A Sunday Unlike Any Other - Philippians 4:4-6

 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
- Philippians 4:4-6


    This will probably be the most remarkable Easter Sunday in my 65 years. It will be remarkable for the fact that we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ in our homes rather than in assembling at our church. This plague has certainly altered our lives in ways that we will never forget. The infection continues to grow; the death toll continues to climb.
    On this Resurrection Sunday let us take the time to remember the grace with which God granted us redemption I Jesus Christ. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” - Romans 8:11.
    During this time of sickness, we need to remember that through the sin of Adam the entire universe has suffered in ‘the Fall.’ Each age has had its share of tragedy and tribulation. From the ancient threats to the specter of nuclear annihilation to the plague event, the world and all the people in it have always faced one kind of catastrophe after another. “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains." - Matthew 24:6-8.
    And yet we as we approach Easter this year we are still able to access the hope that is in Jesus Christ. Despite our current virus emergency the means of grace provided by God to us are still available to those who believe in Him. The way to achieve those means of grace is as they have always been - through fervent prayer. “Is anyone among you suffering? Is anyone among you sick?.... Let him pray. . . and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” - James 5:13a, 14a, 16b.
    And where is the power of prayer? It must be ardent, pious, and sincere. In other words, we must be genuine, reverent, and our prayers must come from our hearts. These are the prayers that God listens to. Prayer requires belief in God, not some fleeting assent but a firm and convicted belief that with God, all things are possible. The prayers of the unbelieving God merely ‘hears.’
    Prayer remains our greatest weapon against the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil whether they are represented by man’s inhumanity to man, the forces of natural disasters, or plague. Prayer should be our first resort, not an eleventh-hour refuge. And while God certainly expects - commands - us to use the common blessings of knowledge, wisdom, and technology to battle the tragedies we encounter, so He commands us to turn to Him for healing. “ . . . if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14. This is the promise of our Almighty God!
    Therefore, let us take time this Easter Sunday, a Sunday unlike any other, to rejoice, pray, and recognize God’s providential blessings to us in the resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ who remains our Lord and Savior, for -“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” - 1 Corinthians 15:19. Happy Easter 2020!

Follow Me - Luke 5:27-28

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.- Luke 5:27-28


The account is retold in all three Synoptic Gospels. However, in Luke's, the details of Levi's response is more detailed - 'and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.' Levi (or Matthew) left everything behind him and followed Jesus!
Matthew was a tax collector. And without delving into the reasons why and how tax collectors were viewed by the common Jews, let us suffice to say that he was hated. That is not an overstatement or a negatively embellished assessment. Tax collectors were viewed as scum because they not only worked for Rome but were given license to add 'collection fees' to their tax bills to feather their own pockets, which they did at a usurious rate.
The Romans would sell the license to tax to the highest bidder. So the implication was that Matthew had made the top bid to gain his publican status. The fact that he 'came from money' may be attested to by Mark 2:14 where he is referred to as 'Levi the son of Alphaeus.' Alphaeus was considered ' a righteous man,' and as such, he may well have also been a relatively prosperous man whereby Matthew had a source for the cost of the tax license.
As a tax collector or 'publican,'Matthew would have established his collection business in Capernaum, near the sea, probably in a busily traveled thoroughfare where he was a recognizable figure among the population. He owned his own home and one large enough to entertain large groups of guests. This is all to say that Matthew had more than a fishing boat to walk away from. But walk away he did, leaving everything behind. That would mean his tax booth, his ledgers, and all the taxes he had collected that day!
We don't know what became of his house. Scripture doesn't tell us. It could well have been given to another member of the family; a practice not uncommon even today. The point is: Matthew gave up everything to follow Jesus! He didn't follow Christ blindly because Jesus made it clear - following Him would be no easy task - "And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'" - Luke 9:23.
Matthew knew what he was getting himself into by following the Messiah. He knew there would be persecution even unto death; it would be non-negotiable. "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." - Luke 14:27.
Surely others heard the clarion call of Jesus but would not leave their worldly goods behind to follow Him. "Jesus said to him, 'If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." - Matthew 19:21-22. Why did Matthew heed Christ's call while others such as this man were unable to? Jesus answered this for us - "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." - John 10:27.
Matthew's faithful following of Christ is a lesson for all of us today. We need to heed His call and drop the world and all its iniquities from the centerpiece of our lives and focus on Jesus. Then and only then we can follow Christ as we were meant to, without all the trappings and extraneous luggage of the world. Jesus said to us - "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." - Matthew 7:13-14. There simply isn't room for all our worldly appendages and Jesus too. We must make up our minds as to whom we will follow.

