Born Again - Paul Before and After

Born Again - Paul Before and After

Saul was a Jewish religious leader- a Pharisee- and he hated Christians! The Christians were preaching that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to take away sins. And Saul was threatened by this dangerous doctrine! As a Pharisee, he and his fellow priests controlled the Jewish people with the Law. The religious leaders might have to give up some of their money, power and influence if too many Jews started believing in this Jesus. And Saul couldn’t let this happen!



As a zealot, Saul constantly fasted and tithed and prayed and spent his life studying the religious Law with the other Pharisees. He was proud that he obeyed the Torah, kept all of the ordinances and sacrificed daily in the temple. He was so much better than the ordinary Jew. God must be pleased with his diligence. But those evil Christians! Saul needed to kill as many Christians as he could to protect God’s laws and to keep Judaism pure.



So getting rid of Christians became Saul’s main passion in life. He would frantically rush from house to house in Jerusalem searching out Christians to arrest and put in chains. Hundreds of Christian men and women were dragged off to prison by Saul, causing many believers to run away and hide in towns outside of Jerusalem. Saul was there when the mob stoned Stephen and he tirelessly plotted to have other Christians executed as well. By getting rid of Christians he believed he was doing God’s work and he was proud of it. Soon with all of his intense ambitious efforts, praise God, these believers in Jesus would be a thing of the past.



Saul wasn’t satisfied to just kill the Christians in Jerusalem. He needed to stamp them all out, so he turned his energies to catching the believers who had been scattered to the towns outside of Jerusalem. We read in Scripture that he obtained letters of permission to arrest any Christians he could find in Damascus (150 miles away) and bring them back in chains. “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1-2)



So as Saul was traveling with his men along the road to Damascus, and looking forward soon to be dragging more Christians away to prison; an amazing thing happened. It was nearly noon and suddenly a light from heaven blazed down around Saul. Saul fell to the ground terrified and then he heard a voice speaking to him. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4) Trembling and astonished, Saul asked: “Who are you, Lord?” And then the voice from heaven answered: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 9:5b) Shaking with fear Saul asked: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” And Jesus answered: “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:6b)



The men traveling with Saul stood on the road speechless since they also heard the voice from heaven. Saul got up but the bright light from heaven had blinded him and he couldn’t see. The men with him led him by the hand into Damascus and for three days Saul sat alone in a house not being able to see and refusing to eat or drink.



Ananias was one of the Christians who lived in Damascus. The Lord came to Ananias in a vision and gave him the address of the house where Saul was staying. Then God told him to go to Saul and lay hands on him and pray for him to get his sight back. Ananias was afraid and reminded the Lord that Saul had harmed many Christians. But the Lord answered him: “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15-16)



Ananias obeyed God and went to the house where Saul was staying and laid hands on Saul and prayed for him. He said: “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 9:17b)



When Ananias prayed for him, Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. And then Saul began worshiping with the other Christians in Damascus and immediately began preaching in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. Some of the Christians were still frightened of him and all the believers were totally amazed that the man who had hated them so much now loved them and was one of them. But Saul was so excited about his new love for Jesus that he didn’t waste any time going about preaching and bringing as many people to Christ as he could. The Church’s worst human enemy had become her greatest friend.



Saul was as intense and anxious to spread the good news that Jesus is Lord and Savior as he had been in earlier days to stop the spread of the good news of Jesus. Soon the religious leaders were trying to kill Saul because he was making disciples for Christ everywhere he went. When Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he accepted Jesus and was “born again”. He became a new person. He even got a new name.



We all know the old Saul as the new “Paul” - the one who tirelessly spread the Christian faith to the Gentiles. Over the years Paul had to suffer and pay the price for his faith in Jesus. He suffered whippings and shipwrecks and he was thrown in prison on many occasions. And tradition has it that he was hung upside down on a cross and martyred in Rome. But during his lifetime he planted new churches everywhere he traveled, and we have all been blessed by the letters the Holy Spirit wrote through Paul to those new churches. He wrote letters of instruction to the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, the Thessalonians, and the Romans. And Paul’s letters in the New Testament are written for us too.



Paul changed and became a new person with a new direction after he met Jesus there on the road to Damascus. And we also become new persons with new directions after we meet Jesus. Jesus comes to give us His Holy Spirit and change us. Jesus describes this change as being “born again”. (John 3:3) Jesus says that without being born again we cannot enter the kingdom of God.



Jesus came for Paul on the road in a blaze of heavenly light but Jesus comes for us too. He may not come for us in as dramatic a way as He did for Paul. I think Paul was a special case and Jesus met him where he was. But Jesus meets us where we are too. When Paul realized that Jesus was God and Savior, he gave his life (his will, his plans, his energies, etc.) to Jesus and Jesus baptized him with the Holy Spirit and came to live in his heart. That is what it means to be “born again”. A “born again” person doesn’t belong to himself anymore. He is under new management and belongs to Jesus. Paul later bragged: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20b)



Paul said “yes” to Jesus when he met Him on the Damascus road and he was “born again”. And we need to say “yes” to Jesus too and be “born again”. It will be the most important thing that we will ever do.

An Angel Tells Philip Where to Go

An Angel Tells Philip Where to Go

The Bible story begins with an angel giving instructions. “Now an angel of the Lord told Philip, ‘Go south to the road –the desert road -that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’” (Acts 8:26) We don’t know if Philip actually saw the angel or if the angels’ message was delivered to him in a dream. But right away Philip obeyed the angels’ command and started walking down the road through the desert to Gaza. Gaza was about fifty miles from Jerusalem.



As Philip was on his way he passed an important Ethiopian official riding along in a chariot and reading the book of Isaiah as he was traveling. Scripture says that this Ethiopian was a eunuch (a man who had been altered sexually) who worked for Candace, queen of Ethiopia. He probably had been sexually altered so that he could be trusted to work closely with the queen. Eunuchs back then were used in Oriental courts to fill positions of high authority. We aren’t told his name, but he was in charge of all the queens’ treasury. This Ethiopian had gone to Jerusalem to worship and now he was on his way back home.



And as Philip was passing the Ethiopian on the road he got a second message from the Lord. This time his instructions didn’t come from an angel but from the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go over to that chariot and stay near it.’”. (Acts 8:29) And again Philip heard and obeyed the Spirits’ instructions! “Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading from Isaiah the prophet.” (Acts 8:30a) The Ethiopian was sitting in his chariot reading aloud as he traveled down the road.



“Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. (Acts 8:30b)



“How can I unless someone explains it to me?” the Ethiopian answered. (Acts 8:31)



So Philip got up in the chariot and sat with the Ethiopian and the two continued traveling down the desert road together. The Ethiopian was reading a passage of Scripture from Isaiah 53:7-8.



“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

And as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth.”



“Tell me, please, who is Isaiah talking about, himself or someone else?” the Ethiopian asked Philip. (Acts 8:34) He really wanted to know the Scriptures and have a deeper relationship with God.



So Philip explained that in the passage where Isaiah was describing the sheep that was led to the slaughter and the lamb that was silent before the shearer, that he was describing Jesus. And the Suffering Servant, pictured in the book of Isaiah, is also a picture of Jesus Christ, Son of God, and Savior. Philip went through the scriptures with the Ethiopian and shared the good news that Jesus had died to take away our sin. And the Ethiopian kept nodding and smiling and asking more questions.



After the two men had been talking and traveling together for a good long time, they came upon a pool of water beside the road. The Ethiopian said, “Look, here is some water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” (Acts 8: 36) And Philip answered, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And the Ethiopian answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” (Acts 8:37)



So they stopped the chariot and the two men got out and went down into the water. And with great joy, Philip baptized the Ethiopian. As soon as they came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit carried Philip away out of the Ethiopians’ sight. And thus the story ends with the Ethiopian getting back into his chariot and traveling on down the road rejoicing that he has found Jesus as his Lord and Savior.



