"To Him be glory forever": 2018

Sunday, December 30, 2018

"Stay into it"

Kat's birthday was this past week and as part of the celebration we took her and the boys to see a movie. Before the movie started we sat through some ads, including one for Diet Coke. The man in the ad was fond of a particular flavor of Diet Coke, saying he was "into it" and that he drank it "because I can." and then he said the words that really caught my attention, "Whatever you're into, stay into it."

Now I don’t believe that he, or any of the many other people involved in putting the ad together, meant anything malicious in what he said. He was simply recognizing that there is a broad diversity in things that people might enjoy, and encouraging us to keep enjoying whatever it might be that we are particularly fond of. For him, it was a flavor of Diet Coke. For me, it might be running, or green chile cheeseburgers. For you it might be watching your favorite football team, or hanging out with your grandchildren. Know it. Pursue it. Enjoy it. Repeat.

It may have been unintentional, but the phrase, "whatever you're into, stay into it," expressed an increasingly popular belief, which is that all things are relatively equal. And taking that logic a step farther, all things are relatively morally neutral. They aren't good, or bad, but all things are basically equal and oaky. And this is where Christians, in particular, need to practice wisdom.

On the surface there may not be anything necessarily wrong with his message. But the phrase, "whatever you're into, stay into it," when considered a bit more deeply, can lead us to believe that there are no real problems with anything that we enjoy. Considered biblically, it is the kind of thinking that sets us up to be our own gods and live in rebellion to the One True God. And that is a recipe for disaster.

We don’t have to think very long or hard to come up with some of the things that we, or people we know, might "be into" that are actually quite destructive to ourselves, our families and our community. Some of these things are legal and some are not. Some of these things might be allowed in one family and forbidden in another. Once my older son wanted to do something to which I said "no." He then said "So-and-so's parent let him do it," to which I answered, "I'm not so-and-so's dad."

God, in his goodness, shows us where to find wisdom as we follow him. In Mark 12:29-30 Jesus says,

"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

When we look at our preferences through the lens of loving the Lord with all we have, we can begin to see if the things we enjoy are also things that fall within the boundaries where God would have us live. Knowing that his boundaries are good, and living within them, are great ways to both love the Lord, and to love our neighbor as well. More than anything else, those are the best things for the Christian to "be into."

Friday, December 7, 2018

Just A Word Or Two

Last night we went to the Christmas concert for our daughter's choir. She sings in a middle school girls choir, and so there were 15 girls, ages 10-14 singing a variety of Christmas songs. The program also included a few songs by an adult quartet, and a few songs by a soloist.

The songs, by all the different groups, were a mix of what the soloist referred to as "sacred and secular." That meant that some were of a explicitly religious nature, like Angels We Have Heard On High, while others were not, such as White Christmas.

At one point the girls and the soloist sang together, with a medley that included Go Tell It On The Mountain. Do you know that song? It starts with the chorus, which is:

"Go, tell it on the mountain,
over the hills and everywhere.
Go, tell it on the mountain
that Jesus Christ is born."

Except that wasn't what was sung. The soloist sang this part, and the words he sang were these:

"Go, tell it on the mountain,
over the hills and everywhere.
Go, tell it on the mountain
that a little baby is born."

Did you catch the difference? "Jesus Christ" was changed to "little baby." Just a two-word change, but it makes all the difference in the meaning of the song.

There is virtually no end to the little babies that have come into the world. I was a little baby. You were a little baby. My kids were little babies. Everyone I see on Facebook was a little baby. Everyone who ever lived in the history of the world started as a little baby.

We can get excited about babies, particularly those we are close to for one reason or another. But for the most part there is little particular reason that a broad group of people should get excited over any particular baby.

But the author of the song had one particular baby in mind, the baby Jesus. He was the baby whose life made a singular difference in the world. No other baby grew into an adult and left a mark on the world like Jesus did.

This week I'm preaching from John 6:60-71, where in verses 68-69 Peter responds to a question from Jesus by saying:

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

I don’t know who made the change in the lyrics for the concert. The arranger of the song, the soloist, the choir director, or someone else. But I do know that the name of Jesus Christ is one that makes a difference in the world, a difference unlike any other.

May this Christmas season be one where, if you already have faith in Jesus, that you treasure his name. And if you don’t have faith may this be the time in which you learn who he truly is and the receive the love that he has waiting for you.

A little baby is nice, but there has never been, and never will be, a baby like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Snow and God's glory

"Where is the snow?" I was asked that question by one of the members of our church as I visited her at home on Thursday afternoon. It has been a dry year in Dulce, ever since last winter. For most of the year the fire danger was "very high," and rivers in the area ran on the low side. On the reservation we had daytime restrictions on water usage and there was a ban on burn permits, so that we couldn’t even have a campfire when we had mission groups here. One friend who works as a guide during the hunting season said that animal quality was down this year, as the dry conditions affected animal growth. We've only been here five years and can't claim expertise in understanding the regional weather, but we've learned that winter snowfall is really important, and it makes a difference throughout the remainder of the year. Indeed, Where is the snow?