When Christ Comes Down - Matthew 27:42

 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.” - Matthew 27:42

    In 1958, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a Beat Generation poet, published his classic book of poetry, A Coney Island of the Mind.  In it, the poem, “Christ Came Down,” was an irreverent interpretation of how Christmas had become even too secular for Jesus. Such irreverence has always accompanied the idea of Jesus actually coming down from His cross in a final attempt to show one last ‘sign’ of His divinity to unbelievers.
    There were incessant demands for Christ to perform a miracle, otherwise, they would not believe in Him. Jesus resolutely refused to show them any further signs except for His resurrection. “But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.’” - Matthew 12:39. These impious people respected nothing divine. What would make them think a heavenly sign would remove all the cataracts of their disbelief. It would have been like a blind man asking to ‘see’ a rare jewel. How would he know the difference?
     “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.  These people were referred to as “those who are perishing.” For all intents and purposes, these people were to remain unsaved. Twenty more signs would have done nothing to dispel their unbelief. If they couldn’t even discern the good news of the Gospel, how would they be able to tell a miracle from a magic trick?
    Christ’s reputation as a ‘miracle worker’ was preceding Him wherever He went. “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.” - John 12:37. But the signs He had shown them were never enough. Jesus would show them no further signs. And sinners were by nature as they are now, hard necked and never compelled to believe.
    So the question begs, what if Christ showed ‘a sign’ to unbelievers today? What if He came down? Can we even imagine what demands would be made of Him today? What tests would fill out the 21st Century ‘wish list’ presented to Christ before we would believe? Would those who refused to believe in Him before, believe in Him now? Would it make a difference if they saw Him in the proverbial ‘flesh’? Would they believe if they could put their fingers in His side and in the wounds in His hands?
    We must remember two specifics about insisting upon and relying on signs and evidence before we believe. First, we are cautioned that we should never make demands of God. We should never challenge God or put Him to the test. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.” - Deuteronomy 6:16. The voices demanding proof from God today are every bit as profane and sacrilegious as those of the crowd at Golgotha on that dark Friday afternoon. Common providence should assure all of us that there is indeed a gracious and loving God who sees to our every need. Jesus calls those who do not need evidence of his divinity, ‘blessed’. “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” - John 20:29.
    So what kind of faith is Jesus seeking? He seeks a faith that doesn’t require the sternness of our cynical tests of His divinity. He seeks a faith that doesn’t require compliance with our demands. He seeks a faith that rests in our complete surrender to Him. And he seeks a faith that rests in our absolute confidence in His atonement for our sins.
    Those of us who believe in Christ today have done so by faith and faith alone. “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” - 1 Peter 1:8-9. This is our Christian blessing.
    The day is coming when we will all see Christ come down and on that day, we will all believe, some to salvation and others to condemnation. But mark these words: we will all believe on that day, in the future, when Christ comes down.

Is There Extraterrestrial Life? - Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.- Genesis 1:1.

    Quoting the late American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, and astrobiologist, Carl Sagan - “The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.” As to Sagan’s hypothesis: he is merely alluding to his opinion when he makes this statement. One could certainly suggest the same for the surface of the moon. He isn’t implying that there is any empirical evidence to support his theory of extraterrestrial life because there is none. Not one shred of tangible evidence exists for the proof of life anywhere in our universe with the exception of earth. And I suggest that for those who simply can’t believe we are alone in the universe, their beliefs are driven more by sentiment and emotion than by facts and measurable data. This is one of the prevailing issues of our time - emotion or sentiment driven truth. There is no such thing! As I said, there is no statistical data or empirical evidence to support truth based on emotion. This emotion represents the entire substructure of the pro-abortion movement, racial identity politics, the LGBTQ movement, and the whole misconception of relativism in general. Emotion never “proves facts;” it only negates reason and logic. But having said that, the question of whether we’re alone in the cosmos is a fair and reasonable question. It is not merely a hypothetical question but one which deserves an honest and definitive answer.
    The only way we can possibly answer that question is for us to decide ahead of time what measurement we will use to answer it. We can go about tabling our criteria to answer the question with our suppositions. In fact, we would have to use supposition because as I stated previously, we have no concrete evidence to show the world why we believe there is life elsewhere. As for this particular argument, I will use one of the historically oldest records of life on earth as my position against the possibility of life existing anywhere but here on earth: the Bible. I believe the Bible is the best place to seek our answer since we’ve got to begin with what we know. And we know that as of yet, in the 21st century, we have no clear and unambiguous reason to believe that there is life anywhere but here. Now, how might the Bible perspective support that position?
    “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” - Genesis 1:1. From the very first words of Scripture we are told that God, from the very beginning, is the force behind our existence as a planet. Skipping ahead to the last verse of Genesis 1, we see that God not only created the earth but He also stocked it with every conceivable form of life “and it was good.” In other words, this was God’s will for the earth and life upon it.
     Now just from the first book of Genesis, we come away with the facts that at no time does it refer to life being created anywhere else in the universe but here on earth. Furthermore, packed neatly away within this first chapter is this passage - “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” - Genesis 1:26. Let man have dominion! That means that God gave to mankind the gift of being the dominant species on the planet earth. No other species has ever even been able to compete with us for dominion. Mankind is the only species that can: envision, think logically, rhyme, worship, translate language, develop a system of mathematics, compose music, create works of literature and art, experiment scientifically,  and invent. The list of how man is dominant over all the other species of life on earth is nearly endless. In essence, by the end of Genesis, of all the creatures God created, mankind is best dispositioned, within the limits of God’s cosmological laws, to control his own destiny. No other species on earth . . . or elsewhere has been blessed in such a way.
    So from the time of the Bible’s composition, there hasn’t been a single thing that has ever lent serious doubt to the account of creation or God’s plan for mankind, unless, of course, we simply refuse to believe the Bible, resort to emotion, and choose to engage in theory. While there have been other opinions and arguments about earth’s creation and man’s role in the scheme of things, the biblical position has remained unchanged, consistent, and intact from its inception. What Genesis says about the creation of earth and the universe has never changed. With the Bible account, we have a source for our faith and the bedrock of our belief. Without a source of faith, all we have are emotions, sentiment, aspirations, dreams, possibilities, and flights of fancy. While there is nothing wrong with these sensibilities, they should never form the basis of our beliefs.