This short story from the Bible perhaps leaves us with some questions. For one, the curtain is pulled back and we see that angels sometimes serve as messengers to Gods’ people. Not only in this story but throughout the Bible there are stories of angels coming to the aid of believers. Angels have also been known to protect believers, feed them, and assist them when they are in need. All of these angelic actions and more have been recorded in Scripture.



We may be questioning why we don’t get directions from an angel like Philip did. Or could there be occasions in our lives when there have been messages delivered to us or angelic intervention taken on our behalf and we didn’t even recognize it? Indeed we read from Hebrews 13:2: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels unawares.”



We can not get away from the fact that, in this story, Philip would not have been able to meet the Ethiopian and bring him to faith in Jesus, if he had not on several occasions received supernatural guidance. After the angel told him to walk down the Gaza road, Philip still received more guidance with the Holy Spirit telling him to walk over to the Ethiopians’ chariot and to stay near it. Philip was a great evangelist. Many thousands of people came to Christ through his preaching. But we can see that he didn’t lead people to Christ in his own strength. He must have been open and listening for the Holy Spirits’ voice to show him what to do.



But the question may still linger. Why don’t we get instructions from a visible angel like Philip did? I don’t know all of the reasons, but in reading the book of Acts we do notice that the twelve apostles seem to have received more of the charismatic gifts - like the power to heal and prophesy and evangelize. These dramatic gifts perhaps made the apostles more visible to the public, and angelic intervention might have been recorded more often when it occurred with these public figures that were in the limelight. The rest of the believers often seemed to be given gifts like serving or teaching or helping. Since every believer is a part of the body of Christ, we are each given different gifts by the same Holy Spirit. We can not all be an eye or an elbow. We function differently in the body. But all the gifts are useful and important.



Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you.” We have Gods’ promises here and everywhere in Scripture that He will always be with us. But do we sometimes forget His promise that He is present with us? He promises to continually teach us how to live. But do we take time to listen for His teaching?



Perhaps the Holy Spirit has tried to speak to us again and again but we have been too busy to listen. Could it be that we can’t hear His quiet voice over the noise of our games and shows and the stuff that clutters our lives? When the angel told Philip to walk down the road to Gaza, he heard and obeyed right away. He had a listening heart and he didn’t let anything get in the way. God was able to do great things through Philip because Philip’s whole life was about loving God. If we have a listening heart and our whole life is about loving God then He will be able to do great things through us too.

simon the Magician - The Man Who Tried to Pay Money for the Gifts of God

Simon the Magician – The Man Who Tried to Pay Money for the Gifts of God

Simon the Magician lived in Samaria around the time the disciples in Jerusalem were baptized with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Scripture says that Simon made quite an impression with his magic. “Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, ‘This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.’”. (Acts 8:9-10)



About this time a great persecution broke out in Jerusalem against the church. Saul (later named Paul) went from house to house dragging new believers off to prison. So most of these frightened believers had to run for their lives. And since Samaria was near Jerusalem, many of them fled there hoping to find safety.



Philip was one of the Christian apostles who went to Samaria during this time. As soon as he arrived he started preaching to every Samaritan he met that Christ is the Savior. And along with his preaching he performed signs and wonders through the power of the Holy Spirit. Scripture tells the story. “When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in the city.” (Acts 8:6-8)



I wish I could have been there to watch, since amazingly most everyone in Samaria believed in Jesus and was baptized. Even Simon the magician became a Christian and was baptized and followed Philip everywhere. (Acts 8:13)



The good news got back to the apostles in Jerusalem that nearly all of the Samaritans had accepted the Word of God. There was great rejoicing since the Samaritans were now believers, but still they didn’t immediately receive the gift of the Holy Spirit like the Jewish believers had at Pentecost. We don’t know why that was.



Many Jews believed that God would never bless Samaritans since they were considered to be a group of half-breeds. There were serious barriers of racial prejudice to be dealt with here. Until this point, the Christian church in Jerusalem had been completely Jewish. But when the Samaritans believed, it was the first time the Church burst its Jewish bonds and moved toward a truly world-wide fellowship.



So Peter and John went to Samaria to pray for these new Samaritan believers that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit did fall on the Samaritan believers like it had on the Jewish believers when Peter and John laid hands on them and prayed.



Simon, who had been the magician, was impressed when he saw that when Peter and John laid hands on the Samaritan believers, the Holy Spirit would come down with power. Wow, he would like to be able to do that too he thought! Wouldn’t that impress his fellow citizens and make him look important? Simon offered Peter money for the ability to lay hands on people and bring down the Spirit. Perhaps since he had impressed people with his magic tricks before he became a Christian, he might have wanted to impress people now by manipulating the Holy Spirits’ power. We don’t know what his motivation was but we do know that Peter became very angry with Simons’ foolish request.



Peter answered Simon with strong words. “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money? You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and a captive to sin.” (Acts 8:20-23) Simon immediately begged Peter to pray for him and I like to think that he was truly sorry for his mistake of trying to buy God’s power so that he could use it to build up his reputation.



Simons’ effort to try to purchase the ability to manipulate the power of the Holy Spirit was his sin. And his desire to use God’s power for his own gain is wrong also. The word “simony” which means the buying and selling of church offices and influence comes from this story.



What can we learn from this Bible story? How can we avoid making the same mistake today that Simon made so long ago? I will give my best guesses and if you have other ideas, please pass them on. First Peter accused Simon of being bitter, which possibly meant that Simon was resentful since he no longer held the best and highest position among his fellow citizens. Remember Simon had been treated like a very important person in Samaria when he had practiced his magic arts, but now that he had given that up to become a Christian, he may have missed all of the special attention. Maybe if he could buy God’s power then he could use it to feel important again!



We can follow in Simon’s footsteps and try to use God today to further our own reputations or pocketbooks instead of humbly following the leadings of the Spirit. In the middle ages, indulgences were sold by the Church. When a person paid money for the indulgence he was told that he received forgiveness for his sin. Of course we can never purchase forgiveness of sin with money when our forgiveness has already been purchased by Christ’s blood, and is given to us as a free gift. (Ephesians 2:8-9) But the Church made big money off of supposedly selling Gods’ forgiveness!



Twenty years ago a friend of mine knew a musician who for a year pretended to believe in Jesus to see if he could make lots of money selling Christian music. This singer was a member of another religion but he could fake being Christian if it could be financially profitable, couldn’t he? When his experiment didn’t work out and his Jesus songs didn’t pay off like he had hoped, he dropped his pretending and went back to his secular music which brought in more cash. Just recently I read in the paper that this same musician is back trying out his luck again with his Jesus music! Maybe the new Christian/political audiences today will finally appreciate his songs and this musician can finally cash in on God – and make use of Jesus to build up his reputation while he is at it! And some politicians today are also learning to cash in on God. These folks can appear pious while repeating the correct Christian phrases, and thus gain votes and power.



Are these examples at all similar to Simon’s mistake? Perhaps? Simon was proud and hadn’t yet learned to humble himself before God. In order to move in God’s kingdom we have to learn to be humble. Humility is everything. We need to give up our pride and our selfishness in order to follow Jesus. Jesus is Lord and He wants it all. We don’t use God for our own glory, we ask God to use us for His Glory. Jesus speaks out about this in Scripture. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) We need to learn to lose ourselves for His sake. It doesn’t work any other way!