Less than 12 hours later we were getting an answer to that question. By the time it stopped falling Friday afternoon we had 6 inches on the ground, and another 2 inches fell by Saturday morning. I have no idea how long it will last on the ground but when it starts to melt some will run into, and begin to fill, the many reservoirs and stock ponds on the reservation and in the area. Yesterday, today, and certainly tomorrow everywhere a person looks they will see evidence of the snow. For December 1st, it’s a good start.

This morning I read the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. In 2:14 he writes:

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

This is a statement that tells that one day the whole world will see the glory of God. God's chosen people, who in Habakkuk's day are the people of Judah, as well as God's enemies, who as seen in this prophecy are the Chaldeans. The day is coming where there will be no place where the knowledge of the glory of God will not be clearly evident.

That's what the snowfall reminded me of this morning as I read Habakkuk. Believe in God or not, the day is coming when all will see and know his glory. Here in our part of New Mexico we need snow. My personal preference would be that it falls in such a way as to leave the roads clear for driving and running, and the sidewalks clear so that I don’t have to shovel. But it doesn’t work out that way in real life. Right now, with the temperature a bit below freezing, it is everywhere.

Do you see evidence of the glory of God in the place where you live? While the knowledge of the glory of God is good, it isn't enough. What a person needs, what every person needs, is saving faith in God, as brought to the world in the person of Jesus. The gap between a holy God and a fallen sinner is infinite. It is a distance that we can only cross by being carried in the arms of Jesus. When we repent of our sin and trust in Jesus for salvation, he carries us over that gap. May you see and respond to the glory of God today, by embracing Jesus as your Savior. Amen

Friday, October 26, 2018

Making Progress

Last week I spent some time out of town. First I went to Albuquerque to go to a preaching workshop, and then I went to Denver for a meeting of people from the Native American congregations in the RCA.

Early in the preaching workshop each person their shared their name, where they were from , and how many times they had attended the workshop. There were some newcomers, as well as people who were present for the seventh time. And then we were reminded of the overall goal of the workshop, which was that we would "make progress" as preachers. Everyone there, including people who had preached for over 25 years, nodded in agreement. We all agreed that each of us had room to improve as we study, understand, and proclaim, God's word.

And then it was on to Denver, where the theme of our gathering had to do with "making disciples who make disciples." Behind that idea is the idea that all followers of Jesus are disciples, people who see Jesus as not just Savior and Lord, but also as the teacher who shows them how to live rightly as God's children. And with that there is also the idea that as we grow as disciples we also help other people to grow as disciples.

Being a disciple is not something that has a fixed end point. No one learns everything or does everything just right in following Jesus. But being a disciple is something that has much in common with the goal of the preaching seminar, which is that over time we should "make progress."

Writing to Timothy, Paul gave him some words of warning and then gave him these words that can continue to guide and encourage us today. In 1 Timothy 6:11 Paul writes:

"Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness."

When we read the book of Acts we can see the amazing transformation that Paul went through as he came to salvation and then followed Jesus for the rest of his life. As we read the letters he wrote that became part of the Bible we can see how much he learned along the way, and then how he passed that learning on to congregations that he knew were in need of it. And writing to Timothy late in his life, a man Paul had personally trained, he continued to provide Timothy with direction and encouragement as Timothy followed Jesus.

The words that Paul gave to Timothy continue to guide and encourage us today, as we follow Jesus here in Dulce. As we pursue, or seek to grow in the things Paul has listed, we grow as disciples of Jesus. We "make progress," bit by bit by bit. Sometimes the progress is rapid. Sometimes it is painfully slow. And sometimes it comes through experiences that we would rather never having had to go through.

But the end result is that we are shaped a little bit more to be like the One we serve, learning lessons that we can share with others along the way. May this next month, and every one that follows, be one where you "make progress" as a disciple of Jesus. Amen.

(Our kids are working on making a movie. In the picture above they are "making progress" in building the set and working out the scene.)

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Being Held Accountable

Our daughter got herself into a bit of trouble last week. As a result there were some consequences, one of which was no TV until a particular thing had been made right.

Last night she asked if she could watch the end of her show. "There are only 15 minutes left." As the consequence for the trouble we had given her a particular project to complete, and when it is done she gets her TV privileges back. She's been working diligently and making progress, and so last night she asked for TV, thinking that she was close enough.

I reminded her of the project and asked if it was finished. Hearing "No" I said that nothing has changed. The project gets finished before the TV goes back on.

This morning I took a few moments to explain my reasoning to her. If I err as a parent with discipline, it is in having a soft touch. If I think the lesson has been learned, or at least as well as possible at the moment, I will often back off from the original decision. This morning I explained to her that I felt last night, and still did this morning, that she needed to be held fully accountable for what had happened and its consequences. She needed to learn that in "real life" when our actions have adverse results we often have to accept the consequences to the very end.

