful about whom they follow and perhaps that is the way you should be.  Yet, should you have that same approach when it comes to God?

What should you make of ancient Abraham’s response to God’s demand that Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah?  Was it rational?   Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"  "Here I am," he replied.  Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."  Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.  (Genesis 22:1-3 NIV)  Perhaps you have read this account a hundred times or maybe this is a first for you but if you were in this same situation, would you have acted as Abraham did?  You may already know how this turned.  At the last moment, just as Abraham was about to kill his son Isaac on the altar, God stopped him.  When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.  Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"  "Here I am," he replied.  "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." (Genesis 22:9-12 NIV)

Regardless of what you may think of the Lord’s demand, it is obvious that God never intended for Abraham to follow through with the sacrifice.  Clearly Abraham did not know this in advance and yet still believed that God should be followed.  The Bible text says that God “tested Abraham”.  “Tested” is the translation of a Hebrew term that can better be rendered here “proved”.  God was not checking to see if Abraham would faithfully obey Him but rather uncovering what He already knew was in Abraham, faith.  Sometimes we don’t know who we are and what our capability is until we are tested.  It is testing for us but for God it is “proving”.  This was not the first time Abraham “passed the test”.  When God told him as an old man who was childless that he would eventually be the father of nations, Abraham took the Lord at His word and believed Him.  The Bible says this of Abraham, who was earlier known as Abram, Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6 NIV)   This faith Abraham had in God is referenced several times in the New Testament because it was the benchmark for us all.

Can you imagine a more excruciatingly painful step than that first one leading away from his camp?  The decision was made.  “I will obey God.”  Once he decided that he would do what God commanded, Abraham became faith, faith incarnate.  Sometimes the Lord has you do something and it seems unreasonable.  Perhaps your obedience does not even go well for you.  You lose a friend.  You don’t turn a profit.  You miss out on a promotion.  I read a while back that the famous Christian athlete Tim Tebow lost the affection of Miss Universe because he refused to have premarital sex with her.   Faith cannot be separated from obedience…they are as linked as flesh and blood.  There is no faith without obedience and at some point God will have you leave the camp and go up the mountain.  The first step is when you decide if you will trust God with your life.  Is He good even now?

It is interesting how little attention we pay the poor young widow Ruth.  An entire book of the Bible is named for her but we almost completely ignore her obedience.  Although she was a Moabite, Ruth married a Jewish expatriate who had moved with his family to Moab.  Soon after their marriage, Ruth’s husband Mahlon died.  Her father-in-law had also died and her mother-in-law Naomi, a widow too, decided to return to her home town of Bethlehem.  Shockingly, Ruth wanted to leave with her.  Why?  Naomi did not understand it either.  "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."  (Ruth 1:15 NIV)  Naomi had nothing to offer Ruth and it did not make sense to Naomi for Ruth to leave her family and friends and move with her to Israel.  Yet that was what Ruth was determined to do!  Ruth responded to her mother-in-law’s protestation with a firm resolve to follow through witth what she knew she had to do.  But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." (Ruth 1:16-18 NIV)

We cannot say with any certainty, based on the account, that Ruth was commanded by God to go with Naomi to Bethlehem.  But there is a subtle hint that something had transpired between Ruth and God.  Naomi told Ruth that she should go back to her gods.  Naomi it seems did not have any of the “evangelist” in her.  There was no urgency in her heart to bring people to God.  Ruth ignored the lack of fervency in Naomi though and pressed forward.  She insisted that Naomi’s God would be her God.  How profound!  She was making a complete break from all the demons of her previous religion and joining her life to God’s.  Notice something else.  In the Hebrew text, Ruth uses the personal name of the Lord to express her loyalty to Him and God’s right to treat her badly if she breaks away from Naomi.  She calls Him YHWH.  It is like your husband calling your father “daddy” or your co-worker because of her affection calling your mother “nana”.  Ruth was a part of not just Naomi’s family but the Lord’s family too!