The Stoning of Stephen - the First Christian Martyr

The First Christian Martyr - the Stoning of Stephen

It had just been a year or so since Jesus had gone back to heaven and left the Holy Spirit to guide and infill His followers, and already so much was happening. Those first new Christians cared about each other so much and were so guided by the Holy Spirits’ power that very soon thousands of their neighbors in Jerusalem believed in Jesus and became Christians as well. There were hundreds of healings and miracles in their prayer meetings, so many that all of Jerusalem was talking about these amazing Christians and becoming disciples of Jesus also.



It was during these early days when the new Christian church was taking shape that we first hear about Stephen. Stephen was a member of that very first church and was chosen along with six other men to wait on tables and serve meals to the widows who belonged to the families of the church members. (Acts 6:1-5)



The early Christians felt that it was their job to be sure that the women without husbands in their midst didn’t go hungry. This may seem strange to us today, but providing for the widows made sense back then. In that culture, the men held the purse strings and the women had little or no control over their own finances. When a husband died, the family inheritance would go to the son or sons. And since the wife would not be able to keep her husbands’ money, her sons would be expected to take care of her.



Since the early church members shared everything in common, they shared their responsibilities in common too. And taking care of their widows was one of their responsibilities. This responsibility was so important to the group that they wanted their very best Christian men to wait on their widows. Let’s listen: “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them,…This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,…” (Acts 6:3 and 5a)



We don’t know how many months or years Stephen served the church by waiting on tables and serving meals to the widows, but Scripture does tell us a little more about him and about his faith. “Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, and he did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people,” (Acts 6:8) And also Stephen must have been a good looking guy because the Bible says: “…they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” (Acts 6:15b) Stephen was such a help to everyone and such a power house for God. He was a man of integrity who went about and shared his faith, but then the trouble came!



Stephen began preaching and discussing the Scriptures in the Synagogues around Jerusalem and some of the Jews who heard him began to spread lies about what he was teaching. “They secretly persuaded some men to say, ‘We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.’ So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, ‘This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the laws Moses handed down to us.’”. (Acts 6:11-14) Sadly the religious leaders were the ones who spread the lies about what Stephen was teaching. One of the falsehoods they told was that Stephen was blaspheming or trying to do away with the laws of Moses. They must have thought that they were protecting the laws of Moses by lying about Stephens’ teaching. But these religious leaders were breaking the very laws that they claimed to be standing up for. They were breaking one of their own Ten Commandments by lying and bearing false witness. The ninth commandment reads: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16) People in the name of God are still breaking that commandment today!



Stephens’ angry accusers brought him before the Sanhedrin for questioning. Caiaphas, the same high priest who had condemned Jesus a few years earlier, was still in power when Stephen came in for questioning. Stephen stood up before the religious leaders and went through the Old Testament scriptures pointing out how the prophets had foretold the coming of Jesus the Savior, the Righteous One, and the One who they had rejected and killed. (Acts 7:1-53 – Stephens’ sermon to the Sanhedrin)



When the religious leaders heard Stephen say that Jesus was the Righteous One that they had killed, they flew into a rage. And then everything happened quickly. The furious priests grabbed Stephen and started dragging him out of the city to kill him. It must have been a frightening scene to see this crazed mob yelling and shouting accusations as they shoved and pulled Stephen through the streets of the city and on to his death. As the men were hitting him and jerking him along Stephen looked up into heaven and saw a vision. “’Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” (Acts 7:56)



The enraged men yelled the more and covered their ears so they couldn’t hear Stephens’ words as they pulled him along. Finally when they got outside the city they picked up stones and surrounded Stephen for the kill. Saul, who later became a Christian and was re-named Paul, was there with the group giving his approval for the stoning and holding the coats of the men who were throwing rocks at Stephen. (Acts7:58b and 8:1) It was a dreadful day!



Scripture tells the story of Stephen’s death. “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.” (Acts 7:59-60) Amazingly right in the middle of this bloody and brutal stoning, he prays for forgiveness for his killers! Stephen was the first Christian to die for his faith in Jesus. And since then there have been many more Christians who have been martyred for their faith.



Right after Stephens’ death, the rest of the Christians in Jerusalem also became targeted for trouble. “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church, going from house to house; he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” (Acts 8:1-3)



You would think that the leaders in Jerusalem would be happy that Stephen and the other Christians were living there among them. The sick were being healed and the hungry were being fed. Why would anyone have a problem with that? But unfortunately the same religious leaders who killed Jesus were still in power, and they also wanted to kill these new Christians. Jesus had already warned them that they would be persecuted if they followed Him, and the warning is there for us too. “If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:18-20a)



It’s easy for us to forget that we may experience rejection by others if we follow Christ. We have been given warnings about this throughout Scripture, but we still can feel surprised when people, even family members, turn against us for seemingly no reason. One of the beatitudes also reminds us to expect persecution. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12)



I hope none of you will ever have to suffer persecution because of your faith in Christ. But if you do, just remember that you are in good company, since many Christians down through the ages have had to take up their cross to follow Jesus. Persecution is never an easy thing. But if you are rejected or persecuted because of your faith, just consider it to be an honor.

Ananias and Sapphira - An Upsetting Story

Ananias and Sapphira – An Upsetting Story

The story told in Acts 5 about Ananias and Sapphira has never been one of my favorites. I’ll bet it hasn’t been one of yours’ either? Am I right? I would find myself feeling upset and confused every time I would read this Bible story. And it frightened the early Christian church too, so Scripture tells us. Why would God deal so harshly with this couple when they messed up a bit? Haven’t we all messed up at times? Would God strike us down too?



We don’t know much about Ananias and Sapphira. The name ‘Sapphira’ means ‘beautiful’ in Aramaic. Perhaps she was beautiful. This Christian couple may have been part of that group of believers who waited in the upper room for the Holy Spirit to come at Pentecost. Or they may have become believers and joined the church a few days or weeks after that. But Ananias and Sapphira were both members of that very first church in Jerusalem - our spiritual ancestors.



We are told several things about Ananias’ and Sapphiras’ church. For one, at Pentecost the Holy Spirit had fallen on each believer in a powerful way and now the church group was experiencing miracles and healings in their gatherings. And also many of these new believers in their enthusiasm had sold their homes and land and were giving all their money to the group so that everything could be shared in common. “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” (Acts 2:44-45)



It seemed that Ananias and Sapphira loved the Lord and wanted to fit right in with the other new Christians. And since most of their friends were selling their homes and giving the proceeds to the group, Ananias and Sapphira felt pressured to do the same, even though they may have had some reservations. Shouldn’t they join in and appear to go along with the crowd?



Scripture says that Ananias and Sapphira went ahead and sold their home even though their church group didn’t require that of them. And then they decided to keep part of the money from the sale and give part of it to the church group. Nothing wrong with that either. But if they let the other church members believe that they had given all of the money from the sale to the church instead of just part of it; they might make a better impression! They wanted to look good and keep up with the other church members who were giving everything. What could be wrong with that?



So Ananias talked it over with Sapphira and the two agreed together to tell a little white lie to their church leaders. They would tell Peter that they were giving all of the money from their sale and Peter and the others would be impressed with their generosity! Next day Ananias walked in and gave the money to Peter saying that he was giving the church the full amount of money from the sale of the home and wasn’t he a nice guy? Peter, being full of the Holy Spirit, immediately knew that Ananias was lying! He didn’t need to give all of the money to the church, Peter insisted, but he should never lie to the Holy Spirit. Peter spoke out angrily to Ananias: “…Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:4b) Ananias was so shocked at Peters’ words that he fell to the ground at Peter’s feet and died instantly.