A bit later in the morning, when this conversation was percolating in my mind, I began to think about the similarities, and dissimilarities, between how I handled our daughter, and how God handles our sin.

All sin, no matter how great or small as it may seem from our point-of-view, is an offense against a God who is holy, righteous and just. These aspects of God demand that sin be dealt with by God. A god who lets sin slide is neither righteous nor just, and consequently not much of a god. The God of the Bible is holy, righteous and just, all the time, and so he must deal with sin, and he does. But this is where things begin to get interesting.

God could simply punish all sin. This punishment would be eternal, as a finite creature has sinned against an infinite God. The least sin and the greatest sin would demand this punishment. In a sense, this is simply being held accountable.

However, things aren't quite that simple, because God is also a God of mercy and grace. God offers to forgive sin, and let a substitute take the punishment that his justice demands. But forgiveness is conditional, and the condition is believing that God's Son, Jesus, laid down his life to take a person's sin, be it mine, your's, or the sin of anyone else. This, in its own way, is also being held accountable, with the difference being that someone else is held accountable for our sin, taking it's punishment on himself and exchanging our sin for his righteousness.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul writes it this way:

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

The day is coming when each person will stand before God, and hear the sentence that their sin deserves. Will it be "guilty" as you stand, or try to, on your own righteousness, or will it be "not guilty" as you stand clothed with the righteousness the comes by faith in Christ as your Savior and Lord?

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

The News Cycle

Last week there was an issue in the news that seemed to get under peoples skin. Opinions, strongly held and expressed with great emotion, were shared on both sides of the issue. And then on Saturday a decision was reached that was irreversible, and the issue was over. Celebration on one side, smoldering embers of dismay on the other side. And then it was Sunday morning.

A friend of mine who preaches posted this to her Facebook page Sunday morning:

"If your pastor doesn't preach on _____ issue, listen anyway.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit is on a different page from the 24 hour news cycle."

When I first came to faith I was attending a church where there was a strong element that expected the issues of the day or week to be addressed from the pulpit. One Sunday, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend in 2005, the pastor preached on the idea of vocation, particularly that people might consider their own life and the possibility that God was calling them from their current vocation to a more intentional way of serving him.

That sermon brought out a bit of outrage within that element expecting the news to drive the sermon, because it was the Sunday after hurricane Katrina had devastated the southeast, and New Orleans in particular. However in my case that sermon was the spark that moved the idea of going to seminary from being dormant to being pursued. The effects of that sermon unfolded and one thing led to another, eventually bringing my family and I to the place we are presently at, living on a reservation and serving a church here.

Funny thing is, I don’t have any idea what the scripture text was that Sunday. At the time I doubt it really mattered to me. The scripture was the scripture and the sermon was the sermon. Any connection between them may well have struck me as mere coincidence. Now, however, I understand that scripture and the sermon are intrinsically connected. It is the scripture that drives the sermon, and not the other way around. Or any other way around.

To take my friend's thought a step further, the Holy Spirit and the news cycle operate from completely different worldviews. The news cycle says "This issue is absolutely important to every single person on earth!"

The Holy Spirit says:

"The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!"[1]

and:

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."[2]

and:

"For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."[3]

and:

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."[4]

And many, many more things as well. You get the picture.

The news cycle lives with the seemingly urgent, while the Spirit always advances the eternal. As a preacher, if they happen to intersect on a particular Sunday, fine. And if not, that's fine too.

Last Sunday I preached from John 6:1-15. This coming Sunday I'll preach from John 6:16-21. In both cases those pieces of scripture had, or will have, something powerful to say to the people gathered for worship. The following Sunday will be John 6:22-29. At this point I don’t know how those verses will apply to my congregation, but I trust that the Spirit will give me guidance in understanding the text and its meaning to the people here on the reservation.

The news cycle constantly changes. But the Spirit reminds us that:

"All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever."[5]

[1] Psalm 97:1

[2] Matthew 11:28

[3] 1 Corinthians 2:2

[4] Romans 10:9

[5] 1 Peter 1:24-25

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Better Than The Alternative?

A good friend and I are hatching a plan to run the Boston marathon in 2020. I'll confess that it is his idea, and a bit more sane of an idea than the last running adventure we did together. That one was my idea, to run four marathons in four days, which we did back in December, 2016. In both cases it wasn’t stated but I believe that the underlying assumption was that we aren’t getting any younger, and so it is high time to take a chance and do something different.

Take a chance. On one hand, what is the chance, or the risk? Between us we have over 85 years of experience running, over 250,000 lifetime miles, and over 120 marathons. We should be able to do Boston in our sleep, although if asleep we'd miss all the excitement! The chance is the qualifying standards.

