It is well

            Music is good for the soul. I’ve been preaching a series on some of the great hymns of the faith and of our church. This has been fun for me, for as much as I love newer music (and of course classic rock), I deeply appreciate the theology and warmth of our church hymns. A couple of weeks ago I preached a sermon based on the hymn by Horatio Spafford, “It is well”.  This is probably one of my favorite hymns.

            To read the all the lyrics to this great hymn, and to read the tragic story that led to the writing of this hymn, check out this site: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-it-is-well-with-my-soul. Horatio and his wife Anna had a son die of pneumonia and then four daughters drown when the ship they were travelling on sank. And while travelling over the spot where this watery tragedy occurred, he wrote, “whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul”.

            Here is what I want us to get at today, this is the question: Is it well with your soul?

            How does somebody write those lyrics in the middle of that kind of pain? I think the truth of how that is possible is very deep, very personal, and very intimate, and is found in Psalm 34:18, “the Lord is close to the broken hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit”.

I think a key to this is to not wait until disaster strikes to look for the presence and closeness of God, but to be nearer to God every day; in prayer and Scripture reading every morning, in conversation throughout the day, in seeing how God is working in the world around you and in listening to and obeying God’s voice in your life. Day by day, minute by minute. And then, in the middle of our pain, we know that God is still present because he has been with us in every other situation, and our God is close to the broken hearted and he saves those who are crushed in spirit.

That’s why Jesus said, “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. The Message translation of this verse in Matthew 5 puts it this way: “You’re blessed when you feel that you’ve lost what is most important to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you”.

No one endured more pain and hurt than Jesus. He was falsely accused, sentenced to be flogged and then crucified. He was stripped of his clothing, lots were cast by the Roman soldiers for his garments, he was then beaten within an inch of his life, a crown of thorns was placed upon his head, he was put upon a cross and nailed to it, with spikes through his hands and his feet, he was lifted up, a sign was placed above him that said King of the Jews. And people spat on him, and they mocked him, and they said, he saved others, let him save himself now. The creation mocking the creator. That's a lot of pain. In the middle of all that physical pain, there was also the consequences, the weight, of the sins of humanity, both mine, yours, the sins of all history placed upon him. And in that moment, at about 3:00 in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why? Why have you forsaken me?”

Have you ever feel like that, you ever feel like, why, I don't get it, why is this happening?

As Horatio stood on the deck of that ship and looked at the waters where his 4 daughters drowned he could have thought that. When Jesus was on the cross and it seemed like most of humanity just didn’t care he could have thought that, too.

But Horatio said “my sin, o the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin not in part by the whole, is nailed to the cross, I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul! “

Oswald Chambers wrote that “any great calamity in the natural world, death, disease, bereavement, will awaken a man when nothing else would, and he is never again the same. We would never know the treasures of darkness if we were always in the place of placid security”

This hymn, is not about deep anguish and question, this is a hymn of great hope and expectation of what God is going to do to create a treasure in the darkness. To bring hope out of the hopeless and peace frm the turmoil

In the midst of this moment, it is well with my soul---

does that describe you?

          Because for some people today, your soul isn't well. Your soul feels broken, your spirit feels crushed. And it may seem like it’s because of external circumstances, but it can’t be. It can’t be that we suffer or go through excruciating times in our lives and that breaks our spirit. Not if Jesus is in us, not if that in all things the peace of God, our Jehovah Shalom is near to us, not if the Holy Spirit actually dwells in us to offer comfort and a peace that surpasses all understanding. As awful as things can get in life it can’t be that these things break us down because he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. Jesus said we would have problems and troubles in this world but he said, “take heart, have courage, don’t give up, because I have overcome the world”

So the issues are not what is happening to us. That’s not the problem, because God is with us through all these things. So there’s a different problem if our soul is not well.

And the problem is sin.

Every one of us have sinned. Everyone. We've missed the mark. And the penalty, cost of that sin is separation from God. That's not a fun thing to talk about, but it is truth. But it’s so important that we understand this, because it makes the good news even better. And the good news is not religion or theology, the good news is Jesus, the One who took not just part of our sin, but the whole, all of it that ever was and all of it that ever will be. And it was nailed to the cross to set us free.

So, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!

And may it be well with your soul today.

"Thank God I'm not like _______________"

So a Pharisee and a tax collector walk into a Temple…I know, this sounds like the beginning of a really bad joke. But the reality is this was how one of Jesus’ parables began. You can read the whole parable in Luke 18:9-14.

            But the point seems to be a matter of prayer. In particular, a matter of the position of our hearts when we pray.