Three hours later Sapphira came by not knowing that her husband had died. She walked up and told Peter the same little lie that Ananias had told, insisting that they were giving the church all of the money from the sale and even quoting a false amount. And then Peter told her what he had told her husband: “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out too.” (Acts 5:9) Sapphira also dropped dead at Peter’s feet and she was buried next to her husband. This sad story ends with a report that great fear came upon everyone in the church when they heard about what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. (Acts 5:11)



We are left with questions. Why did Ananias and Sapphira die instantly when they lied in church when I am sure others have lied in church and haven’t been struck down in such a fashion? What is going on here? Let’s dig a little deeper.



Let’s remember that, when Ananias and Sapphira told their lie, the Holy Spirit had just recently fallen on the church with visible signs like wind and fire and power. At one prayer meeting the Holy Spirit had shaken the meeting room. Healings and miracles were happening every day through the Spirit. And the apostle Peter was so filled with Holy Spirit power that thousands believed in Jesus when he preached and throngs brought their sick out in the streets hoping that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them and make them well! Acts 5:16 states: “Multitudes gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were ALL healed.”



I dare say that none of us today have been part of a church quite like that early church, where Gods’ presence through the Holy Spirit could be seen and felt and experienced so powerfully. Back then every single person Peter touched was healed through the Holy Spirit. Ananias and Sapphira had been there for the healings and the miracles. They had experienced God’s power there with them and seen and felt God’s holy presence residing in Peter and in the church. When Gods’ presence resides so powerfully with His people, they should be reverent in His presence. So when Ananias and Sapphira walked in and casually lied to the Holy Spirit, present there in full power, where was their reverence for God?



We read another story in the Old Testament that is similar to the story of Ananias and Sapphira. In Leviticus 9 and 10 we read about the very beginnings of Israel’s priestly ministry. God had given Moses instructions of how the priests were to sacrifice the animals on the altar for the sins of the people. And Aaron and his four sons had been chosen to be the Israel’s’ first priests. All of the Jewish people gathered around to worship God and after Aaron and his sons had made the sacrifices, Aaron blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering on the altar. And when the people saw Gods’ glory in their midst they all shouted and fell down on their faces. (Leviticus 9:23-24)



It was a holy moment. Gods’ presence and glory had come to be there with the people. All of the people were deeply moved and in reverence to God bowed and fell to the ground. But while the people were on their faces in worship, two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu decided to show off and offered ‘profane’ fire right in front of the visible presence of Gods’ glory! Let’s listen to what happens next. “Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” (Lev.10:1-2)



These sons of Aaron didn’t seem to respect or fear the presence and glory of the living God. As priests they had been instructed as to how to come into the holy presence of God, but they decided to do their own thing instead! Where was their fear- their reverence for God? After these young men died while everyone was looking on, Moses explained to the stunned Aaron why his two sons had been struck down. “And Moses said to Aaron. ‘This is what the Lord spoke, saying:’ ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy. And before all the people I must be glorified.’” (Leviticus 10:3)



The power and glory of God was physically present in both of these stories from the Bible. Ananias and Sapphira thought nothing of lying when the Holy Spirit was present in great power and Nadab and Abihu played games in front of Gods’ fiery glory. These four people casually did their thing before Gods’ presence and didn’t regard Him as holy. They paraded their sin right in front of a holy God. Most of us have felt Gods’ presence and we know that He is with us. But probably none of us have been in circumstances like these where the glory and power of God could be seen and experienced physically. And if we ever were in the presence of Gods’ glory, I doubt if we would make the same mistake and not honor Him!



Scripture tells us that after we die we will stand in front of the living God in all His glory. God is holy and we will not be acceptable in His presence unless we are holy. We aren’t good enough on our own and in our sin and doing our own thing. We won’t be able to tell our little white lies there or bring in profane fire. We will need to be ready! Heaven is a sinless place and we can not enter it and hang on to our sin. But the God who is holy and pure is also a God who loves us and brings us salvation. He has provided a Way for us to be covered and come to Him, a Way to take away our sin, and a way to be ready. And that Way is Jesus. (Acts 4:10-12) Let’s accept Gods’ gift of Jesus now so that when it’s our time to go we will be prepared to meet our Maker.

The Very Beginnings of the Church

The Very Beginnings of the Church

When we speak about the Church, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind may be a congregation of members who come together on Sunday mornings for Sunday school and worship service in a church building. But of course a church building isn’t the definition of the Church. And a local congregation is only a very small part of the universal Church. All of the believers in Jesus around the world who are alive today or who have ever lived during the last 2000 years make up the mystical Body of Christ, - the Church. And the Holy Spirit has put them all together in one Body. (The Body of Christ).



It is believed that Pentecost was the birthday of the Church. At that time there were only about one hundred and twenty people who believed that Jesus was Lord and that He died for their sins. It had just been nine or ten days since Jesus had gone back to heaven and had instructed His followers to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. So when the Holy Spirit fell upon these believers, the Church – the Body of Christ- was born!



God was doing a new thing. These very first Christians had been brought together as one body by the power of the Holy Spirit and they were all on fire for God. The men and women who loved the Lord in Old Testament times lived out their lives under the law while waiting for God’s future promise of salvation. But now that promise of salvation (Jesus the Savior) had come and the waiting was over. The Age of Law had given way to the Age of Grace. Jesus had suffered and died to redeem His Church. So the Church (the believers) was born through the power of the Holy Spirit!



Acts 2-4 tells the story of how those very first Christians lived and what the Church (the group of believers) was like in those first few months. To start with, immediately after the Holy Spirit fell on the believers at Pentecost, a large group of people in Jerusalem crowded around to see what was happening to this noisy group.



Peter took this opportunity to preach to the crowds and about three thousand people believed in Jesus that very day. “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’….Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” (Acts 2:38 and 41) So it seems that the Holy Spirit gave Peter great power in his preaching. And the Holy Spirit also convicted three thousand people to accept Christ as Savior and be baptized; they were added to the number of Christians in the new Church. In those early days the Holy Spirit was operating in His people (the Church) in a very powerful way!



That first group of Christians in Jerusalem didn’t build a big church building but instead they met in the temple court (that first group was mostly Jewish) and ate together in each other’s homes and shared everything in common. Peter and John and some of the other men who had been Jesus’ disciples became part of that very first Church. These early Jewish Christians studied Jesus’ disciples’ teachings and prayed and ate together constantly. Let’s try to get a picture of that very first group of Christians. “They devoted themselves to the disciples’ teachings and to the fellowship and the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the disciples. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)



Peter and John were members of this very first church. One day on their way to the temple they stopped to talk to a lame beggar sitting at the temple gate. The beggar was asking for money. Peter told him that he didn’t have money with him but he would give him what he had –he would heal his lameness in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:6-9) So Peter commanded him to walk in Jesus’ name and immediately the lame beggar jumped up and began to walk and leap around and praise God.



All of this excitement caused quite a stir as many people crowded around in amazement. This crowd had always remembered this man sitting with withered legs by the temple gate begging, but now he was running and jumping about. So Peter had another chance to preach to the crowds and tell them about Jesus the Savior.



Just as Jesus had healed a lame man and had gotten in trouble with the religious leaders, now Peter and John also would get in trouble with the same religious leaders for healing this lame man in Jesus’ name. The high priest and the Pharisees threw Peter and John in prison, later releasing them with orders to never preach about Jesus again. These powerful rulers also threatened to imprison or kill any Christian in Jerusalem who might disobey their orders and preach about Jesus.



Peter and John went back to the Church and reported all that had happened. Peter told his fellow Christians of how they had been ordered never to preach about Jesus again. They all knew that these authorities could throw them into prison and possibly have them put to death if they disobeyed. It hadn’t taken long for the new Church to be persecuted for their faith! Would these new believers obey the religious authorities or would they risk prison or death and keep telling others about Jesus? What would we do in similar circumstances?



