Reflections

I remember when David started working at Heath's Restaurant.  He was a personality full of life and humor and people liked him.  Except me.  I had too many deficiencies at the time to like many people at all.  One thing David used to do was hold the palm of his hand up to someone as if it were a mirror to remind them of how awesome they were.  He and Phillip, to my chagrin, did this back and forth with relentless consistency.  

 

David and I never became friends until years later when we were both pastors.  He honored me with an invitation to speak at his associational youth rally, yet he wouldn't be there because he was being led to a church out in New Mexico.  So I travelled up and did my best to honor his invitation and then thanked him via Facebook.  Since then I've liked some of his posts and he's liked some of mine.   

 

Though our friendship has been sparse and mostly uneventful, I was moved to tears this morning as he went in for surgery to remove a brain tumor.  Like hundreds of others, I've followed his pictures and thoughts on Facebook, and from what I can tell, he hasn't ceased to be himself one little bit.  

 

I reflected on a couple of questions this morning.  First, what has happened that has brought me to this point in life where I feel enough kinship with David to actually shed tears for him? The answer is found in the Gospel, for an astounding piece of theology is the Gospel's work of not only transforming people into brothers and sisters, but transforming them into people of compassion who are moved to bear one another's burdens.  

"For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body," --1Corinthians 12:13.   

 

Secondly, how is David able to maintain such a high watermark of composure during this trying time?  This leads us to an even more astounding truth in the Gospel.  That God himself would enter into a rebellious creation in the person of Jesus.  He would not only live the life of peace we should live, but he would experience the rejection we deserve to receive.   

 

"About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice ..., “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” --Matthew 27:46. 

 

Jesus received the divine abandonment we deserve so we could receive the eternal acceptance of God that He deserved.  Therefore when believers are tempted to think God has abandoned them, the truth of the Gospel assures us that He hasn't.   

 

I'm so thankful David is still holding up a mirror.  Yet it's not the palm of his hand, it's his peaceful spirit.  And its reflecting the goodness of a great Savior.

Revival for the Weary

            I’ve been praying and thinking about the revival meetings beginning this Sunday.  What exactly is revival and why should we desire it?  The human heart is so easily distracted as it continually latches onto whatever might contribute to its feelings of significance.  We need to believe we are OK, that we matter.  We live for our work, our kid's success, our reputation, our influence, our relationships—anything we can use to give our lives meaning.  

Our inner conversation goes something like this: “I know I matter because I’m successful.  I know my life has meaning because I live for my kids.  I know I have purpose because people respect me.  I know I’m worthwhile because someone loves me.” We can give all we have to these idols, building our lives around them, becoming a slave to them, unable to imagine life without them. 

The first problem with these sources of validation is they are notoriously unstable.  We can lose a job.  Kids can disappoint.  Reputations can be tainted, influence can diminish, and relationships can end.  And if those were the source of our identity, we won’t experience regular grief and sadness—we will feel like we can’t go on living. 

            This identity implosion and psychological despair can lead to suicide or various addictions, even violence toward whoever got between us and our functional savior.  And even though it was this idol that cursed us, we can become quite angry at God. 

            The deceptive nature of this kind of idolatry lies in one’s ability to simultaneously live very moral and even religious lives.  We can attend church, give to the poor, and lead other Christians, all the while thinking, “If only I could achieve this, then I would feel good about myself.  If only I can keep this relationship, then I will truly feel like I matter.”    

In college, my own sense of self-value was attached to academic performance.  Every exam, depending on how I did, could alter my mood for days.  My first B on a semester grade-report made me feel like a failure.  As long as I did well, I felt acceptable.

This is the glory of the gospel.  God will accept you perfectly because Jesus was rejected completely.  No need to seek validation and self-worth in our works and achievements.  When we choose to trust in Christ, we have approval and acceptance from the only One who matters. 

So how well do you know your own heart?  What do you depend on to give meaning to your life?  Whose approval comforts you as long as you have it?  What do you strive to accomplish so you can feel complete?  What is it you feel you have to get, or have to keep in order to feel acceptable?  Is it time for a revival?

            "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." --Matthew 11:28-30

Invitation to Revival

           You’re formally invited to the First Baptist Church of Allen, as we have scheduled February 16-19 as a time in which we will seek revival.  Much has been said about revivals.  Men have studied the great revivals and awakenings, trying to discern if a formula could be used to produce spiritual renewal.  Today, many still attempt different formulas to manufacture a revival, often only producing spiritual placebos.
          
            Ernest Gordon was a British soldier in World War II who was captured by the Japanese, and he was made to work with thousands of other POW’s on what was called the “Death Railroad.”  It ran along the valley of the Quai River in Thailand, conditions so awful that almost two-thousand prisoners died for every five miles of railroad built.  It got so bad, soon the prisoners were all at each other’s throats. 

Gordon writes:
            “Death was everywhere, and as conditions worsened our lives were poisoned by selfishness, hatred, and fear.  Formerly we had huddled together, believing there was safety in numbers, and still showing consideration for one another.  Now that was gone.  Existence had become so miserable, the odds so heavy against us, that nothing mattered except to survive.  We lived by the rule of the jungle, red in tooth and claw.  It was a case of, ‘I look out for myself, and to hell with everyone else.’  But one afternoon something happened.  A shovel was missing at the end of the day.  The officer in charge became enraged, demanding the missing shovel be produced or else.  When no one in the squadron had volunteered taking the shovel, the officer took out his gun and threated to shoot everyone on the spot.  Suddenly one man stepped forward.  “I took it,” he said.  The officer put away his gun, took a shovel and beat the man to death.  But at the second tool check, no shovel was missing.  The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp, ‘An innocent man had been willing to die to save everyone else.’  The incident had a huge effect.  We began to treat each other like brothers.  Another man was caught trading with the locals for medicine for a dying comrade, and was sentenced to death.  But he submitted to it, reading from a little Bible, then cheering up the chaplain right before his execution.  Death was still with us, no doubt about that.  But we were being slowly freed from its destructive grip.”

            It was sacrificial love, one man giving his life for others that changed independent survival into brotherhood.  And that was just a human being.  The Son of God gave himself for you.  Jesus Christ stepped forward and was beaten into the ground to save us from our sins.  When seeking revival, that’s the only formula that matters. 

 

            Please, I invite you join us.