Did it take courage for Ruth to take that first step toward Bethlehem?  Of course!  Is it possible that she questioned herself when she started walking?  Perhaps!  Is it clear to us that Ruth was certain the Lord wanted her to leave Moab and go with Naomi to Bethlehem?  It seems pretty clear.  She was going so that she could make her life with Him.  What if she had not obeyed that quiet and subtle voice of God leading her out of Moab and into Israel?  There would have been that natural ripple effect that is in every situation.  She would not have been an encouragement to Naomi who clearly was battling depression.  Boaz would have missed out on marrying her.  Friends she made in Bethlehem would not have had her as an example of faith to emulate.  And of course she would not have been the mother of Obed who was the grandfather of David, the great king of Israel.  There was also a supernatural ripple effect.

When we obey God in any matter, whether it seems big or small, the Kingdom of God is impacted in some way or another.  In Ruth’s case it is crystal clear what following God did for the entire universe.  The line through which the Savior of the World came was the one established by Ruth and Boaz and their son Obed.  The battle over the souls of all humanity was being fought in the heart of Ruth as she pondered whether or not to take that first step out of Moab.  No matter of obedience is trivial.  Obedience to God sends shockwaves through the demonic realm and wrecks the plans of Satan.  Disobedience discourages God’s servants and brings elation to Satan’s allies.  There is always someone watching to see what you will do.  It could be a son or daughter, a coworker, a friend or even an enemy.  Always there is an audience in the spiritual realm.  Remember what we see in the book of Hebrews.  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1 NIV) How you respond to what God says will make an impact on others without you wanting or caring to do so.  It is impossible to avoid the encouragement or discouragement you cause by your actions.

There are eight universal axioms of obedience.  1.  God loves you and Christ died to save you.  2.  God knows all the outcomes of every act considered.  3.  There is a real right and a real wrong when you make decisions.  4.  Satan confuses the issues and corrupts your thinking when your mind is not on Christ.  5.  God is always close enough to lead you onto the right path.  6.  Actions flow out of a spiritual source of guidance.  7.  Every decision you make leads to an outcome that either pleases God or pleases Satan.  8.  Nothing you do happens in a vacuum.  Someone is always impacted by your actions.

When Paul made the decision to go to Jerusalem despite the knowledge he had that he would be arrested after he arrived, Paul continued there because he knew Christ wanted him to go.  His friends and fellow Christians urged him not to do so because they were afraid of what would happen.  You are like a rope in a tug of war battle.  Some will pull you one way, some the other but there is one voice that must take over all you do and that is the call of the Lord.  Does it matter what you do?  It matters to someone!   You cannot know all the ways your actions impact others.  As David considered how he would spend his evening, he could either go up on the roof and look around or stay downstairs and play with his kids.  What would he do?  Such a small matter to consider it would seem!  Did he hear the voice of God as he pondered his options?  Was Satan twisting his thoughts as he mulled over what to do next?  Eventually, he climbed the steps and looked out over the housetops without a care.  But then he came upon Bathsheba…and it made all the difference in the world what he decided previously.  Are you ready to be used by God for the benefit of humanity and the glory of God or do you want to be bent by Satan into his tool for harm?  You have in your heart all you need to be good and right and the hand of Christ in a world in need of God.  Make your decisions wisely.  Never assume it doesn’t matter what you do or where you go.

Change

2 Kings 2:1 NIV

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.

How Do You Feel About Change?

We all have benchmarks when monumental changes have altered our lives.  My wedding day was one for me.  At the hospital discovering for the first time that Mary Jo and I would have a child was one.  The first time I taught in Russia was one.  Some were not so pleasant such as the evening when I was fired from the first church where I was pastor and the day I got a phone call from my dad that my mom had passed away.  The morning I snapped my leg in half skiing was another benchmark.  We try our best to figure out why certain events happen.  We sometimes wish God would tell us why certain things happen to us.. 