Let’s see what Scripture says they did. “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God,… Now, Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” (Acts 4:24, 29-31)



I don’t know about you, but I am really impressed with that first church and the way that they reacted when they were threatened by prison and death. Instead of being intimidated and playing it safe, these early believers prayed for boldness to speak all the more about Jesus. And they prayed for more healings and miracles to be done through them in His name. God must have been pleased because after they prayed, the meeting was shaken and the Holy Spirit filled them with even more power and boldness.



That very first Church is a great model for us to follow. Those early Christians were joyful and enthusiastic about their Savior, Jesus and about what the Holy Spirit had done by putting them together as the Church. And they loved each other and shared everything with one another. They didn’t even let threats of prison or death scare them but prayed for the boldness to speak out even more for Jesus.



We also have been placed into Christ’s Body, the Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s be enthusiastic and let’s pray for more boldness to speak out for Jesus. Let’s love and share with each other the way they did. And let’s pray that our Church today can be as fearless and loving and filled with the Holy Spirit as that very first Church was.

Pentecost - When the Church Received the Holy Spirit

Pentecost – When the Church Received the Holy Spirit

Jesus was getting ready to go to heaven. He had gathered His disciples together on Mt. Olivet and was saying goodbye to them. They all had sad faces because they didn’t want Him to go. He was going back to the Father and they would be left down here on their own. Jesus had reminded them earlier, “I will not leave you orphans.” (John 14:18) But perhaps they still felt like they were being abandoned.



Just before Jesus left He gave His followers a promise. “For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1;5) “…And you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts1:8)



Jesus instructed His disciples to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them. Then He began to rise in the air. With heavy hearts the disciples watched as Jesus left them and was taken up to heaven. After Jesus was gone they trudged back to Jerusalem to wait for His promised Holy Spirit. They settled down to wait in the upper room of a large house, and many more followers of Jesus (about 120 of them) came to join them. This large excited group of believers stayed together in the upper room for the next nine or ten days. No one left since Jesus had promised that every believer would receive this wonderful gift. The anxious group waited and prayed together day after day for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.



It must have been quite a prayer meeting! And then it finally happened. Let’s listen: “When the Day of Pentecost had come, they were all together and in agreement in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them tongues, like fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4)



A group of people from many different countries were in Jerusalem during Pentecost and heard this noisy group and the story of Jesus being told, each in his own language. Surprised as to how these believers could speak so many different languages, this international group of on-lookers gathered around these ecstatic believers as they were speaking in tongues. How could each foreigner hear the gospel in his own language? What was going on here? Were they all drunk? Then Peter stood up and preached to the crowd and told them that the Holy Spirit had just been poured out onto these believers. (Acts 2:14-17) Peter went on to tell them that Jesus had died for their sins and the crowd listened and many believed. Scripture tells us that three thousand people believed in Jesus that day and were saved. The power of the Holy Spirit was present in full force!



Jesus had not left his followers after all! His Spirit had fallen on each one of them there at Pentecost. He would still be doing His work on earth through them. And through us too. Scripture says that every believer is filled with the Holy Spirit! “For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greek, slaves or free – and we are all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1 Corinthians 12:13) Jesus is in the world today through those of us who believe in Him. We are His body and we are being changed by the Holy Spirit that is in us.



At Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit sounded like a mighty rushing wind and was seen as a tongue of fire over each believer’s head. Some say that the Holy Spirit is like fire because the He is so powerful. And the Spirit is often likened to the wind because we can’t see where the Spirit is moving, as God works in mysterious ways. “The wind blows wherever it pleases, you hear its sound but you cannot tell where it has come from or where it is going. So it is with everyone that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)





Do we believers appreciate this gift of the Holy Spirit that we have living in us? The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is constantly working in us: teaching us spiritual truths, convicting us of our sins and leading us. (John 14:26) He pours out God’s love in our hearts. (Rom.5:5) He gives us gifts for ministry and strengthens our inner being. (1 Cor. 12;4-11 & Eph.3:16) He seals us for heaven and His presence in us is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance of the kingdom. (Eph.1:13-14) And Scripture tells us that we can grieve Him. (Eph.4:30)



Let’s try to be aware every day that the Holy Spirit is living in us. Listen for His still small voice, wait on Him and never grieve or squelch Him. Life in the Spirit is a wonderful mysterious journey- a marvelous gift. Let’s receive everything He has for us. And let’s submit to His guidance and allow Him to lead us all the way.

Sodom and Gomorrah - When God Has Had Enough

Sodom and Gomorrah

When God Has Had Enough

Once upon a time, two ancient cities named Sodom and Gomorrah sat in a lush fertile valley. Walls surrounded these gated cities and they even had a king and an army. Sodom and Gomorrah were wealthy thriving cities back in Abraham’s time, 4,000 years ago, and Abraham’s nephew, Lot chose to live there with his family.



One day God spoke to Abraham and told him that He was planning to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Let’s listen to what He said: “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me: …” (Genesis 18: 20-21)



God had honored Abraham by telling him what He planned to do, but Abraham was shocked and upset. Probably Abraham was worried about his nephew, Lot. “Would You destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham asked. “Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city: would You also destroy the place and not spare it if fifty righteous persons were in it?” (Genesis 18:23b-24)



God answered Abraham and assured him that He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if fifty righteous people could be found living there. Abraham kept arguing with God – bargaining with God for the cities. Finally Abraham asked God to promise that He would not destroy the cities if ten righteous people could be found living there. And God promised Abraham that He would save Sodom and Gomorrah if ten good people could be found there.



The scene now shifts to Sodom. It is evening and Lot is sitting at the city gate when two travelers, who are really angels, walk by. Lot jumps up and bows down before them and invites them to spend the night at his house. The two angels who looked like traveling men agree and Lot takes them to his house and prepares a nice dinner for them. While Lot and the angels are eating, a large group of men from all over the city began banging on Lot’s door. Scripture tells us that every man in Sodom, both young and old is there and has surrounded Lot’s house and they are all ordering Lot to open his door! “Where are the men who came to your house tonight?” they all shout as they bang on the door. “Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” (Genesis 18:5)



Lot tries to turn this mob away from his home but to no avail. The group of men are beating down the door. Finally in desperation he offers this sex perverted mob his two virgin daughters to use as sex objects for the night. But the men of Sodom shout louder and beat down the door. The men refuse Lot’s offer of his girls to assuage their perversions, as they prefer using Lot’s male guests. (Genesis 19:8-9) Finally the two angels get involved and confuse and temporarily blind the aroused men so that they can’t see the door. At last the befuddled group of men wanders off. Then the angels tell Lot and his family that God is going to destroy Sodom and they urge them to leave Sodom as soon as possible.



Time was running out and the next morning the angels grabbed Lot and his family by the hand and hurriedly pulled them out of Sodom. After they were outside the city of Sodom the angels gave Lot and his family some instructions: “Escape for your lives! Do not look behind you or stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” (Genesis 18:17b) Lot’s family ran for their lives and when they had reached safety Scripture tells the story: “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife disobeyed the angels and looked back at the burning cities, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 18:24-26)



Abraham went out that morning and looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah. “And he saw the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.” (Genesis 18:28b) Abraham lived on a hill in Hebron which was about eighteen miles away from Sodom and Gomorrah.



Bible scholars believe that the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were located near the south end of the Dead Sea. Scripture described the area around Sodom and Gomorrah as a lush fertile plane. Lot had chosen the area as ideal for grazing his vast herds of sheep and goats. But today the south end of the Dead Sea is a desolate wasteland. Is it desolate because God reigned fire and brimstone down on it so long ago? And if just ten good people had been found in the two cities, God’s judgment would have been averted! Do we believers have more influence in our world than they realize?