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith - Romans 1:17

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” - Romans 1:17

    Martin Luther was convinced that this was the lynchpin of Christianity. "This one and firm rock, which we call the doctrine of justification is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness. . .  it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us...Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls.”
    This sentiment is voiced at least three other times, in the New Testament - Habakkuk 2:4, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38. Truly, it is the bedrock of our Christianity. But exactly what does it mean?
    Prior to the birth of Christ, the Jewish nation was convinced that the only way to salvation was through works righteousness. That’s why there were so many ceremonial laws, sacrifices, and rituals within the Jewish faith. But Christ came to fulfill the Law. And upon doing so in a way that only the Son of God could, He ended the legalism associated with strict obedience and brought forth a New Covenant, one based not upon works but upon His atonement as a substitute for us sinners. After which all we need do is “live by faith” in Him. “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”- John 11:25-26.  Whoever ‘lives and believes’ shall never die.
    Ask anyone about a true believer and they will tell you that yes . . . that man or woman lives and believes what he or she says. Living and believing is the foundation of true faith. But we must look to another mark of that true faith and that mark is trust. We must trust what we live for and believe in, That is the essence of the passage - ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’
    We are facing a national emergency, a crisis of catastrophic proportions the likes of which we have never experienced in the nation. How we behave during this tragic time will be forever recorded in history. How will our reaction to this calamity paint the picture of us as a people, a civilization, a species? So in whom shall we place our lives? In whom shall we place our belief? In whom shall we place our faith? “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” - Psalm 118:8.
    As our government leaders and world leaders struggle to get a handle on this terrible virus, let us remember that God is with us even through our worst times. He is with us now and He will be with us tomorrow without fail. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4.
    Our lives should be a reflection of our belief, trust, and faith in God. If it is not, then we are neither justified nor faithful. Stripping shelves bare so that others are denied their needs during a crisis is not the way Jesus would have behaved and neither is it a way to behave for those who claim to believe in Him. Let us show ourselves as righteous by our behavior and by our conduct. To do otherwise is to show our true colors and the true content of our hearts.
    May God bless us all, bless our nation, and bless our world as we face the greatest pandemic of our time. And may we treat one another as Jesus commanded - “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 7:12.