Perhaps you have been like me.  You have wondered why you had to go through something painful or traumatic.  Maybe it was the death of a loved one close to you or the loss of a job or even a career.  It could be that you aren’t sure why you had an injury or health issue.  You might be struggling with why someone doesn’t show you love or how come a person you deeply care about is facing so many trials.  Life is sometimes like a roaring lion and it is not always reasonable or even rational.  What are you to make of the changes you have in your life?  How should you respond to them and where is God in it all?

In the middle of the Gospel of John is an interesting story that illustrates the struggle many have with the wreckage in life.  As Jesus and His disciples were walking through Jerusalem, they came upon a man who had been blind from birth.  The disciples posed Jesus with the question, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9: 2 NIV)  The assumption was that being born blind was bad and that someone was to blame for it.  God would not just let such a terrible thing happen if no one was to blame, they reasoned.  Jesus saw matters differently.  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, “said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.  As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.  Night is coming, when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  (John 9: 3-5 NIV) 

Many times people get mad at God for what happens to them.  Others turn their back on God when things get rough because they don’t think He has treated them fairly.  The disciples wanted to know who to blame for the blindness of the beggar they came across.  Jesus did not put blame on anyone, not God, not Satan, not the man or his parents or even on luck or fate.  He did admit that God was at work and all was not lost for the blind man; in fact Christ seemed to indicate that this blindness made it possible for God to do something in particular for the man that could not be done any other way.  We all have experienced something like this if we have lived long enough.  A restaurant was closed but you stumbled upon a café you now love.  A boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you but then you met the person you eventually married.  A bout with depression gave you insight into deep psychological wounds that you had ignored.  Unemployment led to a new career that fits you better.  Jesus insisted that the blindness was not a curse laid upon the beggar but an opportunity for God to do something for him that would not have been possible if he had always been able to see.

The question before you is simple.  Do you really know what to make of your circumstances?  Are you certain of what your next steps in life should be?  Jesus said that He is the light of the world.  What does that mean?  Although there is much that is dark and confusing now, Jesus can help us make sense of it.  Death is irrational and cruel and sin has broken what once was a perfect universe.   In this darkness there is a light that shines and cannot be extinguished.  Where pain and sorrow seem to rule the day, it is not so.  With Christ we find that love rules the universe and that evil and death will be conquered by our Lord who died to save the world from its sin.  Yes it is hard now.  Yes we suffer many hardships and heartaches.  But there is a light that shines in the darkness and Christ will see you through whatever you face and show you the way.

The famous account of Elijah and his departure from this world in God’s chariot of fire ran on two levels…that of Elijah and that of Elisha.  For Elisha it was not quite as exotic as for Elijah.  Elijah rode God’s flaming chariot to heaven.  How exciting!  Elisha was left to sort out things on earth…life and death, loss and hardship, loneliness and trouble.  The account of the journey Elisha took with Elijah to the spot where God’s chariot would take Elijah away is fascinating from a psychological perspective.   Try to put yourself in Elisha’s shoes as he walked with his friend and mentor; knowing they did not have much time left to be together.  When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.  Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel."  But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.  The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?"  "Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it."  Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho."  And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.  The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?"  "Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it."  Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan."  And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.  (2 Kings 2:1-6 NIV)

Elisha had many hours, maybe even weeks to process what was about to happen.  You have to wonder if he was really prepared to lose Elijah his friend.  Maybe he hoped that something would change things, that Elijah could stay a week longer, or a month or a year more.  If he just kept going with Elijah they might not be parted.  Elisha had the head knowledge of Elijah leaving but did he have the heart knowledge?  Was he ready for Elijah to go?  His response to the prophets who warned him of what was to come is telling.  ”Don’t talk to me about this!”  Have you ever known something was going to happen but you were not emotionally willing to talk about it…did not want to face it?  Elisha craved every last second he had with Elijah…cherished each last moment with him. Most assuredly he was not ready to face the fact that this part of his life was about to end; that he wouldn’t have Elijah with him any longer.