The Boston marathon has had qualifying standards for maybe 40 years. When I was training for my first marathon, in 1982, my number one goal was to reach the Boston standard for my age group. It took me two more years to make that standard, and another few years to find my groove as a marathoner. I didn't have aspirations to run Boston but if I ever did, qualifying would not be a problem.

Skip ahead to 2018 and with the 2020 Boston marathon just over the horizon it turns out that qualifying is becoming part of the equation in getting there. My friend ran a marathon last weekend and as he told me about it he lamented the seemingly increasing loss of speed with every passing year. Solace was found in the fact that while his recent marathon was one of the slowest he's ever run it did make the Boston standard. Barely. Even better, it falls within the window for qualifying in 2020, and at that time he will be in an age-group with a slower standard, meaning that right now he is in not by seconds, but by nearly 15 minutes.

And my problem is that I'm coming off an injury, just about the worst one I've ever had, and where it is much too soon to tell if my body will handle the marathon distance, let alone be able to produce a Boston qualifying time.

But hey, I'm still running. That's better than the alternative, right?

That would seem to be the conventional wisdom. That virtually anything that goes on and still allows a person to draw breath is better than death. Conventional, but not biblical, wisdom.

Paul talks about these alternatives a bit in 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 8 says:

"Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord."

Just two choices for the Christian. Life in this body, or life in the very presence of the Lord. And when we look at what the Bible has to say about the glories of heaven, they are nothing less than spectacular. Isaiah in the throne room of God. Ezekiel and the glory of the Lord. And John, in Revelation, with his own vision of God's throne.

The very last part of the Belgic Confession says it this way:

"The Son of God will profess their names before God his Father and the holy and elect angels; all tears will be wiped from their eyes; and their cause—at present condemned as heretical and evil by many judges and civil officers—will be acknowledged as the cause of the Son of God.

And as a gracious reward the Lord will make them possess a glory such as the human heart could never imagine.

So we look forward to that great day with longing in order to enjoy fully
the promises of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord."

Life here better than the very presence of God? In even the most glorious of human circumstances there is no comparison. None at all.

Not that I am seeking an end to my human life as I hurry off to the direct presence of my faithful Savior and Lord. He has certainly given me plenty to do at the present! But understanding the future glory promised to all who have faith in Jesus gives me a clearer view of what the alternative to human life really is. It lets me live today with changes that I may not be crazy about,(and of which a slower running speed is relatively mundane!) knowing that one day, on God's timing, he will bringing me to what Paul, so simply and beautifully calls, home. Amen.

Sunday, September 30, 2018

No Comparison

Last Sunday morning I was reading from the psalms before we gathered for worship. I was following my ordinary plan for reading through the Bible this year and among the readings for that day was Psalm 77. The title my Bible gives to that Psalm is "In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord" and that title fairly accurately sums up the psalm. In the first nine verses we see that the psalmist is in some kind of trouble, and he wonders aloud what God is going to do about it. He wonders if he will ever again know God's favor, or said otherwise, God's kindness and blessing towards him. He wonders if God has forgotten him, or perhaps if God is so angry towards him that God has abandoned him.

But then there is a shift. The psalmist remembers what he knows to be true of God and begins to praise God for these things. He praises God for his mighty deeds in the past, and for the ways in which God's power has been revealed to the peoples of the world. And the psalmist asks this question in verse 13:

"What god is great like our God?"

That question froze me in my tracks. It is a question whose answer is obvious, in that there is absolutely no comparison between any other god in the world and the God of the Bible. What god? Absolutely no other god is great, or anything else, like the God of the Bible.

There are many gods in the world, although perhaps we rarely call them that. They are all the things that we bow down to and make priorities in our lives, at the expense of devoting ourselves to the God of the Bible. Hobbies, sports, families, jobs. These are just a few things that quickly come to mind that we might pursue with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, to borrow from Jesus in Mark 12:30. Addictions and dysfunctional emotions also find service as gods.

To all outward appearances our god may seem to be relatively good, or they might be things that everyone around us recognizes as bad, even harmful. We may have multiple gods, worshiping one at one particular moment and a different one at another moment. But the one thing they all share in common is that they lead us away from the One True God, the God revealed to Israel in the days of the Psalms and Old Testament, the God made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.

If you can look upon Jesus and see your Savior and your Lord, then you know, in a very personal way, the same God that the psalmist looks to in his prayer. And that God, in his mercy, frees us from all the false gods we worshiped in the past.

We will still struggle with sin, giving our attention, and at times even our devotion, to those gods, but our case is not hopeless. The grasp of Jesus on his children is firm and he promises that on the last day we will be with him. Every chain that every false god uses, even today, to hold us will be broken and we will rest, truly and deeply, in the arms of Jesus.

What god is great like our God? No god is, and for that we thank and praise the Lord Jesus Christ.

