As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’” They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

–Mark 11.1-11 (NIV)

On Friday, taking my cue from Bishop N.T. Wright, I asked the question, “What would it look like if God were running the show [here on earth]?” In other words, what would we expect to see if we saw God putting to right the wrongs of this world and overcoming the evil that plagues it? As is often the case, what we expect to see is very different from what actually is. Today’s Scripture passage is a case in point.

Many of the Jews in Jesus’ day expected the Messiah–God’s holy and anointed one–to deliver them from the yoke of political oppression. They expected to see God’s Messiah come to them in the form of a mighty warrior and conquering hero. But Jesus, God’s true Messiah, had other plans in mind. He had a different view of who and what Messiah (the Christ) should be. God in the man Jesus came to them as a lowly servant, just as the prophet Zechariah had predicted.

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (9.9)

As we watch God in Jesus act out the so-called Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem we are shocked, much like I suspect Jesus’ contemporaries were. He does not enter Jerusalem as a mighty warrior, but as one who is lowly. Clearly God in Jesus wanted to show us he had a different idea in mind for us when we think about how he will act to overcome the sin and evil of this world.

God in Jesus does not intend to overcome evil with force but with love, the kind he demonstrated for us on the cross.

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry on that Palm Sunday put into place a series of events that would eventually lead to his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. As we think about the notion of a crucified God, a crucified Messiah, at once our minds go back to the prophet Isaiah’s Suffering Servant found in chapters 52.13-53.12. I quote the passage in full below because it is important that we reflect on it.

See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
so he will sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

This is the kind of Messiah Jesus intended to be. This is how God is putting to right all the wrongs of the world (and us). And if we are to follow Jesus, this is how we must act as well. God is not overcoming sin and evil by the brute force of his omnipotent power. We don’t see him waving his hand to zap or magically transform all that bedevils his fallen creation. Instead, we see him take on our humanity and go to the cross to accomplish his good will for us and to end our alienation from him.

It is completely unexpected and it is completely wonderful. Thanks be to God!

Has God completely overcome evil and all that is wrong with his world and us? Of course not. Just take a look around you. But in Jesus we know that God’s plan for the redemption of the world has started, if not yet fully consummated, and if we love our Lord and seek to follow him, we too must take up our cross everyday, deny ourselves, and follow him. What will that look like? I don’t know what it will look like for you because I do not know what God has in mind for you. You will need to ask God about that yourself. But there are some things every follower of Jesus can do to help him in bringing about his Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.

For example, we can choose to forgive those who wrong us instead of seeking to exact revenge on them. We can choose to right injustices where we see them, or at least speak out against them–not injustices of our own making but the real injustices that Scripture clearly identifies. We can choose to love mercy over justice in our dealings with others and we can seek to end (or at least alleviate) suffering where we see it and where we are able. While we might not be able to heal the sick or give hearing to the deaf or sight to the blind, we can pray for those who can, and ask God to equip them with knowledge, wisdom, skill, and compassion for those they treat. This barely scratches the surface but you get the point. (And if you don’t get the point, then I encourage you to go back and read Scripture starting with the 10 commandments to get an understanding of what it means to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6.8). As you do, be careful not to let the historical context in which the commandments were given trip you up.)

This is how Scripture tells us God is working to put right all that has gone wrong in his world. Notice Scripture spends precious little time talking about why things have gone wrong in his world. Our Lord himself said almost nothing about that and we should take our cue from him in this as well. Instead of spending a lot of time and emotional energy ruminating about the “whys” of this life, questions to which we will almost never get an answer, we would be better served (and better able to serve our Lord) if we rolled up our sleeves and got busy to help him in his Kingdom work, at least in those areas we hear him calling us to help and which we have the ability to make a difference. That is the wonderful thing about how God has chosen to bring forth his Kingdom here on earth. He has become human with all of our human limitations and gotten busy in doing his work. He calls us to do likewise and we know we are able to answer his call because we see him doing things that we are able to do as well.