It is intriguing that we have no record of how Elisha knew of what was going to happen or any explanation of why God chose to take Elijah away just then.  There is no doubt though that it was God who was behind Elijah leaving.  As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. (2 Kings 2:11 NIV)  Somehow the Lord let Elisha know what He was about to do with his friend and mentor but we aren’t told how He did so.  Yet there were no silly explanations like so many create for why people die.  No “God needed him in heaven” or “Elisha was too dependent on Elijah to keep them together” or not even “God is making Elijah into an angel to watch over Elisha”.  No nonsense like that as a justification for what God did.  It was just the raw material of God and Elisha building a new life together without Elijah there.  Our Lord does not expect you to make sense of why certain painful and difficult times strike you.  You cannot draw straight lines between the tragedies and sorrows you meet and why you face them because our Lord is not ready to show you everything yet.  We live in a world broken by sin where death and suffering continue.  He does have something in mind for you now though just as He did for Elisha.  Elijah was gone and Elisha couldn’t do anything to change that.  For whatever reason, the Lord took Elijah away.  For whatever reason, you experience difficult and sometimes terrifying times.  God does not give you an explanation though.  It is there…and God is there.

A time comes…and it may be right now for you when you must give up making sense of what you face and begin to make sense of God.  Let me illustrate.  After I broke my leg and I was confined to a wheel chair I still was left with the responsibilities I had before my leg was snapped in half.  One of them was to go around the school where we lived just before bedtime and check the doors to make sure they were locked as well as see if anyone was on the school grounds causing or potentially causing trouble.  My three children wanted to go with me and my older son pushed my wheel chair.  While walking, we came across a large gang of young adults talking loudly in the field.  As we approached them, I was very concerned about what they were doing at the school and felt like I needed to investigate but I was also afraid for my kids.  I told them to leave me and go home which the two younger ones did but my oldest son insisted that he stay with me and push my wheelchair.  When we got to the group there were four young men and four or five teenage girls.  The conversation they were having was filled with cursing and I could smell marijuana too.  They all turned around to face me as I got close and the entire group surrounded me when I told them they had to leave.  The young man who seemed to be the leader of the group cursed at me and started making threats.  The other guys also drew closer and grew increasingly belligerent.  As I sat in my wheelchair encircled by this gang, I had three thoughts.  The first was just crazy.  I was certain I could take out the leader of the group even with a cast on my leg.  I had no idea though how to defend myself against the others.  Immediately I began to wonder about my son.  What could I do to protect him?  I knew he would not leave me.  My third consideration was that God with me and so within I began to feverishly pray for His help.  My mind grew so fixed on Christ that I barely heard what the gang members were saying to me or to each other but all of a sudden one of the girls said to them all, “Let’s just leave” and that is what they did. No further confrontation.  No more threats of violence.  They just left.

Was this a miracle?  Did God change the course of events for me and my son?  I leave that up to you to decide.  All I know is that in desperation, I turned to Christ for help and I was helped.  You may be at that point too.  Something has changed for you and you could use God’s help.  Maybe it is time to find out who God really is and if He can be your Savior.  Your mind, because of what is happening, is undistracted by the Kardashians, by President Trump’s tweets or what is going on in sports, it is laser focused on God right now.  The Bible insists that because of Christ, God can live in you if you invite Him to join you.  He is there and you are there.  What sort of God is He?  Does He have any love or mercy to offer you?  Is there a hope He can give you?  Is He big enough to see you through this?  Who is this Jesus?  It is time for you to find out.  In a world broken by Sin and wrecked by death and suffering, you have a Savior who also suffered and died too.  But now He is alive and He loves you and wants to go through whatever you face with you.  You may not have your Elijah to go with you but you have Jesus.  Find out for yourself who He is.  Let Christ be a part of your life.  Take a moment to invite Jesus to go with you, to make His home in you.  Since He died on a cross to take your sin from you and give you eternal life, He might just be the friend you need right now.