Friday, September 21, 2018

Always On Watch

Cats are really, really good at taking naps. Here is an "action" shot of two of the three cats in our home. The one in the foreground is our latest addition, Shiny, whose mom is our outside cat. Shiny is five months old, so more properly a kitten. She is active and playful, but appears to have found a mentor as she moves from being a kitten to an adult cat. I imagine that our indoor cats nap, or sleep, 22-23 hours a day, with the majority of their "waking" hours being used to move from one of their favorite nap locations to another.

In the past few weeks I have found myself reading Psalm 121 during a number of pastoral visits. I initially used it when visiting someone and having the thought during the visit of reminding them, from God's word, where the help they needed in a trying time could be found. Psalm 121:1-2 has the answer:

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."

Those words were the right ones at that particular time. But the psalm continues to speak of another great truth of God, which in those visits, and also the funeral I preached this week, also needed to be spoken. Verse 3-4 say:

"He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."

Hard times come in our lives. We wonder what is going on. We wonder how we will great through a particular moment. We wonder what the next day will bring.

But at the very same time, we who look to Jesus as Savior and Lord can go through those hard times, can live with those wonderings, knowing that God is on watch. He does not slumber or sleep. He doesn't take a nap. He doesn't go for a cup of coffee or check his Facebook.

He does what he always does, which is to hold all things in his hands at all times. He watches over each of his children with the same diligence. He does not slumber or sleep, ever. And in this I believe that his children can take great comfort. We may not understand the difficulties or worries of life at a particular moment, but God does, and he is watching over us at each moment of our lives.

Unlike our cats, the Lord is always on watch, and that is a good thing, one that is not merely comforting to us, but also to his glory. Amen.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Riding Out The Storm

"And he huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the house down."

This week, weather permitting, we are going camping for one night. I say "weather permitting" because when we did this trip last year we spent the night inside a tent while a ferocious thunderstorm raged around us. Wind, rain, thunder and lightning. The whole works, seemingly dialed up to "11." We might have left, except for the fact that we dared not go out into that weather until it passed by, and when it did there wasn't a really reason to leave. We may have been a bit damp, but it was relatively tolerable inside the tent.

When we awoke in the morning and took a look around camp, everyone else seemed to have survived just fine. Not just the group of people camping with us, but everyone else from town who was camping out at that time. Because the occasion was a particular tribal festival there were, literally, several thousand people in the general area. Some traveled back-and-forth to town, but many others came ready to stay for all four days of the festival.

Accommodations varied. Nylon tents like ours. Army-style canvas tents. Campers. Tipis. Lots and lots of tipis. But, as best I could tell, everything was standing. Nothing had been blown down or washed away.

The memory of last year's trip came to mind as I read from Second Corinthians this morning. 2 Corinthians 5:1 says:

"For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

The picture attached to this post is from the parsonage we live in, which is probably the most solid house I have ever called home. It was built in 1914 from adobe, and the walls are about one foot thick, with 8 inches of that being solid adobe brick. If we had been inside our house during last year's storm my reaction would probably have been one of thinking "quite a storm out tonight" before quickly going back to sleep. We live in a solid house, one that offers considerably more protection in dangerous weather than our tent does, but which still could fail in the "right" circumstances. But God offers to all a dwelling that will never be destroyed.

Human life is fragile and transient, subject to all manner of things that might threaten to bring it to harm. Illness, accident, old age. None of us are immune. For each of us the day will come when our life will end. We may see it approaching and be able to take action to put if off a bit, such as feeling something wrong in our body, seeing a doctor, and finding out that we have a bad, but treatable, cancer. And so we take the cure and continue on for a time. Or the end may come in a completely unexpected way. An incident or accident that could neither be anticipated or avoided.

In writing the Corinthians, Paul reminds them, or perhaps teaches them, that in the transient nature of human life, God offers eternal security. Life can be like a storm sometimes. A storm that may seem to have no end. Life will huff, and sometimes puff with a force we never thought possible. And yet, even if it takes away every material thing we own, even if it takes away our very life on this earth, we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will never be taken from him. Amen.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

The Book That Rewrites Us

Yesterday morning was the time I had blocked out to write Sunday's sermon. Of all the things I do as a pastor, preaching God's word is the most time consuming. The actual act of preaching on Sunday morning only takes 25-30 minutes, but the preparation is another matter. Prayer, study, thinking, writing, editing and reviewing takes time. I only mentioned each of the basic parts once but prayer takes place repeatedly, and the thinking/editing/reviewing parts are also often repeated along the way to Sunday morning.

I have learned through experience that getting the greater part of my sermon done early in the week is the best way to be prepared for any of the myriad unplanned things that might occur before the next Sunday. Whenever possible, I try to have a draft of my sermon done on Tuesday, and so I try to approach each work week with the intention to spend several hours, either in the morning or afternoon, either Tuesday or Wednesday, writing my basic sermon.