            The Pharisee sounded ego-centric and self-sufficient in his prayer. He thanked God that he was not like other people, people who he viewed worse than him, and in any societal or religious ranking they probably were. Then he went on to remind God how good he was, what he did, and how he went above the requirements of the Law in his giving.

            And then there was the tax collector, a notorious-swindler-corrupt tax collector. Granted, he was just doing his job, but his job was part of a corrupt Empirical system that was draining the people and making the rich richer.

His prayer is “God, have mercy on me, a sinner”. That’s it. No list of his accolades. No list of his accomplishments. No reminding God how nice he had been and how naughty the other sinners were. There was no building himself up. In fact, he didn’t even look up. He couldn’t. He looked down at the ground, stood far away from everyone else in the Temple, and beat his chest as he cried out to God.

            He is not comparing himself to others like the Pharisee had done, he simply sees himself before a perfect and holy God, and realizes how far from that standard he is. How far we all are.

            That’s a pretty powerful picture of repentant prayer. I like to think that he quit his job, too. In the 2014 movie, Son of God, this scene was portrayed as Jesus telling the parable and then calling Levi (Matthew) from his tax collector booth and Levi left this lifestyle behind to follow Jesus. I think that’s a neat picture of this parable, but I don’t know if that’s exactly the historical context or not. In fact, in Luke’s gospel the calling of Matthew comes much earlier as recorded. The gospels were never meant to be chronological historical documents, but if any of them had a chronological base I think it would be the ordered and logical account of Luke.

            Here’s my point with all this today: Do you thank God you’re not like other people? This was one of the “21 Questions” of John Wesley (for more info on those questions you can visit our website under the resources tab at www.telforumc.holston.org). You can also watch a video devo for all 21 Questions on our Youtube channel.

            I know we could talk about prayer right now. We could say pray like the tax collector, not like the Pharisee.

But even there we have to be careful. C.S. Lewis wrote,

“Be careful about wanting to just pray like the tax collector, or before long you may be thanking God that you’re not like the Pharisee”.

           

So instead of just looking at this as an example of how to pray (or how not to pray), I think this has more to do with humility. It’s about having a right view of ourselves, a right view of God, and a right view of others.

            So, the question again, is “do you thank God you’re not like other people?”

            Maybe you can think of characteristics of people that you are thankful you are not like…

            Maybe you can think of names of people that you are thankful you are not like…

            Maybe you can think of nationalities, or races, or colors, of people that you are thankful you are not like…

            When we have too high a view of ourselves, or others, or even we have too low of a view of ourselves, or others, we are discrediting the creation of a perfect God. Jesus died for everyone. And He rose for everyone, too!

Thank God we are not all alike!

Thank God I am me, and thank God you are you!

And thank God that when we turn to Him with a humble and repentant heart that we are justified, and set on a path of life as works in progress following our Creator.

Thanks be to God!

           

The 3 R's

For my family the return to school signifies the end of summer. Even though it will still be in the near record high temps in August, going back to school is a signal that the sleep-in-late and no-homework relaxing days of summer are over. But, at the same time, there is a sense of anticipation for something new, moving into a new grade level, new classes and new people. Thankfully all my children kinda like school, and I thank the teachers at Jonesborough Elementary, Jonesborough Middle, and David Crockett for this. So, my two youngest are preparing to head back into high school, my middle child is heading off (way off to Austin Peay) to begin college, and my oldest son will return to ETSU.

            I will be back to work on classes for my ordination in August also, so school plays a big part in our lives right now. I was thinking about this as I was reading a Psalm this morning. I thought about all the teachers who have been so instrumental in our lives and helped create, instill, and nurture a love of learning and desire to make a difference.

            Do you remember the “3 R’s” of school? Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic? These were actually listed together by St Augustine in his autobiography, Confessions. Augustine said,

“Even now I have not yet discovered the reasons why I hated Greek literature when I was being taught it as a small boy. Latin I deeply loved, not at the stage of my primary teachers but at the secondary level taught by the teachers of literature called 'grammarians' (grammatici). The initial elements, where one learns the three Rs of reading, writing, and arithmetic, I felt to be on less a burden and an infliction than the entire series of Greek classes.”

            I came across 3 R’s in Psalm 85 that I would like to share with you today. Perhaps these will help you where you are now. Whether you are anticipating with excitement something new that is getting ready to happen in your life, or if you are looking at upcoming events or even current circumstances with a bit of dread, fear, or trepidation.

            Restore. The Psalm begins by remembering how God had restored His people in the past, and the psalmist asks the Lord to “Restore us again, God our Savior” (verse 4). There is a promise here, that if God has restored us in the past, he will do it again! Are you needing something restored to you today? Is there something that you are missing in your life, maybe a relationship, health, peace, or joy? Remember that you have not been forsaken and you are not alone. Ask God, for He is a Restoring God!

