Good Friday

I have grown up--some would say "grown old"--in a world that is dedicated to removing all unpleasantness.  Paint it.  Coordinate it.  Decorate it.  Don't talk about that.  Medicate it.  Make it up.  Make it over.  The problem is behind the color-coordinated paint and masked by the pain-killers life is a mess.  Here is an eloquent statement of the reality:

  

This whole smashed world's a bloody mess 

and there are people right outside the window, 

right behind those velum thin walls all down the street, living this slow, soundless bleed, 

and Holy week can feel like a hell. 

And that's why He came.

(You can read more of Ann Voskamp's thoughts here.) 

  At the heart of Good Friday is a horrible event.  It is a blessed event.  I am incredibly grateful for what Jesus did on the day we remember, but pretty it is not.  Several years ago I sat through The Passion of The Christ.  I have no desire to see the film again.  I remember the lump-in-my-stomach feeling I had more than forty years ago when I researched and wrote a paper on crucifixion. I figure the depiction of Jesus' death that will be presented Sunday evening in The Bible miniseries will be very moving.  Without needlessly wallowing in the blood and dirt of Golgotha just think of the cruelty that abides in the human heart.  What if a group of people spread out over several generations sought to come up with the cruelest most painful, and shameful form of execution possible?  That is just what the Romans did.  From the 

gruesome beginning of impaling people on a sharpened stake, crucifixion developed.  By the time the people shouted to Pilate, "Crucify Him." the execution of criminals on a cross was a finely tuned process for producing agony and shame so great that it would serve as the ultimate deterrent.The temptation to look at the cross for the wrong reason, or the tendency of our fallen mind to have wrong thoughts in the midst of that which is supremely sacred are so great that we dare not look full on at the cross too often.  If we are not careful we turn the sacred into something vulgar.  

Change the focus with me, though, and behind the cross you will see a scene even more horrible than the one on the cross.  What could possibly bring about the crucifixion of the Son of God?

My Sin. 

Don't flinch just yet.  Historically the question of "Who is responsible for the death of Christ?" has caused untold suffering.  Theologically, two images coalesce--my sin, and God's love.  Change your point of focus one again.

God so loved the world that 

He gave His only begotten Son, 

that whosoever believeth in Him 

should not perish, but

have everlasting life.

Tonight at CBC we will remember the crucifixion.  It is a scene of horror.  It was made necessary by my sin.  It is the supreme statement of God's love.

It's STTA.

 (Here is an online resource you can use to read a harmony of the Gospel accounts of Jesus crucifixion and resurrection: http://www.parallelgospels.net/Page_240.htm) 

Access:

STTA, March 26, 2013 

My son and daughter-in-law recently attended an event where former President George W. Bush was the speaker.  

"How close did you get to the President?"  his mom and I asked him.  He replied that he was within twenty-five feet of the President.  He also pointed out: "With all the Secret Service agents there, when you get your camera out, you do it very slowly."

I was thinking about that in comparison to what I read about the Lord when He walked among us.  Here is one example:

   "Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My garments?" And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?' "" (Mark 5:30-31, NASB95)    

  You can read the rest of the story, as well as some otherencounters the Lord had, in Mark 5.  Several things stand out--the crowds pressing, the fact that something actually passed to this woman in the encounter, and the focus of Jesus on one person.  On this Easter week let's be reminded that Christ came to be accessible.  He still is.

 

(The dates say January, but the truth is for any time.  Clickhere and follow the "Week 1" devotional guide.  It will lead you through how the Bible says you can have an up-close and personal encounter with the Lord.)

It's STTA. 

Impact Like A Flea:

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT Little things--fleas, germs, tacks in the road can have big impact. The impact of little things is much greater when they come at unexpected times and in unexpected places.     Take yesterday's snow.  If had come in January in Minnesota no one would have noticed.  But drop a couple of inches of white stuff a few days into Spring, here in the Alleghany Highlands and it gets your attention. I want to turn that impact around 180 degrees and reproduce it.  I'm looking for, praying for, an opportunity to make a difference for somebody.  I figure if I kind of sneak up on somebody and drop something good on them, it just might catch their attention in the right way. I'm really not interested in being noticed myself.  I work for someone who is worthy of all praise.  He said I ought to do  "good works," in such a way that others can see them, and  "[thus] glorify [my] Father who is in heaven."  (Matthew 5:16) (Click here to read more.)   It's STTA.

EXCELLENT!