So yesterday morning I had my Bible, my study notes and some blank sheets of paper, and sat down to write. I thought I had a basic understanding of the biblical text, John 5:9-18, and a goal for the congregation in the proclamation of that text. I had a rough outline, a sheet of paper labeled "Introduction," and…

And I just couldn’t figure out how to begin. I had an idea of the destination but struggled to figure out how to start the journey. One of the first books I read after graduation seminary was a most excellent book on preaching. There were things I learned in that book that I have used since my first days in Dulce. One lesson, however, never took. That was the idea that a sermon body should be written first, with the introduction and conclusion written last. I've just never been able to put my sermon together that way, and, frankly, I've never been inclined to change my method from what seems to work well for me. Start at the Introduction and keep going to the end of the Conclusion.

And so I thought of beginning one way. Wait, that won’t work. Instead, begin this way. Nope, that isn't right either. Gotta start somewhere, somehow, but where? How?

After a few minutes of mental wrestling with several introduction ideas it occurred to me that in the past few months I have done a fair amount of rewriting in the editing and reviewing phases, so just start writing and if I am completely off base when all is done, then just come back and rewrite the intro. No big whoop.

And then I thought, that's what the Bible does to me as I spend time in it. It rewrites me.

It convicts me of sin and invites repentance. It deepens and strengthens my understanding of God. It encourages me in seeking to know God's will at this point in my life, and then to trust him as my life conforms to his will. And it does so much more.

God will use the Bible in the same way with you. As you spend time in it, you will be changed. Bit by bit, sometimes easily, and sometimes with great internal discomfort, as you read, study and pray God's word, God will be rewriting you.

To borrow from Augustine, "take up and read," so that God can shape you into a person conformed more and more in his image, to his eternal glory. Amen.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

PreacherMan's "Aha!" Moment

Today's big project was to outline and write a draft of my sermon for this coming Sunday. My text is John 5:1-9, and being the first Sunday in September it marks the beginning of my sixth year as a preacher. There is someone here in town who knows me a bit. I don’t know if he knows my name, because he always calls me PreacherMan, but I don’t mind, as it makes for what I think to be an honorable nickname.

Five full years in the pulpit means something on the order of 250+ sermons. I'm supposed to get four Sunday's off a year, so that would make a bit fewer than 250, but I've also done 52 funerals, and so that increases the number. There is a saying that it takes 100 sermons for a person to figure out what they are doing in the pulpit, and I think in my case it was quite a bit more than that.

Preaching is a task that I approach with a method, although my method is not static and is continually being adjusted. Some of those adjustments come in a moment of insight, and some come more deliberately, as I read preaching books and magazines, attend preaching workshops, and learn from a variety of online resources.

All of which is to say that today, while I was pretty far along on next Sunday's sermon, I had an "Aha!" moment. In that moment it occurred to me that Pastor Brad, aka PreacherMan, has a basic sermon, which is this:

· People are sinners
· There is a Savior
· Know this Savior as your savior

Things vary a bit at this point, depending on the text and/or circumstances, generally being either:

· Serve this Savior, or
· Find comfort and peace in this Savior

So, there you have it. Not saying that your preacher should pass through the same places I do time after time, but as I think about it and think of what some of the really outstanding preachers I've had the chance to learn from over the past five years consistently and persistently do, I'll take it. And may God be glorified in the proclamation of His word.

Monday, August 27, 2018

Tithing

Tithing. According to my dictionary it is "the practice of giving one-tenth of one's property or resources to support a religious institution as a response to God's blessings." We would all agree that it is good to give back to God, but a tenth of what we have received? Who's idea is that? Turns out that it is God's idea. We first see tithing mentioned in the Bible in Leviticus 30:30,

"Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord."

Moses goes on to say that animals are also to be tithed, ending the book of Leviticus saying,

"These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai."

Whoa! That's the Old Testament. We follow Jesus and live in the days of the New Testament, and Jesus never talked about tithing.

Well…that’s not exactly true. In Matthew 23:23 he said,

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."

As Jesus called out the hypocrisy of the Pharisee's he noted how they followed God's law as far as tithing went, but they thought it was totally fine to neglect God's call over all parts of their lives.

Going a step farther, Jesus very clearly upheld the both the attitude and practice of giving generously, even sacrificially, to the work of God. In Luke 21:1-4 he watches a woman put all she has into the offering box, and says,

"Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

My own understanding of the Bible would say that as a matter of law, tithing is no longer required. It was a law for the Old Testament nation of Israel, given to them through Moses. But that country ceased to exist when they were conquered and carried into exile by Babylon. All of those laws were valid for a time, and that time has passed. But the question of how much we should give towards the work of God and his church is a valid one. At the very least, the idea of tithing confronts us with the question: Am I honoring God in the way I receive and use the gifts he has given me?