            Revive. “Will you not revive us again?” the psalmist goes on to ask (verse 6). This word means to restore back to life, consciousness, or strength, or to give new strength or energy to something. I can’t help but start humming that tune by W.P. Mackay, “Hallelujah, thine the glory, Hallelujah, Amen! Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again”. Is there something in you that needs to revived today? Or do you completely need a divine revival right now? Our God is a reviving God. He brings people from death to life every day. Ask for a revived spirit from our Lord today, and you will receive a fresh wind of His Spirit.

            Rejoice. The psalmist has asked to be restored and to be revived for a reason. And the reason is so “that your people may rejoice in you” (verse 6). We might think that the restoring and reviving is just for us, but it’s not. The purpose here, at least in this psalm, is for the people to be restored and revived in order to rejoice in the Lord, so that they might praise God for His goodness (verse 12), for His faithfulness (verse 10), for His righteousness (verse 11) for His peace (verse 8) and for His unfailing love (verse 7). That’s a whole lot to rejoice in, but that’s because our Lord has, in the words of Robert Plant, “a whole lotta love”!

            Embrace these 3 R’s today and live them out as you are embraced in the loving arms of your Lord Jesus.

Grumbling and Complaining

            In 1729 Charles Wesley was attending college at Oxford, and had begun meeting with a group of friends for prayer and Bible study. Their goal was to grow in their pursuit of holy living. To help them in this spiritual pursuit, Charles asked his brother John to join them, and John devised a series of 21 questions that they could ask each other daily or as they came together.

            The complete list of questions can be found on our website: http://holston.org/churches/telford-umc-telford-tn/resources/

            I have been doing a daily video devotional on our church’s Youtube channel where I look at one question per day and Scripture that goes along with it. The goal is to have an intentional 21 days for us to focus on our pursuit of holy living.

            21 questions in 21 days. It doesn’t sound that hard, right?

            A pursuit of holy living. That sounds like something that we should be doing anyway, right?

            The truth is that I think this is harder for us than we might think. 21 days is the amount of time that it takes an action to become a habit. And we often think of a habit as something harmful or that we need to stop. But habits can also be good, and in that case we just call them spiritual disciplines. But call them whatever you want, the point is that we are called to be holy, and to live holy lives, and this takes an intentional, focused, and Spirit driven commitment.

            Today we don’t have the space to address all 21 questions, that’s what my daily videos are for. If you want to see more of this you can visit here: https://www.youtube.com/user/telford umc

            But I would like to do today is simply look at one of the questions at random. Here is our question of the day:

Do I grumble or complain constantly?

            This should be a mute point for Christians. But the reality is that we are not immune to the temptations to grumble, argue, or complain. In fact, my United Methodist brothers and sisters, we are cornering a market on the ability to argue within our faith.

            I was talking with someone about this question recently and he asked me, “how often is ‘constantly’?” I think at that point we’ve missed the point.

“Do everything with grumbling or complaining”

-Philippians 2:14

            Everything.

            We all have bad days. We all have things right now at this very moment that we could complain about. We all have things that we could easily argue with another person about.

But why? What would be our motive in this? What would it change?

            I think the whole idea here behind this question is about our perspective. I am not denying that there are plenty of things we could complain about right now, but what I am asking, and I think John Wesley was asking with this question, is what other things could I focus on?

            A little later in Philippians, here is how Paul answered that question:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

            You can choose to grumble, complain, and argue constantly. Or, you can choose, by the peace of our Lord, not to. Let’s turn our attention toward Jesus today, and what we have to be thankful for rather than what we can complain about. Make a list today, count your blessings and name them one by one and see what God has done for you!

Here I am....send me!

As I am writing this week’s article I am sitting at Camp Bays Mountain

There is a summer camp here, and Telford UMC, the church where I serve as pastor, has sent 12 children here for the week, and I am the MIR. That stands for “Minister In Residence”. Although when the campers see me they draw it out real long so it sounds like, “MIIIIRRRRRRR”.

            It’s pretty cool to be a MIR. And this is my first time doing this. I am here to lead morning, afternoon, and evening devotions with all the campers, and to spend time with them throughout the day to build relationships.

            First, let me say that camp counselors are simply amazing people. Actually, let me draw that out real long and say that they are AAAMMMMAAAZZZIIIINNNNGGG!

            Seriously, I mean that.