Imagine that. The Creator and Lord of this universe, King Jesus, calls us to follow him and help him in his redemptive work! What a terrific opportunity and privilege! Take some time to learn more about how God is bringing about his Kingdom here on earth in Jesus and then ask him to show you the plans he has for you to help him continue his life-saving and redemptive work. If you have the trust and faith to take the plunge, you will be embarking on the ride of your lifetime.

And if you do take the plunge, remember this. You will not be in it by yourself. You will be doing Kingdom work confident that you have the help and blessing of Jesus himself, who has ascended to God to assume his rightful role as Lord and King of the universe, and who has promised to send us his very Spirit to live in us and guide us in our work for him. It won’t be easy–Kingdom work never is because there is so much opposition to it–but you will find it to be some of the most satisfying and meaningful work you have ever engaged in. Pretty cool if you ask me.

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

–Mark 10.32-45 (NIV)

I am indebted to Bishop N.T. Wright, former bishop of Durham, for the controlling idea that follows in today’s reflection. He asked this wonderfully thought-provoking question in a recent lecture at Duke University. “What would it look like if God were running the show [here on earth]?” I will attempt to put some details to +Wright’s controlling idea in this and future reflections. So if you don’t like the supporting details, then blame me for screwing up a good idea, not Bishop Wright. 🙂

Two things jump out at us immediately in today’s passage that provide answers to the above question. In the first part of the passage, we see that God’s rescue plan for us involves his own suffering and death in Jesus and this causes us both to be astonished and afraid. In the context of today’s passage, Jesus’ disciples are astonished because they probably cannot believe he is going to put himself in mortal danger by going to Jerusalem. For those who loved Jesus, this would also have undoubtedly made them afraid, both for him and for their own future as well as their hopes and dreams.

Likewise with us. We are astonished at the nature of God’s rescue plan for us to end our alienation and exile from him, which without a rescue plan can only lead to our death. If God is omnipotent, why can’t he just forgive us and be done with it? Why all the mess of the cross and its accompanying ghastly torture? But to think thusly ignores the need for God to be true to himself. In other words, it ignores the need for God to satisfy his holy justice. I do not have the time or space here to explicate this fully. Suffice it to say that the way God rescues us from our alienation from him initially surprises and troubles us deeply. We don’t expect a King to hang on a cross, let alone the King of the universe.

The second thing that jumps out at us is what our relationships will look like when we see God running the show here on earth. We see this clearly illustrated in the second scenario in today’s passage. Good old James and John brashly demonstrate that they don’t get how things will work in God’s Kingdom, despite Jesus’ steadfast effort to teach them. They ask him for the privilege of being the top dogs with him in his new Kingdom, his right hand men so to speak, and are told in no uncertain terms that the traditional notions of power and prestige will have no place in God’s Kingdom. Instead, the great ones will be called servants. The great ones will not be getting served by the worker bees, but rather will be doing the serving! Moreover, Jesus tells us that if we need an example to follow, he will provide it himself by giving his life to ransom us from the terrible cost of our sin.

Uh oh. Sounds like he expects us to imitate him in that “taking up your cross everyday” thingy. I mean, really, Jesus.

This too is completely unexpected and causes us to be both astonished and afraid because we don’t want to give up our self-perceived place as king or queen of the universe. Let’s face it. We would rather be served than to serve! We would rather be Emperor of the World (or at least king of the hill) rather than some lowly, ignored, and unappreciated, no-account servant.

But no. What we see being required of us when God establishes himself as King here on earth will be a life of sacrifice and servanthood. We are to aspire to be the least rather than the greatest. Are you living such a life? Does that even sound like a life you would want to live?

When we look at the Kingdom of God being established here on earth we are both astonished and afraid because we don’t see a kingdom the way the world sees and defines it. Instead of being the center of things and enjoying both power and status, if we want to be part of God’s Kingdom here on earth we are to take up our cross every day, deny our selves (not to be confused with abandoning our core personality), and follow Jesus in serving others. It’s counter-intuitive and that makes us afraid. But if by the help of the Holy Spirit we are able to take the plunge, we can be confident that our lives will suddenly take on new and fresh meaning and purpose. We will also be able to live with the assurance that our future is secure so that we can look forward to life in ways that will only astonish us.