When I first became a Christian it seemed natural that I would give to the church. The offering plate would be passed and I would open my wallet and put something into it. Then I joined the church I was worshipping at and they invited people to make a pledge as to how much they would give. This was basically a promise that over the course of a year I would give what I had pledged. Every year I increased my pledge, as I was only giving a small percentage of what I earned, and I could see that I viewed my money as "mine," rather than as something I received from God. Over time, increasing the percentage of my pledge changed the attitude of my heart.

When Robin and I married we made tithing our practice from the beginning. We value the work of the church, and we desire to do our share in supporting it. I invite you to ask yourself this question, as you consider your giving to the Lord: Am I honoring God in the way I receive and use the gifts he has given me?

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

No Ordinary Shepherd

This morning's bible reading was from the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah…the prophet of doom and gloom. Much of his book is filled with telling people things they don’t want to here, particularly the people of God. He is upfront in speaking to them of their persistent disobedience to God, calling them to turn back to God before it is too late.

Too late? Too late for what?

Too late to avoid receiving from the hand of God the consequences of their disobedience. Consequences that will take shape in their defeat and exile, as God uses the enemies of God's people for God's own purposes.

But when it comes to Jeremiah and unpopular things to say, as the TV announcer used to proclaim, That's not all! Jeremiah also speaks God's judgment on those enemies. This morning I read Jeremiah 47-50, with judgment declared against the Philistines, against Moab, against Ammon, and, in chapter 50 against Babylon, the granddaddy of Old Testament bogeymen.

As chapter 50 was drawing to a close, in the midst of judgment against Babylon, a phrase in verse 44 literally jumped out at me,

"What shepherd can stand before me?"

On the one hand, that’s a rhetorical question. Facing the power of God, no shepherd could stand against God. No shepherd, no pastor, no president, no Babylonian, no nobody.

Perhaps the greatest showdown with a shepherd in the Bible was when David faced Goliath. Goliath, seemingly invincible, mocked anyone who dared approach him in combat. But David, the shepherd, had the edge, being God's man and on God's mission.

On the one hand Jeremiah's brief question is a rhetorical one, but on the other hand…

On the other hand we turn to David, again, but this time to his words in Psalm 23. From the opening words of "The Lord is my shepherd…" through the ending of "…and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever" we see a shepherd unlike any other. We see a shepherd who faithfully cares for his sheep, guarding and guiding them through all of life.

As we read Psalm 23 today in the light of God's full self-revelation in the Bible we see Jesus as the fulfillment of David's psalm. And then we read John 10:11, where Jesus says:

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

There is a shepherd who can stand before God. A shepherd who can stand before God because he is God's ordained shepherd of God's people.

With saving faith in Jesus we can read Jeremiah's question and no that no ordinary shepherd can stand before God. And we can also know that as God's dearly loved children, we are shepherded no ordinary Shepherd.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

New Creation

Someone I know has a bit of a problem. She is a Christian, now, but in the past she lived and acted in ways that were very un-Christian, and people who remember that are bringing it to her attention. At least that is what I understand her problem to be. I'll confess that I know her, but not well. I met her, at least once, sometime since we moved to Dulce, but outside of knowing some of the people she is related to I would be unable to tell you anything about what she was like then.

More recently, I have seen her at least three times in the last month. Our conversation wasn't anything substantial, and so I could only tell a person a bit more than I could have several years ago. I do know where she goes to church, and between that fact and something I saw on Facebook I could tell anyone who cared to know that she is a new creation. She is the same person, with the same body, and the same family, but at the same time she is a totally different person. This change is true of anyone who places their faith in Jesus.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 the apostle Paul puts it like this:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Not only did this person live and act in ways that were un-Christian before she came to faith, but everyone who calls on Jesus as their Savior and Lord did the very same thing. The specifics might have varied, but their effect was basically the same: To live as the god of our own life, rather than to live with faith in the Lord Jesus.

That difference is lost on those who don't love Jesus. When we have faith we can't wash away our past sins. Sometimes the things we did in the past have downstream consequences that will last until the day we die. But the truth of the Bible is that by faith in him, Jesus has removed the guilt and the punishment due those sins.

We still live in the world, with the memories of our past. We will continue to struggle with sin. But our identity is no longer as sinners and rebels against God. Our identity is as children of God, who has made us a "new creation," so that we can joyfully live changed lives as his children. And, perhaps, those changes will begin to show our old friends the love that Jesus will also freely give to them. Amen.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Today Is Not The Day

Five years ago today I retired from Mayo Clinic. Retired! What a wonderful word! What a wonderful "goal" to reach! I retired, but I wasn't exactly retired.

I had worked at Mayo Clinic as an occupational therapist for 27 years. 27 good years in a career that was rewarding and where I worked with many great people, both patients and co-workers, along the way. But as July, 2013 came to an end it was time to move on. In 2011 I had finished a Masters of Divinity degree and for two years I had been seeking a church to serve as a pastor. In early July things fell into place, as I received and accepted a call to serve in Dulce, New Mexico as the pastor of the Jicarilla Apache Reformed Church. And so I retired.