The Importance of Your Praying

Genesis 20:7 NIV

 Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die."

What is the Big Deal about Prayer?

I have a shirt that across the front has in bold, bright letters, “Pray”.  I enjoy the reaction it stirs.  I usually wear it when I am going to be around a lot of different people.  It would be fun to have a web cam record the response of those who notice it for the first time.  A typical reaction is for a person to glance at the letters, then pause a moment as if trying to grasp the meaning of the word found on my shirt.  Almost always, the woman or man quickly looks away without meeting my eyes.  It is as if I stop being a real person to many, just a walking billboard.  Some smile and tell me they like the shirt, most try to pretend they didn’t see it or me.  I did not realize prayer was controversial, or something that made people uncomfortable.  Perhaps it is now; maybe prayer is no longer recognized as a critical part of being human; not thought to be important to making life better.

It seems odd that there has to be a rationale given for prayer but perhaps one must be given.    Does it really matter if you pray or not?  Is anyone affected by the shortness of your praying or your lack of prayer?  The problem is that you almost never get any feedback on how you pray.  If you diet or don’t, you see how you are doing.  When you send a check to a charity, you get a note back thanking you for the support and perhaps even a report of how much help you provide.  If you save for your retirement, eventually you find out what your disciplined living did for you.  Fail to keep oil in your car and at some point you will find out how important oil is to your car engine.  It is not like that with prayer.  How do you ever find out what your praying did or didn’t do for yourself or others?  You never get a report card.  No one knows how effective your praying is and you probably don’t know either.  Unless you are someone like George Muller who kept rigorous records of his praying and how his prayer requests fared, you probably haven’t a clue about your prayer success rate.  The default setting for most people is that they just don’t pray much for themselves or others because they don’t know why they should.  Is there a reason why you should pray often?  Let us look at this question carefully because it may really matter how much you pray.

The Bible has an intriguing account of prayer that must be considered.  The book of Job is most famous for its report of the terrible suffering of Job and how he tried to understand why God let him face such horror.  Yet it could be argued that the most important point made in the book is not even the narrative of Job and his trials but rather what we are told at the end.  Job had three friends who came to him ostensibly to comfort him but ended up berating Job for imaginary wrongs he had committed.  The friends decided that Job had to have been a terrible sinner for God to make him suffer so much.  More than half the book is a dialogue between Job and his friends; the later accusing Job of secret sins and the former denying the charges and asserting his holiness.  Famously Job pleads for someone to intervene for him, someone to defend him to God.  He insists, “…God has wronged me and drawn his net around me. “ (Job 19:6 NIV)

The final chapters of Job are given over to the Lord’s response to Job’s accusations.  God never explains His actions; He merely makes it clear that He is sovereign Lord over all and that no one rises above Him in authority and power.  God challenges Job to bring his charges directly to Him.  The Lord said to Job:  "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?  Let him who accuses God answer him!"  (Job 40:1-2 NIV)  Job’s response is quick and decided.  Then Job answered the Lord:  "I am unworthy — how can I reply to you?  I put my hand over my mouth.  I spoke once, but I have no answer — twice, but I will say no more."  (Job 40:3-5 NIV)  Then we come upon perhaps the most compelling aspect of the entire book…at least as far as we discover the value God gives His people and the part they play in the course of history.

At the conclusion of the book of Job, the Lord turns to Job’s friends and addresses their critique of Job.  After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.  So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.  (Job 42:7-8 NIV)  What an astonishing revelation!  God will wait for someone to pray before He acts.  In this case it is Job.  Consider the implication.  After God’s monologue in which He declares His supreme authority over the universe, He warns Job’s friends that if they do not want to face the consequences of making false accusations against Job, they must depend upon Job to pray for God’s mercy.  Why did God have Job pray for his friends?  Clearly it was because the friends needed Job to pray for them.