            If you have the chance to send a child/grandchild/next-door-neighbor’s-child to Camp Bays Mountain, then by all means you should definitely do it! And if you have questions about it just call me.

            Our theme for this summer is “Here I am”, and the Scripture focus is Isaiah 6:8. Here is that verse:

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

            Isaiah had experienced the awe, wonder, and magnitude of a vision where he saw the throne of God, and the worship that was taking place. And among the holiness and magnificence of this moment he felt his own sinfulness and mortality.

            I know that feeling.

            I preach to people every Sunday morning, lead small group Bible studies every Wednesday night, and get many, many other opportunities throughout the week to share Jesus.

            Sometimes, my own issues are in the front of my mind. Sometimes I even have to share with people what God says about something, and my own actions are at odds with this, too.

            This is how Isaiah felt; sinful, inadequate, unworthy.

            And then he experience grace.

           

“Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for”

(Isaiah 6:7b)

            I know how that feels too!

            Jesus has atoned for my sins, my guilt.

            And what possible response could we ever have in this type of situation?

            Well, in this moment Isaiah heard God ask a question. And the question was, “Whom shall I send?”

            And there was only one possible answer for Isiah. He had experienced this overwhelming love, grace, and forgiveness in his own life. His guilt was gone. He was a new creation standing before a holy God.

            So Isaiah’s natural response was, “Here I am. Send me!”

           

            That’s our theme for our camper this week. Not only Isaiah. But we are also looking at the stories of Mary, Samuel, and Ananais.

            That’s our story, too. At least that’s my story.

            I have experienced so much love and grace and forgiveness from Jesus, that the only possible reaction that I could possibly have to this is, “here I am. Send me!”

            If you know what I’m talking about, can you be so bold as to prat that prayer with me?

            Here I am. Send me.

            So now what?

            Now, my friend, you are in the hands of a loving God. You have put His will above your own. And you are about to find your true meaning, destiny, and purpose in life.

            You have prayed a bold and trusting prayer. Let me know what God says back to you…..

A Line in the Sand

Today I went to worship at Ocean View UMC with my wife and two of our children. We are on vacation here at Oak Island, NC, and we go to Oceanview each year when we are here. Being on vacation is a great opportunity to visit another church. Being United Methodist, I find comfort in getting into a new the town and seeing the cross and flame on a sign or a church building. It's kinda like a beacon for me, guiding me, and also reminding me of the beautiful aspects of our connectionalism. So going on vacation shouldn't be a time to skip church. What a wonderful chance to get to worship with some extended family that we don't know yet, but we will be spending eternity with!

Being a pastor on vacation is a great opportunity to worship with my family, and extended family, in the pews rather than the pulpit for once. I get to sing the hymns with the rest of the body, and receive the sacrament of Holy Communion with my wife, being served by others as I reminded that, "in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven", and that the body and blood of Christ were given for me.

The preacher today was preaching a series on "Revival" from a book by United Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton. Today's topic was on holiness, and the Scripture was 1 Peter 1:15-16. Here is that passage:

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

 I love to read, and each year I bring a book or two to read while sitting on the beach. This year, ironically, I brought a book by Ken Collins, entitled, The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love & the Shape of Grace. In the book Collins outlines the major themes of our faith, and Wesley's views on them, and how his views were shaped by others.

One chapter is on sanctification, or Christian perfection.
For Wesley, we are called to grow and mature in our Christian faith, we are not supposed to stay static in our faith. Once we are saved and ask for forgiveness of our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and savior, we experience a new birth (aka "born again") and we are justified by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. As we mature into the faith we profess we are being sanctified by the grace of God.
It is a process of Christian perfection, growing in holiness. In fact, at the moment of our salvation, we are made holy before a perfect, holy, and loving God by believing in and trusting in Jesus, through the working of the Holy Spirit in us. That's a lot happening!
In 1776 Wesley wrote

"It is impossible that any retain what they receive without improving it. To use the grace given is the certain way to obtain more grace. To use all the faith you have will bring an increase of faith"

So then we are holy.
You are holy.
We don't like to use that term often, especially when we talk about ourselves. I have even heard born again Christians use terms like "sinner" to describe themselves.
Wesley would have been abhorred by this.
You have been created in the image of God. Jesus died for your sins to bring you into right relationship with God. You have asked Jesus to be the Lord of you life...and you call yourself a sinner?
Sure, that's who you were. That's who we all were. That's part of the whole "original sin" (I will write a post on that later). We need a savior, and we have one!
We were once lost, but now we are found. Blind, but now we see. Sinner, and now....saint...holy.