In leaving one vocation for another my retirement was more a matter of semantics than fact. I was of an age and had accumulated sufficient years of employment at Mayo that I could "retire" rather than resign. The two benefits were being able to keep Mayo for my health insurance, and having Mayo host a party on my last day. I was still the primary breadwinner for my family, and we needed to eat. So late in August Robin, Kat and I moved to New Mexico to begin the next chapter of life.

One of the things that has become a habit of mine here is to have an eye set towards the ground as I walk around the church property. I am frequently finding nails and broken glass on the ground, even five years later. The picture on top is from when I set a lawn chair out yesterday to do a bit of reading. As I sat down I saw a nail right in front of the chair. Robin has heard me say, more than once, that the day I don’t find nails or glass in the yard is the day it is time to leave the ministry in Dulce. I found a nail yesterday, and for me that is close enough to know that today is not the day to start packing.

More seriously, there are a number of reasons that after five years in, it is not time to go. Not time as far as we can figure it out, that is. We trust in God and that whatever our ideas may be, in the end he will make it clear when that day comes.

When we came to Dulce it was with the understanding that we would be here about ten years. Five years in, we could be marking the half-way point. Could be, but we think we are still on the uphill slope, so to speak.

Five years ago the denomination we are a part of had a plan to provide financial support to the pastor's salary for ten years, hence the ten year timeline. That plan has proved unsustainable, and so we are working out other ways to fill the gap and cover my salary, and so that factor by itself is not enough for us to sense the end approaching.

But five years has also made clear some things that we didn’t understand when we arrived. We thought that we were coming to serve a small church in a small town, with the cross-cultural aspect of living on a reservation and among the Jicarilla Apache people. And while those things are all true we have come to see more clearly the "mission" aspect of this ministry, in that even though the church has been here 104 years this is still very much an unevangelized place. Many people may know the name of Jesus, but they are unaware of who he really is and why he lived and died the way he did.

For the past five years we have been doing the basic work that any small church might do in proclaiming the good news of Jesus, but perhaps of nearly equal importance we have been building relationships and growing in our understanding of the particular problems within this community. To bring the hope of the gospel to people outside of the church proper they need to know that we care for them and for the things that they struggle with in life.

And so, five years in and at age where increasing numbers of my friends are moving to "greener pastures", I don’t feel all that old. And, thankfully, neither does Robin. Our family has changed a bit in the last year, and we hope to be able to write about that a bit more freely soon. In a counter-cultural fashion during our last ten years together we have gone from an empty nest to a very full one.

"Real" retirement? If could be five years out but we are thinking that ten years are perhaps more likely. Stray nails and glass or not, today is not the day. To God be the glory! Amen.

If you, or your church, would like to support the work of the ministry in Dulce, either through a single gift or ongoing support, please give me a call or send an email to: bradkautz@gmail.com

Sunday, July 29, 2018

"You're Only Hurting Yourself"

"You're only hurting yourself."

What child hasn’t heard those words a time or two, or three? What parent hasn't said them, over and over? And does the adult exist who hasn't come to the conclusion, at least once in their life, that the only person being hurt in a particular moment of anger was their own self?

While the idea that "you're only hurting yourself" may sound like common, practical wisdom, the other day I was surprised to learn it is also biblical wisdom. I was reading Jeremiah 25, where the prophet Jeremiah is warning the people of Judah of the coming judgment of God. God's judgment is coming specifically because they have been repeatedly disobedient. They have engaged in evil ways, done evil deeds, and repeatedly committed the most serious of offense of pursuing false gods. In verse 7 Jeremiah ends the first part of his warning by saying:

"Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm."

"…the work of your hands to your own harm" is Jeremiah's way of saying "you're only hurting yourself." The people of Judah are ignoring God's words of warning, thereby provoking his anger towards them, an anger that finds its source in the ungodly ways they are choosing to live, which will end in being on the receiving end of God's punishment. In choosing to sin against God they are choosing the suffering that will result.

Jeremiah wrote those words about 2,600 years ago, and they still speak God's truth to us today. We can think of the way that God outlines for his people to live as being rules, and sometimes as harsh rules. The Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 are perhaps the most basic rules. You shall not. You shall not. You shall not… You get the idea.

They are rules, but they are often very clear rules, and they are rules given for our own good. Seen from the point-of-view we have as sinners they look like ways to take away all the things that we enjoy. But from the point-of-view of God they take away the things that bring us harm and give us lots of room to enjoy the good things God gives to his children. Sometimes we look at them as being bare bones rules, without a lot of detail, but that is most often when we are looking for ways to make excuses to break them. And when we do, at best, "we are only hurting ourselves." At worst, we are bringing suffering onto others who are downstream of our sin.

So look at your life, look at the rules and the other wisdom throughout the Bible that God provides to shape your life, and look towards God to give you what you need to stay between the lines as you live in ways that bring him pleasure and shine his light into the world. Amen.