The Genesis of Righteous Anger - 1 Samuel 11:6

   
And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. - 1 Samuel 11:6

    We often hear of people becoming angry at everything from a simply uncouth personal insult to a cultural rip current that tears across the grain of civilized decorum. We get angry at instances of injustice, criminal anarchy, and perceived government intrusion into our daily lives. But most times we display a fit of self-righteous anger and the Bible often cautions against such anger. “. . .  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” - James 1:20.
    The Bible also suggests that there are times of righteous anger. “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.” - Psalm 4:4. The caveat here is to avoid sinful anger. Perhaps we can say that for there to be righteous anger there must be
1) a wrong-doing, and
2) a feeling of compassion or empathy for the subject or victim of the wrongdoing. Certainly, we can be assured that God will not censure us for anger at an injustice any more than He would demand that we quench our compassion for a suffering human being. Again, the cautions of Holy Scripture relate not to the mere presence of anger but to the irrational and heated response it often brings.
    In Saul’s case, he was responding to the horrific threat of the Ammonites to the men of Jabesh-gilead. And it is said that “the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul.”  Even so, Saul didn’t have carte blanc to do to the Ammonites as he wished. The response from Saul and his gathered troops was measured and limited. “And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.” - 1 Samuel 11: 11. Notice there was no command from God to completely annihilate the Ammonites as per Joshua 6:21. Mind you, the goal of any battle is to win. A stalemate is often as bad, if not worse than a loss. In a fight, we must be ‘in it to win it’.
    So what are God’s criteria for righteous anger? Again, there must be a wrong-doing in the first place, a sense of compassion on the part of the ‘defender-protector’, and a pressing need for a halt of the wrongdoing at the least and a resolution on behalf of the victim at the best. As for injustices against ourselves, we may not engage in acts of revenge but we have every right to defend ourselves against evil and all its tentacles. We are sanctioned by God to stop sinful aggression and cruel violations of humanity. “Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain  is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.” - Proverbs 25:26.
    What I have written shall certainly offend many, if not most people simply because we see any affront to our well-being as a direct assault upon us. And it usually is. But as God-fearing Christians, we cannot "Cry 'Havoc!,' and let slip the dogs of war, "using Shakspeare’s words. You see, God is a jealous God and He takes very seriously any assault upon people made in His image. He is also jealous of His exclusive right to avenge. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”- Romans 12:19. We would do well to remember that before we entertain the idea of striking out with violence against anyone.  Our motive must depend upon clear and convincing evidence that they have placed others in physical danger such as an unruly crowd attempting to beat and rob a man or one country’s criminal aggression against another. God will forgive the sin of violence when engaged in the defense of the innocent. Perhaps we should all remember the words of the English Baptist minister and evangelist, F.B. Meyer- “Each of us must fight our fight against heredity, environment, and habit; against self within and Satan without. The measure of our success will be the measure of our ability to help others.”
    Clearly, we should do our utmost to avoid anger and the trappings which accompany it. But if we must get angry let us always recall,  “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.” - Psalms 37:8.

Doctrine Matters - Ephesians 4:11-12, 14

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, . . . so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. - Ephesians 4:11-12, 14.

    I hear it from people who ‘worship’ at these emerging churches. They promise attendees that ‘this is the church for people who don’t like church’. What? People, if you don’t like church, that is all the more reason you need church! I don’t like getting stitches either but if I am going to have my wounds closed, I need them. And a person who doesn’t like church needs church more than the most ardent and frequent members of the congregation.
    So these emerging churches, or as some refer to them, these ‘seeker-friendly churches’ throw away all but the most token references to the Bible. There is no fundamental exegesis of the Biblical texts and when books and verses are mentioned, they are subtly nuanced.
    The danger of such preaching, if the presentation even meets the definition of preaching, is that it implies that true Christian doctrine is not as important as praise worshiping or anecdotal storytelling which may or may not even have a basis in Scripture. These are dangerous churches to find ourselves in. My advice to anyone who has the misfortune of winding up in one of these ‘snake-charmer circuses’ is to get out and run away as fast as they can.
    We are Scripturally instructed that - “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:24. But we must be careful to correctly understand what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. American Presbyterian scholar and pastor, Ligon Duncan, explains it well -  “to worship in truth means to worship in accordance with the truth of and about Jesus — that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, and the only Savior of sinners.” Thus, to worship in the truth of Jesus Christ it is paramount that we understand Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible, not how some “mail-order minister” imagines Him to be.
    Therefore, a minister or pastor has to meet certain ecclesiastical requirements. “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”* - Titus 1:9. The pastor must be a man of God in the truest sense of the word. The words ‘sound doctrine’ appear again - “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.” - Titus 2:1. Sound doctrine; that doesn’t include presenting Sunday services in a carnival atmosphere to the cacophony of loud rock music and a light show. The true danger here is that when we do so, we are actually engaging in what is known as ‘syncretic worship’.  That means that we are taking secular or pagan religious practices and combining them with our Christian religion, which results in a bastardized form of worship. These are the waves that carry about every incorrect wind of doctrine, human cunning, craftiness, and deceitful schemes. There are many pseudo-Christian churches currently operating in 21st Century America, from your hometown ‘feel-good churches’ to the ‘health & wealth megachurches’. To find ourselves worshiping in one is no different than engaging in Voodoo, Shamanism, or Santeria. Remember, we are to worship in the truth of Jesus Christ.
    We have a clear cut and knowable method of discerning between true worship and the worship of clowns, charlatans, sorcerers, and snake charmers - the Bible! “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” - 1 John 4:1. Once again, it is incumbent upon us to know what we believe and to know why we believe it. That is why doctrine matters!
* Tabletalk Magazine; January 1st, 2005