This is a stupendous revelation!  God waited for Job to pray before He decided the fate of Job’s three friends.  It is as if you did not want to act until one of your friends gave her opinion.  Or it is more like your father not punishing your brother until you said whether he should or not.  Prayer has a real effect with God and changes the course of human events.  Remember what Jesus said about His people?  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15 NIV)  One characteristic of friendship is that friends influence each other.  They start to think alike as the bond between them strengthens.  Friendship is never a one-way street.  Friendship is by definition the linking of people so that they impact each other through love and loyalty.  If prayer is the way we bond with God, then it seems reasonable that in our prayers, there is a back and forth impact that takes place between us.  As your friend, God cares about what matters to you and He is affected by the way you think and how you feel about things.  We think of God as some isolated independent being who does everything on His own but He isn’t.  Our Lord is your friend and your Father and He loves you as your friend and your Father.   That is why prayer is so important.  God is, in some way that cannot be explained, influenced by you.

Consider the implications of Ephesians 6:18.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)  Jude 20 has a similar admonition.  But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. (NIV)  This verse, when considered in its original Greek setting is almost identical to Ephesians 6:18 because it literally directs us to “in the Holy Spirit continually be praying ones”.  To pray “in” the Holy Spirit is like a fish living “in” the ocean or a bird living “in” the atmosphere.  The “in” of being in the Holy Spirit is an “in” of complete immersion, of total envelopment.  The bird absorbs the atmosphere as well as moves within it.  If you pray in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is all about you in your praying.  He is “in” what you pray, the guide to your praying, He is why you pray and the reason you have trust in God as you pray.  When you “pray in the Holy Spirit”, it means that the Holy Spirit is a part of every aspect of your praying.

But how does God our friend want us to pray?  He wants us to pray about anything the Holy Spirit brings to mind but especially He wants us to pray for every single Christian who comes to mind.  Why should we pray so much?  It is because God cares about our opinion of things: He wants to hear what we have to say about others.  In fact He cares so much that He waits for us to pray before He acts.  Job had the same task we have, to bring his concerns about people to God and ask for Him to help them.  How can we know what to pray about for others?  When we are in the Holy Spirit, immersed in Him, thinking with Him and through Him, we will get it right.  Our prayers will match what God wants to do for them.

Without the Holy Spirit directing our thinking as we pray, it is a hit or miss proposition.  Praying becomes irrational and filled with chaos.  The Spirit straightens out our praying, makes it coherent.  We know what we ought to pray and how we should pray because the Holy Spirit makes sense of it for us.  We have the foundation for confident praying in Romans 8, perhaps the most important chapter in the entire Bible.  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.  (Romans 8:26-27 NIV)

Let this sink in a moment.  On our own we have no idea how to pray.  In our sin weakened state we are incompetent at prayer.  But with the Holy Spirit working within us, we have no limits in prayer, there is no ceiling.  Just think about what you could do for others if you become locked in on the Holy Spirit and were in total sync with God.  You could bring real peace and joy to the world…to those your love.  Imagine the good you could do if you took prayer seriously; if you made it your top priority!  It would not be a stretch to state that the book of James provides us with the greatest encouragement to pray found anywhere in literature.  Consider its implication.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.  (James 5:16-18 NIV)  Elijah was a person just like you with all your faults and weaknesses, with all kinds of idiosyncrasies and quirks just like you.  Yet he could pray and a drought came to pass because of his praying and then after three and a half years the drought ended because of his praying.  That could be you, praying just like Elijah.  You may argue that you aren’t righteous though.  The truth is that because of Christ in you, your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of Elijah and all the other greats of the Old Testament.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7 NIV)  And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God.  (Philippians 1:9-11 NIV)  It is not a righteousness issue for you when it comes to praying.  It is a willingness issue.  Are you willing to stay close enough to the Holy Spirit that you can make a supernatural difference in your circle of influence when you pray?  Do you through the most powerful tool you have, prayer, want to make the lives of others better.  You can.  You just have to decide if you are willing to put in the effort to pray.