Catch a glimpse of the Kingdom and then ask Jesus to help you take the plunge in following him if you have not done so already. You will find that as you do, your astonishment will increase but your fear will be obliterated because you will come to know the One who loves you and gave himself for you so that you can enjoy life here on this earth and forever. It won’t necessarily be the kind of enjoyment that money or power or prestige can bring. It will be the kind of enjoyment that results when we know we are living faithful and obedient lives that are pleasing in the eyes of the King whom we love and serve.

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

–2 Timothy 2.1-10 (NIV)

The Bible urges us to remember but how often we forget! And to our own peril! That is why it is important for us to keep holding in our minds exemplars of the faith so that we can study and imitate them.

Look at Paul in this passage. He is in prison, chained like a criminal. He is awaiting his execution. Why is he being executed? Because he is a Christian and has confessed Jesus as Lord and not Caesar. States that demand our ultimate loyalty typically do not take kindly to that kind of nonsense. Neither do the various enemies of the cross.

So what does Paul do? Do we see him wringing his hands in despair? Making out his last will and testament? Lamenting over all that he has suffered for Jesus’ sake? Is he bitter and resentful over his situation or over the fact that he is about to give everything he has for the sake of Jesus?

Nope. Instead, we find Paul urgently giving Timothy final instructions about how to remain “in Christ,” about how to ensure that the Gospel is passed down faithfully to others and to future generations. Right up to the end, Paul is concerned about serving his Lord and nothing is going to get in the way of it, not even his impending death.

Either Paul was on to something wonderful or he was a lunatic.

As we have said here before, we all have to decide whether we will follow Jesus and give our lives to and for him. Paul shows us what can happen when we choose Jesus, but he also reminds us why he does it. He knows that the story is going to turn out well despite outward appearances. As our Lord reminded us, don’t be afraid of those who can merely kill the body. After they do so, there is nothing else they can do. Instead, fear the One who can kill both soul and body. Paul is certainly practicing here what Jesus preached.

Think on these things. Spend some time picturing Paul chained in that dark, dank dungeon, awaiting his execution and dictating his final letter to his young protege so that Timothy will also be a faithful minister of the Gospel. Consider why Paul would do that and give him the benefit of the doubt that he was no lunatic. Paul was onto something. See the power at work that was not his. Do you have what Paul had? Do you even want to have what Paul had? How you answer will give you great insight into your worldview and the real state of your affairs.

If you want to know what the Christian life looks like, take note of Paul here. You may not end up in prison for Jesus’ sake. You may not be required to give your mortal life for Jesus’ sake. But following him will be costly and you had best be prepared for that. Yet that isn’t the end of the story. Pay attention to Paul’s faith in the Bigger Picture of life and living. Note the unflinching belief that his faithfulness to Jesus would not go unrequited. And note too Paul’s almost inexplicable joy that flows throughout this epistle. You cannot have that kind of faith and joy without knowing intimately the Source of both. That is the key to Paul’s secret. It can be the key to yours too.

[Paul wrote to Timothy] I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

–2 Timothy 1.5-14 (NIV)

2 Timothy was probably the last letter Paul ever wrote, at least that we know about. Later in this epistle he writes that he is chained like a criminal and from this we can conclude he was awaiting his execution at the hands of Rome, all for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel. When we keep this information in the forefront of our mind and read this letter to Timothy, it makes an already poignant letter even more so. Here was a man who practiced what he preached and was about to pay the ultimate price for doing so. Why would Paul do this?

First, because Paul knew the One whom he served. He tells us that he is confident in Jesus’ power to deliver him. Paul is not talking about being spared from the sword. He is talking about Jesus’ power to deliver him from eternal death–permanent separation from God. This was Paul’s secret. It was what allowed him to put up with suffering for the Gospel because as he tells us above, faith in Jesus (and his Gospel) doesn’t make us wimps; it gives us power–power to overcome our fears, our weaknesses, and our brokenness. More importantly, with the help of the Spirit, the Gospel gives us the power to love, which provides us with the proper motivation to live as God’s children and to share his Gospel. God’s Holy Spirit living in us gives us power to proclaim the Gospel and to do it faithfully.

