WHEN YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE...

One of my biggest frustrations as a pastor is helplessness. I often get asked to do something, when whatever I do gets ignored or rebuffed. Sometimes I haven't a clue what to do. Other times words fail me. I don't think of myself as a do-gooder. I have no illusions about my personal righteousness or wisdom. I don't go about, as the Aussies say, "Sticky-Beaking" others business. I usually only step in when asked. Still, it's hardest when your helping hand gets snapped at.

The medical profession has a firm rule: DO NO HARM. One of my grad-school professors suggested that would make a fine motto for the ministry, as well. If I can't do anything for another, the least I can do is refrain from making the situation worse. Even better, perhaps I might leave a bit of good will for the next helping hand that comes along.

At times like these, when I can do nothing else I can pray. I can ask for wisdom for myself. I can ask for truly wise words. I can ask for compassion in dealing with an unlovable person. I must also seek that persons good. Prayer for another need not be filled with specifics; I trust God to know their needs better than I. I even practice retroactive prayer--praying for a bad event after it's happened. Who knows that in eternity we may find God changed time. It's worth a prayer.

I know prayer has changed my hard, cold heart. I believe prayer can change the circumstances and hearts of others, as well.

INTERPRETING THE SCRIPTURES

In interpreting the Word of God, the reader must recognize a divine tension. There must be a balance between the historical and theological perspectives.

HISTORICALLY:
1.The established TEXT. You must use what is there.
2.Awareness of the CONTEXT of the writer & recipients.
3.There is a MULTIPLEX of insights which often seem to support several viewpoints.
4.The reader must recognize that everything you decide the text says is an INTERPRETATION; you CAN make it say what you want it to say: Beware.

THEOLOGICALLY:
1.DIVINE INSPIRATION: what is in the text is what God wants to say.
2.RELEVANT: both to the past and the present.
3.REDEMPTIVE: it does not bog down in details, but majors on the relational.
4.EFFECTIVE: It accomplishes what God wants it to accomplish.

NO RESURRECTION!?

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is so foundational, that without it there would BE no Christianity.  If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead on the third day after his death, then Christianity is a lie.

“ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
                        1 Corinthians 15:13-14

Without the resurrection, Christianity is just another unfulfilled, hoped for religion.  Christ’s resurrection is God’s seal of approval on Jesus’ life and work.  It demonstrates that Jesus is God in the flesh, not just a good man. Besides all that, if the resurrection is untrue, Christians are wasting their time.  After all, why live a life of sacrifice and self-giving for nothing?

“If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”
                        Romans 15:19

The Christian’s hope lies not just in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross but in his life-giving resurrection from the dead.

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
                        Romans 15:20-22

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM

Many people don't bother asking what the Star in the East was that led the Wise Men from the East to Bethlehem. They assume it was a either an exploding star--a super nova--or simply a miraculous event. In fact, God tends to use His creation in interacting with mankind. With the exception of the last, the ten plagues on Egypt were "natural" occurrences. The miraculous element is that they began and ended on command and their specific order caused a cascade of disasters.

So if the star was a natural, as opposed to a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't miracle, what was it? You might be surprised to find that there are several possible candidates.

At that B.C./A.D. conjunction, the whole Eastern and Roman world was expecting the next great ruler to arise. The Jews had been in Babylon for 500 years at this point, waiting for the Messiah. Jewish concepts were well established in the East. As Astrologers, the Babylonian Magi equated the star with that expected king.

So, was the star;
a)  Halley’s Comet, which passed in 11 BC...
b)  The conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter which occurred three times in 7 BC...
c)  Sirius the Dog star which, from the years 5 to 2 BC, rose brightly at sunrise on the first day of the month called Mesori “Birth of a Prince..."
d)  Or, a super nova unrecorded by ancient astrologers.
   
Remember, the Magi were Astrologers who looked for fixed signs in the heavens, therefore the answer is "C." To the Babylonians, the star Sirius represented Israel. That, connected to the month Mesori compelled the Magi to travel to Bethlehem.

One final point. The Magi continued on even when there was no visible star to follow. This fits with both the 7 BC conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter (3 occurrences) and the 5-2 BC rise of Sirius the Dog star at sunrise on the first day of the month called Mesori. Both are plausible, but I vote for Sirius.