What did Sodom and Gomorrah do that was so evil? Ezekiel 16:49-50 gives us a clue. “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned: they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before Me. Therefore I did away with them, as you have seen.” And also Jude 1:7-8 tells us more. “”In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. In the same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.”



What can we learn from this scary Bible story? I suppose this ancient history lesson teaches us that God won’t tolerate over the top sinning indefinitely. God judged Sodom and Gomorrah when they gave themselves up to homosexuality and immorality. And God punished Sodom and Gomorrah when they became proud and haughty and forgot to take care of the poor. God judged the world with a flood in Noah’s time and prophecy tells us that He will judge the world again at the end of the ages. God has limits and we better not test them. Better not because there comes a time when God has had enough!

What Would Jesus Take?

What Would Jesus Take?

This week Rush Limbaugh, a conservative political talk show host here in the good old U.S.A., shouted and banged his fists on his desk while arguing about Jesus. Mr. Limbaugh was fulminating about a liberal political talk show hostess who had dared to mention Jesus on her morning program. And Rush was fighting mad! ABC’s Christiane Amanpour had made this statement to her viewers: “As Christians around the world celebrate Easter, we ask some of America’s most influential pastors, in these turbulent times, has America lost its way? Taxes and budget cuts. What would Jesus do?”



Rush ranted a bit: “A favorite tactic of the left, you know, when it suits them they’ll talk about Jesus Christ….” He went on fussing that liberals try to make Jesus into a liberal who would stand up for the downtrodden and tax the very rich, whereas Jesus is really a conservative who would never tax the very rich but would balance the budget by cutting out aid to the poor.



Rush continued on arguing his point with these words. “You know the real question is, Ms. Amanpour and the rest of you who seek to co-opt Jesus Christ as simply another prop in your march toward the decline of America. The question is not what would Jesus do, the question is not what would Jesus cut, the question is what would Jesus take? That’s the question you never want to answer. That’s the question you never want to ask. …Who would Jesus Christ decide they got too much and we’re gonna take it from ‘em. …….No, Ms. Amanpour, it’s exactly on the path you and your friends in the media and your president have chosen, the path toward decline, right on schedule. Who would Jesus decide they got too much? ( the rich?) And we’re gonna take it from ‘em? You can try co-op Jesus Christ for your cause all you want … Taxes and budget cuts, what would Jesus do? Well what would Jesus take? That is the question people need to ask to put this in perspective. Of course the answer is nothing. …..”



Rush Limbaugh seems to be speaking for Jesus, a new improved political Jesus, of course. The question that Rush is trying to answer is this: how much would Jesus tax the rich so that the poor and elderly in the U.S.A. could continue getting help. “Of course the answer is nothing” Rush insists. Jesus would never expect the very rich to give any of their wealth in taxes– “ nothing” – no taxes from the wealthy to keep Medicare running and aid continuing for the elderly and the poor. The rich get rich and the poor get poorer. That must be Rush’s Jesus.



It didn’t take long for a liberal talk show host to reply. Lawrence O Donnell on late night MSNBC sounded a lot like a Fundamentalist preacher as he paced back and forth quoting one Bible scripture after another in his response to Rush the next day. O.K. Rush, what would Jesus take? Lawrence O Donnell asked. What would Jesus require from the rich – or from all the rest of us for that matter? Lawrence O Donnell disagreed with Rush Limbaugh’s belief that Jesus would expect “nothing” from the rich – no taxes at all. O Donnell actually believed the opposite! Why Jesus would require everything – our all- he insisted. And then he quoted Bible passages to try to back up his claim.



First O Donnell reads from Mark 10:17-22 where the rich young ruler comes and asks Jesus what he must do to be saved. “As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before Him. “Good Teacher,” he asked, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’ Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ He said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.’ And the man’s face fell. He went away sorrowing, because he had great wealth.”



Next O Donnell quoted Isaiah 3: 14-15. “The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of His people: “It is you who have ruined my vineyard: the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” And he followed up with Luke 14:33. “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.”



And Lawrence O Donnell, our talk show host turned evangelist finished with a scripture about the sheep and the goats found in Matthew 25:31-46. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, …all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come. You who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed You, or thirsty and gave You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for Me.’ Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”



Lawrence O Donnell ends his program by inviting Rush to find a Bible passage anywhere that says that Jesus would be upset that the rich might be required to be generous to the poor. And so it goes. This argument will never be resolved. What would Jesus take (require) of the rich? Is Jesus a liberal or a conservative? Or is He neither?



The Bible tells about a man who comes to Jesus and asks Him to take half of the inheritance money from his brother and give it to him. Let’s listen to what Jesus has to say when it comes to getting involved politically here. “‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ Jesus replied: ‘Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbiter between you?’” (Luke 12:13-14)



Jesus also says: “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) Perhaps we are blaspheming Jesus Christ when we try to represent His message as being partly political? Could we Christians be grasping for more power when we dare to combine church and state. Maybe we are adding to the Word when we mix our own political leanings into our church teachings as part of the one true Christian faith. How many seekers have been turned away from the Lord because many of our churches have become so political? I know several.



I wonder if the question for Christians should be: “What would Jesus ask?” Rather than “What would Jesus take?” I personally believe that Jesus would ask us to love one another and to give to the poor. He would ask us to be compassionate and be our brother’s keeper. We know that Jesus cares deeply about the needy and He wants us to care too.



I could be wrong but I don’t believe that the Lord would want our country to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly and the poor and the desperate by taking away their safety net, even if the wealthy did have to pay more taxes. I believe that God speaks to us through the Bible telling us to give to the needy. I believe He asks us to do that and I believe God wants our country to do that too. But He “asks” us, He doesn’t “take” from us. He waits for our answer. God always seems to respect our free will. He leaves the decision, right or wrong, to us-and to our country. God won’t force us or our country to take care of our poor. Sometimes I really wish He would!

"Because I Love, You Shall Live Also" John 14:19

“Because I Live, You Shall Live Also” John 14:19

We celebrate Easter because Jesus rose from the dead and because He conquered death. But Jesus didn’t just conquer death for Himself, He conquered death for us. He did it for you and me! He tells us, “Because I live you will live also.” We receive new life that lasts forever from Him. What a gift!



Our new eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it begins when we first believe. Christ gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to every person who believes in Him. Scripture says that the Holy Spirit seals us into eternal life and is our guarantee and our ‘down payment’ on this new life. “Now it is God who makes us to stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, sets His seal of ownership on us, and puts His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)



So you see, through Jesus so much has already been done for us. Scripture says that this eternal life is given as a free gift to each person who believes in Christ. But we do have choices to make in what we do with our gift. We can either learn to live in this amazing new life, or we can continue in our old life habits of sin. The Lord will call us to change through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, but He will never force us to change. Since we have free will, it’s our choice.



When we believe in Christ and receive new life, we are instructed to “put to death” our old sinful ways. “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, …not on earthly things…Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:1a,2,5) “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed…” (Colossians 2:8-10)



A friend of mine, who is a Christian, had a problem with these scriptures telling her to “put off” anger and un-loving feelings. She wanted to obey the Lord but her feelings of anger kept hanging around. As a child she had enjoyed a close loving relationship with her mother. But since she had become an adult, her mother had continually criticized her and put her down. Her mother did not seem to like the person that she had become as an adult. She twisted and turned in the wind trying to please her mother and regain her mother’s love, but her mother continued lashing out at her with unkind remarks and encouraging her grown son to do the same.