You may remember Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.  Even if you don't, you have likely had adventures in excellence.  All through school we were encouraged to strive for excellence.  Many of us, long past our classroom days, have found that it is easier to declare something "Excellent!" than it is to produce excellence.  It seems that life conspires against superlative performance, and could it that we misdefine (Is that an excellent word?) excellence, as it applies in the world where most of live?
In Colossians, a book I've been spending time in for the past few weeks, the Apostle Paul says some things that I think could come under the heading of "excellence."  He tells slaves that they are to obey with "sincerity of heart," and work, "heartily, as unto the Lord."  Somehow, when I think of showing something to the Lord, I don't hear "Good enough," as being good enough.  After all, the entire book is about Christ's superlative nature.  "In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."  (2:9)

Consider though,would a slave, assigned to dig post- holes, please his master if he spent all day digging one perfectly proportioned meticulously neat hole?
"Of course not!" you say.
Don't tune out just, yet.  All of us have a Master.  He is not only our Boss from 9:00 to 5:00, but over our home-life, the time we spend alone, even the hours we spend asleep.  As a pastor of a small church if I prepare one exegetically, homiletically, and oratorically excellent message, yet neglect everything else I should be doing that week--not only at church but at home--am I performing with excellence?  

At this point I may have succeeded only in making things more difficult.  Not only do we need to be concerned about doing what we do with excellence, we need to apply excellence to the consideration of what we do.  Actually, let's turn that around.  First, I ought to ask:

• Am I doing what the Lord wants me to be doing?
• Am I attempting too much?
• Am I distracted by activities that don't matter?

Then I need to do what I do with excellence.  That doesn't necessarily mean doing the best I possibly can do every time I do whatever it is I do.  Sometimes the demands of doing all that I ought to do will demand that I only go over my project with 80 grit sandpaper, rather than spend hours rubbing it with polishing compound.  

We should all work with excellence.  But housewives with three preschoolers shouldn't be down on themselves because their house doesn't look like a spread in Better Homes and Gardens.  Sometimes working with excellence will mean doing less on a particular task, not more.  The big question is not what I want, or what others who are pros at this activity expect, but what does my Boss want?  The servant who works with excellence strives to hear these words:  "Well done, good and faithful servant.

It's STTA. 

 

Something Tempting In The Tree:

Something To Think About

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT Some missionary friends sent a headline about a strange story.  Some boys were playing when they saw some lighter than air balloons with a banner attached.  The boys were able to climb a tree, and retrieve  the prize, bringing them back to earth so they could play with them.  A couple of the baloons "exploded, leaving them with burns on their hands, faces and bodies."  Fortunately their injuries were not severe. I'm sure you have questions.  I have no answers.  If I hear more, I'll pass it on.   While I've not heard of this particular tragedy before, I've seen similar calamities in the spiritual realm.  In fact the Cambodian boys' experience is not dissimilar to the first catastrophe to strike mankind.  Often in works of art, the serpent who tempted Eve is seen, like the balloons, as being in a tree--certainly the fruit was.  Billions of times since then someone has seen something that appeals to the "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life," we reach up and take it and have to deal with the consequences, often tragic. We are not left without help.  The Bible is full of warnings.  The church provides encouragement and accountability.  The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer provides the strength that is needed.  See here and here.   It's STTA.

Something Tempting In The Tree:

Something To Think About

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT Some missionary friends sent a headline about a strange story.  Some boys were playing when they saw some lighter than air balloons with a banner attached.  The boys were able to climb a tree, and retrieve  the prize, bringing them back to earth so they could play with them.  A couple of the baloons "exploded, leaving them with burns on their hands, faces and bodies."  Fortunately their injuries were not severe. I'm sure you have questions.  I have no answers.  If I hear more, I'll pass it on.   While I've not heard of this particular tragedy before, I've seen similar calamities in the spiritual realm.  In fact the Cambodian boys' experience is not dissimilar to the first catastrophe to strike mankind.  Often in works of art, the serpent who tempted Eve is seen, like the balloons, as being in a tree--certainly the fruit was.  Billions of times since then someone has seen something that appeals to the "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life," we reach up and take it and have to deal with the consequences, often tragic. We are not left without help.  The Bible is full of warnings.  The church provides encouragement and accountability.  The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer provides the strength that is needed.  See here and here.   It's STTA.

Leave Him Alone

Much was made of the fact that newly elected Pope Francis fetching his own luggage and personally settling accounts at the hotel where he had stayed during the conclave to select a new Pope.  Here is the lead from one article:  "Pope Francis put his humility on display during his first day as pontiff Thursday, stopping by his hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill himself in a decidedly different style for the papacy usually ensconced inside the frescoed halls of the Vatican."  (NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press 4:24 A.M.MARCH 14, 2013)

I don't accept the authority of the Pope, but my article today is not so much critical as sympathetic.  I wish reporters would leave the guy alone.  Acts of humility, and religious activities, like praying--the Pope's prayer at church right after the hotel visit was also widely publicized--ought to be private.  Listen to what the Lord Jesus had to say on this.  Any righteous deed done for the purpose of display is not a righteous deed at all.  As perverse as it is, one can be proud of his humility.  Such is the depth of depravity.  

So, if Francis errand to fetch his stuff and pay his bill--in a regular car, no less--was a sincere act of humility, he wouldn't want it spread worldwide.  If it was not sincere it shouldn't be publicized.  

Meanwhile back in Covington VA, I pray that the Lord will help me to "not to think more highly" of myself than I ought.  A sober assessment would lead to the truth that if I have anything worthy of note it is from God.  (Romans 12:3)

 

It's STTA.