WEEKENDS ARE FOR FUN

THE APOLOGIST'S EVENING PRAYER By C.S. Lewis

From all my lame defeats and oh!  Much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep,
the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins.  Let me not trust instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts,
even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.

GIVE THANKS FOR THANKSGIVING

The Pilgrims came pretty close to not ever having a Thanksgiving celebration. They were almost starved out of their toehold in North America. You see, the contract they had entered into in London was an early experiment in Communism. That is, the Pilgrims agreed, "everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well. They were going to distribute it equally. Nobody owned anything."

The ambitious plan was a dismal flop. They barely survived the first winter, losing half their number, including Governor Bradford's wife, to death. Problem is, though their communal ideas were noble they did not take human nature into account. Working for the common good gave no incentive to work hard. Does that sound bad? That is human nature. Ignoring it is as reckless as ignoring your auto's need for oil.

Bradford came to the conclusion that, "young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense, that was thought injustice."

Finally, the Pilgrims decided to work each his own land and market his own crops and products. With the help of the local Indians, who taught them some farming techniques, the pilgrims brought in enough to face a comfortable winter. This sparked the first Thanksgiving celebration that we remember today. It was personal freedom that brought prosperity to the new world. We ought to celebrate that as we give thanks today.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

WHAT ABOUT GOOD WORKS?

Beware of false additions to faith.  Through the ages people have proposed that other things beside faith are required for salvation.  They say that these are not works, but since they then turn around and require that one must do these things to gain salvation they are obviously a work which produces or earns salvation.

1. Surrender.  Christ must be perfectly followed as lord in order for salvation to be real.  Christ is Lord,  but His lordship over the believer in this life is imperfect. Christians make a linguistic mistake with the word Lord. We understand it in the European sense of "king." The Bible uses it of Jesus in the Jewish meaning of a synonym for God. Jesus is God whether you obey or not.
2. Baptism.  Baptism is visible obedience to Christ, but requiring it as a precondition to salvation makes it a work.  (Mark 16:16 is not in the most reliable texts).
3. Repentance.  If understood as a synonym for faith yes; if understood as cleaning up your life, and THEN believing, no.
4. Confession. Believers are called to confess their sins to one another(James 5:16) but nowhere is confession (usually in the sense of EVERY sin ever committed) demanded as a precondition to salvation.

The Thief on the cross is the salvation test case.  He didn’t,
clean up his life,
walk the aisle,
pray at an alter,
get baptized,
join a church, or
give any money.
He simply asked Jesus for salvation.

JESUS HIPPY MUSIC

The Jesus Movement of the late sixties, early seventies, specifically Jesus Hippy Music, made a significant impact on American youth. I became a Christian during that time. I was aware of the movement, but not really a part of it. There is one point at which the movement and I made direct contact. This song, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" by Larry Norman, is the first witness that made me think. There were many Christian influences around me, friends, Vacation Bible School, and Backyard Bible Clubs. Those things must have influenced me, but I never really thought about them.

In the summer of 1971 my friend, Doug Wall, brought an album over and played this song for me. Hard to imagine lugging vinyl albums around in this mp3 age. I didn't understand the imagery or message of the song, but it stuck in my head. This did not spark my decision to seek God. I had been doing that for some time on my own. It stands out in my memory as a sign post for the knowledge that others were interested in spiritual things apart from the rigid structure of church.

"I Wish We'd All Been Ready" got loads of play in youth meetings. By 1972 it would probably have been the #1 Jesus Hippy song on MTV (Maranatha Television) had there been such a thing. This song was as ubiquitous as the One Way sign. Sadly, both have slid into the shady, half-remembered past.

Standard practice in those days was to ask everyone in the youth meeting to bow their heads and close their eyes in an attitude of prayer. Then the musician would strum a guitar and croon the words. At the end, for effect, the musician would abruptly cut the last line and go absolutely silent. The feeling was supposed to be that the Rapture had occurred in the middle of the song and you'd been left behind.

INTRODUCING THE HACKIES

The Hacky Award is presented annually for Ridiculous, Redundant and/or simply Horrid Advertisement Copy Writing in the areas of radio, print and television commercials.

Today's nominee is:

In the category of radio, the nominee is Green Light for their redundant line;

"Act now, before this historic offer is history."