“How can I “put off” my feelings of anger toward my mother?” she asked the Lord. “Help me feel the way You want me to feel Lord. Give me the ability to love my mother and not always be so frustrated and angry with her.” She prayed. And then the Lord who promises always to be near and help us in our troubles spoke to my friend in that still small voice.

She tells us that first the Lord asked her to give her relationship with her mother to Him and to stop worrying about it. So she stopped and with tears let go of her troubled relationship with her mother and gave it to God. Then the Lord seemed to show her that her mother was not capable of being the loving mother that she wanted: that her mother had problems of her own that kept her from having a close relationship with her. God spoke to her heart and assured her that He would be a “Mother” to her and give her what her mother was unable to give. And then the Lord impressed on her heart that she should love her mother for the good things in the relationship that she still enjoyed and not take the many criticisms to heart.



My friend insists that her prayers were answered and that she was able to “put off” her anger toward her mother even though the criticisms continued. “God gave me the strength and power to not be angry,” she reported joyfully. “I quit counting on my mother to be what I had wanted her to be to me. I gave that up to the Lord. And God gave me the strength to love her and not let her criticisms upset me. God gave me that freedom. I could have never done that in my own strength,” she reported with a smile.



After we have been commanded to “put to death” the sinful desires in our lives and “take off” our old selves, then we are instructed to “clothe ourselves” with or “put on” our new selves. Here is what God asks us to “clothe ourselves” with or “put on”. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all of these virtues put on love…Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts… and be thankful and let the word of Christ dwell in you richly …” (Colossians 3:12-14b,15-16a)



Jesus has given us eternal life and He leaves instructions along with His gift. We are instructed to take off pride and put on humility, take off anger and malice and put on love and forgiveness, take off greed and selfishness and put on compassion and generosity. That’s a lot of “taking off” and “putting on” He is asking of us. But the good news is that we don’t have to do all of that by ourselves. God through the Holy Spirit will give us the power to “put on” the new life and “take off” the old one. (John 14:26, John 1:12, John 16:13 and 1 Cor. 2:10) All we have to do is be willing to follow!

Findinf God Is Like Falling In Love, Lessons from Song of Solomon

Finding God Is Like Falling In Love

Lessons from the Song of Solomon

We were having lunch with a Religious Studies professor from a local Christian college and for twenty minutes the professor had been discussing the importance of keeping our Christian doctrines pure. We Christians are proud of our moral code and of our belief system, he declared. We find God through the traditions and doctrines of the church that have been carefully passed down from generation to generation, he insisted. We must guard against any departures from the correct interpretations and we must continue to honor our rich heritage.



My eyes glazed over. The good professor lectured on but I couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying. Of course we shouldn’t allow heresies to creep into our faith. But it seemed to me that he was describing our living faith as a dry academic dogma! I sensed that he was comparing finding God to finding the correct answer to a problem? And all the time I felt like finding God was more like falling in love!



And I’m not the only one to wonder if perhaps the believer’s mysterious relationship with God is more like falling in love! Scripture tells us that believers are the bride and the body of Christ. (2 Corinthians 1-2) (1 Corinthians 10:16) And we read in the Bible about God’s great love for us and about the Holy Spirit wooing and drawing us to Him. (John 3:8and 16 and Acts 5:14) That sounds a bit like romance now doesn’t it? And when we turn to the Song of Solomon the whole book from beginning to end is about two lovers in love. Jewish scholars have long believed the Song of Solomon to be an allegory expressing the love relationship between God and His chosen people. And for centuries the Christian Church saw the book as reflecting the love between Christ and the Church.



The Song of Solomon begins with: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth – for your love is better than wine. Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is an ointment poured forth: …”(Song of Solomon 1:2-3) And the rest of the book continues with the bride praising and romancing her bridegroom and the bridegroom praising and romancing his bride. The young couple is so deeply in love.



The bride proclaims: “…I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting table and his banner over me was love. Sustain me with cakes or raisins; Refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.” And “I am my beloved’s and his desire is toward me.” (Song of Solomon 2:3b-5 and Song of Solomon 7:10))



And the bridegroom answers: “You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.” And “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse: You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your necklace. How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse. How much better than wine is your love…. “ A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed….” (Song of Solomon 4:7, 9,10,12)



Since the bride is represented here in this love song as her bridegroom’s garden she exclaims: “”Awake. O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.” (Song of Solomon 4: 16) If the bride here is an allegory for the Church or the believer, could this verse represent the believer praying that the Holy Spirit (represented in Scripture as wind) blow into her life or give her power to bear the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, etc? Isn’t it true that the Holy Spirit lives in the believer and continually enables the believer to bear fruit? Fruit that will please our Lord.



The bridegroom answers: “I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey: I have drunk my wine with my milk.” And: “O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah. Lovely as Jerusalem. Awesome as an army with banners! Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me.” (Song of Solomon 5:1a and 6:4-5a)



If the bridegroom here is an allegory for Christ and the bride represents the Church, or if it is God and His people, then these verses are telling us that somehow we matter deeply to our Lord, that He is in love with us and we are attractive to Him. I don’t know about you, but I can’t even begin to take it all in.



If nothing else, the Song of Solomon teaches us that we don’t have all the answers when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. In the third chapter of Song of Solomon the bride is walking the streets at night looking for her bridegroom. She has lost him and is asking the watchmen of the city to help her find him. Like this anxious bride searching for her bridegroom, we too are not in control of our relationship with God! Sometimes He is elusive and seems to hide and there is no three step program to hurry Him back. Our spiritual life is a mystery. There is no easy formula to follow in being a Christian other than believing and obeying and listening for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. We can’t put God in a box.



But God holds us and keeps us through the Holy Spirit in this sacred relationship, mysterious as it may be. When we have once found the Lord there is no where else to go. His love is the best and somehow we know it. The Song of Solomon tells of a night when the bride was looking for her bridegroom and the daughters of Jerusalem asked her why he was so special to her. “My beloved is handsome and ruddy, Chief among ten thousand,” she replies. (Song of Solomon 5:10) And soon after that she found her bridegroom and she exclaimed: “Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go…” (Song of Solomon 4:3)



The bride tells it like it is. There is no other. Her bridegroom is the best. She held him and would not let him go. And that is the way it is when we have a relationship with the Lord. There is an ecstasy in the relationship that is beyond compare. Finding God is like falling in love.

Dem bones, Dem bones, Dem Dry Bones: Can These Bones Live?

Dem Bones, Dem bones, Dem Dry Bones:

Can These Bones Live?

An old Negro Spiritual, “Dem Bones” picks up on a really wild story in the Bible about a valley full of dry human bones scattered everywhere. The prophet Ezekiel is writing the story and he tells us that God carries him off and puts him down in the middle of a valley of bones. And as he is standing there looking over the piles of scattered bones, God asks him if he thinks the old bones could come to life! Ezekiel doesn’t know, he doesn’t have a clue. So God tells him to prophesy over the dry bones. Ezekiel prophesies and amazingly the bones rattle and rustle around and come back together into skeletons. Then flesh and muscles grows over the skeletons and dead people appear lying all around the valley where all the dry bones had been.



Then God tells Ezekiel to prophesy again and ask breath to breathe into the dead people so that they might live. So Ezekiel obeys and prophesies again as God commanded him and the dead bodies come to life and stand up and become a large army of people. I told you it was a really wild story.



The story is from Ezekiel 37 and reads: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘Oh Sovereign Lord, You alone know.’



Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath to enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin: I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’



So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.



Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath: prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them: they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.