And yet we still sin at times. But the growing in sanctification, this process that is leading us toward Christian perfection, should be a sign of who we are. No, it should be a sign of WHOSE we are!
We are CHRISTians. We are, perhaps, the only glimpse of the goodness of God that some people might see today.
And He is holy.
And in the scripture referenced above Peter is reciting a passage from Leviticus, that God calls His people to be holy because we are His and He is holy. So the Holy Spirit is at work in us, making us holy.
Not  sinless. Although how we sin should be ever decreasing outwardly and more aware inwardly.

"Absolute perfection belongs not to man, nor to angels, but to God alone"- John Wesley

The long and short of all this is that we are called to be holy, and this means that we are being perfected in Holy Love. This is because God is love, and love is how we are showing God to the world around us.

I think sometimes we just don't do a good job showing love because of our differences. Rupert Meldinius, a German Lutheran theologian of the early 17th century, is attributed a quote that Wesley surely agreed with:

"In essentials unity. In non-essentials liberty".

I think we struggle in our own sanctification, in the growing in this holy love, because we have drawn too many lines in the sand.

 My daughter Hannah found this line in the sand today, and then she added these two words for me:
Sacred
Secular

I wonder how definitive that line is. I absolutely agree that there is a line between "lost" and "found", to use parable words of Jesus.
But I wonder if the line between what is deemed "holy", or sacred, and what is not, is more of our own making? Is the line exactly where we think it is? Or have we made the line ourselves?

I am not saying everything is holy. Sin is obviously not. I am just saying that maybe we can look for the holy in places where we might not have thought to. Maybe Jesus is at work in some unique places today. After all, He has been known to do that. And in so doing maybe He is making things and places holy because He is there.

I heard once that Jesus did not live in the "Holy Land", but rather Jesus made the "Land Holy" because He was there.

Maybe we can't drag people across the line in the sand from secular to the sacred. But maybe we can take some sacred across the line into their secular.

And maybe that is where holiness begins.

What do you want me to do for you?

Think about the last time you asked God for something. You probably don't have to think back too far. We are pretty good at that.

Now, think about how you asked God. Think about the words you used in making your request.

I have to admit, that when I am asking someone for something, even in my prayers at times, that I am pretty nice and polite.

Now, imagine this conversation:

You: "Jesus, I want you to do for me whatever I ask you".

OK, just to be real here for a minute, if anyone made that statement to me I am pretty sure they wouldn't be getting what they asked for. 

I mean, seriously, where is the respect? Where is their sense of gratitude? Even my children know if they are gonna ask me for something they need to butter me up a little bit first.

But now imagine this response:

Jesus: "Sure. What do you want me to do for you?"

Really?! That's Jesus' answer? How about reminding that person who they are talking to? Is that any way to speak to God?

But this is the conversation found in the gospel of Mark (Mark 10:35-45.)

James and John make a bold statement, and Jesus has a bold answer.

Before we get into what they asked of Jesus, and why, let's just think about the first two verses in terms of prayer.

Prayer is our conversation with God. It involves talking and listening, and the working of the Holy Spirit to help guide us in this divine conversation. Prayer is intimate, it is worship, it is a holy encounter with God.

So Jesus asks these two disciples, "What do you want me to do for you?"

This isn't the only time Jesus says something like this. In fact the next story that Mark's gospel recounts is Jesus healing a blind beggar in the city of Jericho. This was another bold and blazen 

human, who, in the presence of Jesus was shouting, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 

(Mark 10:47-48)

So Jesus, being Jesus, does not rebuke him for him boldness. Jesus doesn't remind him who he is talking to. Jesus doesn't tell him that He's busy. Instead Jesus asks him a question.

And the question Jesus asks him is "What do you want me to do for you?" (Mark 10:51)

Two separate situations. 

Once with James and John, two of the first disciples of Jesus. 

And then with a blind beggar named Bartimaeus.

But the same question.

"What do you want me to do for you?"

And if this wasn't amazing enough, Jesus isn't asking this question because He doesn't know the answer. He is asking because He wants us to know the answer. He wants us to verbalize in prayer  what we need, or to know that we really don't have a clue what we need, but we know we need Jesus. He wants us in conversation with Him, to tell our Father what is on our mind.

I am thinking Jesus hasn't changed any. In fact I know this to be true.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) 

Imagine Jesus asking you this question right now. "What do you want me to do for you?"

He is.

At this very moment, as you turn your heart and your attention to Jesus, He is waiting for you, His beloved child.

And as your eyes meet His eyes, there is a moment of peace that is greater than anything you could ever comprehend. And as Jesus smiles at you in pure and perfect love, He asks you, 

"What do you want me to do for you?"

And now, what is your answer? Go ahead and tell Him.