Then He said to me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone: we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Oh My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them. I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people will know that I am the Lord,…” (Ezekiel 37:1-13a)



The ten “lost” tribes of Israel were carried off into captivity by the Assyrians 2,700 years ago. Over the centuries they intermarried and lost their Jewish identity and were scattered throughout the world. Only the two tribes of Judah remained. No person in their right mind could believe that after nearly three millenniums those lost tribes from antiquity could be found and be put back together again! But in this story where old scattered bones are brought back together and breathed upon so that they become living people, God is proclaiming that He can and will do just that. With God nothing is impossible.



After Ezekiel finishes his story about the bones coming to life God gives him another picture lesson that says the same thing. – that none of the tribes of Israel will be lost forever. God has Ezekiel take two sticks and write the names of the two tribes of Judah on one stick and the names of the ten lost tribes of Israel on the other. Then God instructs Ezekiel to join the two sticks and hold them together in one hand as one and prophesy over them that they will all be one nation together again in their own land and they will give up their sins and serve God. (Ezekiel 37:15-27) Of course this perfect vision may not happen until Jesus comes again. But according to Gods’ Word it will happen!



The miracle of the bones coming to life is a promise made by God just for Israel isn’t it? Don’t some of the rest of us need a miracle from God too? We have children who have gone wrong or health issues that drag us down. Money problems that never stop or betrayals that we never expected. We’ve waited a long time for answers and finally all our dreams have dried up and scattered and all our hope is dead. We have our own personal valley of dry bones!



But God has made us some promises too! He has promised to breathe new life into the dry bones and valleys of our lives. Let’s listen to just a few of His many promises to us. “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18) “And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall receive.” (Matthew 21:22) “Whatever you ask in My Name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13) “Exceeding great and precious promises have been given to us that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4) and “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witness…” (Acts 1:8)



God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones first before He brought them back to life. And God tells us to pray in faith over our problems and then He will answer. Isn’t it amazing that we are privileged to be co-workers with God. Our prayers and our faith are important to God. He has chosen to use them in His work.



Scripture says that whatever we ask in prayer believing we will receive. That’s a pretty heavy promise. But sometimes we keep praying and believing and praying and believing and nothing seems to happen. Years pass by and still the answer doesn’t come. The dry bones in our valleys are still scattered and dead.



Let’s keep praying and believing. Let’s remember that the dry bones in Ezekiel’s valley aren’t living yet, even though Ezekiel saw the miracle ahead of time. That promise to Israel may not be fulfilled until the end of the age. That may be a long time to wait. And some of our prayers may not be answered until after we die. We may have a long time to wait too. But our prayers will be answered. God will breathe new life into our dry bones. We need to keep the faith.

The Year of Jubilee

The Year of Jubilee

When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, He also gave him commands as to how the Israelites were to manage their farms and vineyards, their businesses and their real estate. If God gave these commands to us today we would have to forget everything we know about business, farming and real estate and start all over again! What God commanded His people to do is mind blowing!



First of all God promised to generously and continually give material blessings to His people if they would try to obey His commands. All He asked them in return was to trust Him with all of their needs and to follow His example and give generously to the needy in their midst. God’s generosity to His people would set them free to pass on that generosity to everybody around them and especially to those in need.



First of all God commanded His people to rest from all of their work every seventh day. Not only were the Israelites to rest, but their workers and their animals were to have the day off too. Notice how God cared about how they treated the animals too! One of the Ten Commandments reads: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. …” (Exodus 20:8)

In that agrarian society 3,500 years ago, most of the Israelites were farmers. God instructed the Israelites to work on their farms and vineyards for six years and then to take a years’ vacation the seventh year and let the land rest. This is what the Lord ordered. “When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather your crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.” (Leviticus 25:2b-5)

I can just imagine that if God instructed all of our farmers to stop farming one whole year out of every seven we would have a fit. “Surely we won’t have enough to eat,” we would insist. And I think the Israelites wondered if they would have enough to eat if they took the year off work. But God wanted His people to let go and trust Him to provide for their needs. Here is what God told Moses to tell the people: “You may ask, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops? I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.” (Leviticus 15: 20-22)

God added: “But during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.” (Exodus 23:11b) God would bless His people so abundantly that they could feed the poor among them and the wild animals. Also God’s people were instructed during harvest time to leave a portion of their crops for the poor and the hungry to take. They were to look after each other, give to anyone who asked for help. They were to have time to rest and recharge, listen to God and enjoy life. No tight penny pinching folks in God’s group!

And if these amazing commands weren’t enough, God commanded His people to proclaim the Year of Jubilee every fifty years. Every fifty years trumpets would sound and liberty would be proclaimed throughout the land. All debt would be canceled and all the slaves would be freed! All land that had been sold would be given back to the original owner. If the Jewish nation obeyed God and observed the Year of Jubilee, the poor would be given a fresh start and those who had been forced to sell their land or their homes would get them back. The rich wouldn’t become richer on the backs of the poor in God’s economy.

And real estate was conducted differently than it is today. God instructed them: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine.” (Leviticus 25:23) God’s people were given the use of the land. They were managers of the land but not owners. God was the sole owner and landlord of all the land.

If a Jewish person fell into hard times and had to sell his land, the price would be calculated on how many seasons were left for growing crops until the Year of Jubilee. No real estate sale was ever permanent since Jubilee cancelled all sales. The land would be worth much more if thirty years remained before Jubilee than if just ten years were left. The land was valued by how many years were left to plant and harvest crops before the land would be returned to the original owner!

God continued to remind His people to take care of the poor and sick and disadvantaged in their midst. He warns them that He will not bless them it they forget the poor. “Cursed be he who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.” (Deuteronomy 27:19) And God forbids His people from charging interest when they loan money to one another. “Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, …You must not lend money at interest or sell him food at a profit for I am the Lord your God,…” Leviticus 25:36-37)

Life for us today in this global economy is vastly different from what it was for the ancient Israelites of Moses’ day. For one thing ancient Israel was supposed to be a theocracy. All of the Israelites were supposed to worship the one true God, whereas in our democratic society we have freedom of religion and all religions are represented. We are an individualistic society whereas ancient Israel was very communal. God’s instructions for those ancient people would not speak to how we do business today. But what lessons can we take from those ancient commands? And how does God want us to do our business today?

For one thing God wanted justice and equity for ancient Israel and He wants that for us today too. God wanted a kinder and gentler society then and He wants that for us today. We live in a competitive and individualistic culture today where there are winners and losers. Even our games are highly competitive. God never encouraged His people to be competitive or to try to get ahead of the pack. Instead God taught His children to work for the common good, and to take care of one another.

We live in a materialistic culture today where the gross national product is valued above everything else. We will sell our souls for the bottom line. The productivity of the average worker has been pushed to the breaking point so that maximum profits can be earned. Frantic workers are often stressed to the breaking point trying to reach their quotas. Employees work harder and longer with less time off. Cut throat tactics are regularly used in the workplace and loyalty is a thing of the past. Jobs are sent overseas and faithful long term workers are fired and replaced with cheaper labor in order to save a few bucks. And some even dare to call these maneuvers Christian!

So we may feel a tinge of jealousy when we read God’s ancient commands in Scripture calling His beloved children to celebrate the Year of Jubilee! Instead of pushing His people for more production, God instructed them to leave part of their harvest for the poor and the wild animals. Instead of teaching His children how to manipulate the stock market, God commanded them not to charge interest when they made loans and to cancel all debt every fifty years. Instead of working them harder, God told His children to take a year off, celebrate and trust Him to provide for their needs.

Maybe in our rush to get ahead, we have done it all backwards after all. We think we are better off financially but we may have paid a price spiritually. Perhaps we can stop and ask God to lead us back to a kinder and gentler way of living. And perhaps we can learn something after all from those lessons given so long ago concerning the Year of Jubilee.