That is why Paul is so adamant here (and elsewhere) that Timothy (and others) faithfully proclaim the Gospel. It is God’s free gift to us and not ours to change or manipulate according to our own desires or agendas. Sadly, we only need to look at what has generally happened to those churches in this country that have indeed forsaken the Gospel, the faith once delivered to the saints, to see how right Paul was. For the most part, the mainline denominations in this country are dying because they no longer faithfully preach and teach the Gospel. When we don’t faithfully preach the Gospel, we really don’t have any good news to offer folks and most instinctively know this and shy away.

Second, Paul understood that the Gospel is God’s free gift to us. It is God’s eternal Rescue Plan for us and it fundamentally changes us. As Paul tells us above, God has acted decisively in our history through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to end our exile and alienation from God. We didn’t do anything to merit this gift; God gives it to us freely because, well, he is God.

When, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we come to a saving faith in Christ it changes us (that process is never neat and tidy, but usually rather quite messy and idiosyncratic). We fall in love with this God who first loved us and vow to make him Lord instead of ourselves. In biblical language this is called repentance. When we repent, we endeavor with the Spirit’s help to stop missing the mark (which is what the Greek word for repentance literally means). We stop trying to please ourselves and act instead like we really do believe Jesus is Lord. This will inevitably get us in trouble with the powers of this world, a world openly hostile to God and his reign, and cause us to suffer just as Paul did. (If you want to learn exactly how Paul suffered for Jesus’ sake, go back and start reading Acts beginning with chapter 9 or get a quick summary by reading Paul’s own account to the Corinthians regarding what he endured for Jesus’ sake. It is a remarkable story.)

If you don’t believe that following Jesus will cause you to suffer, then try challenging the evil you see in this world and watch what happens. Try advocating a wholesome and Christian concept of marriage and watch the reaction from some quarters of our society. Or challenge the unbridled greed that causes exploitation and suffering and see what happens. At a more personal level, try loving mercy over revenge and count its cost on you the next time someone you trust sticks it to you. Or try telling others that Jesus is Lord and Caesar isn’t and you will likely incur the wrath of those who believe our ultimate loyalty should be made manifest in an unquestioning patriotism. This is what happened to Jesus. This is what happened to Paul. And this is what will happen to you should you choose to have faith in Jesus and confess him as your Lord instead of Caesar or any of the world’s systems.

But a funny thing will happen to you should you choose to give your life to Jesus. You will find that reorienting your life to serve Jesus and not the things of this world will “fan into flame” the gift of faith God has given you. In other words, you will find that Jesus will use your suffering to make you become more like him and whatever that looks like, becoming more Christlike can never be a bad thing, even if it does meet with the world’s opposition and disapproval. Why? Because the world cannot give you life or raise you from the dead. Because the world is fundamentally flawed, it can never give you real meaning and purpose for living. Only God your Creator can do that in and through Jesus.

Accepting the gift of the Gospel is costly. It will cost you your ultimate allegiance to yourself and this world and its systems. It will cost you in terms of suffering and trials because you will have to take up your cross each day and follow Jesus. If you take seriously Jesus’ call to follow him, you will likely lose friends and sadly even some family over it. You won’t be a very popular person in some circles of society nor will you be considered to be cool or enlightened or chic or savvy. And yes, there will be those who hate you so much they will want to hurt or kill you.

But what a benefit package you have if you can persevere! Talk about a “golden parachute”! Having faith in the Gospel (i.e., following Jesus) will give you power–God’s power to love and serve. It will give you meaning and purpose in this life. And finally it will change you into the person God created you to be. The Bible calls this process “repenting” and “becoming like Christ” or “growing into the full stature of Christ.” It’s what it means to become a mature Christian. Jesus will use your obedience to him to help you grow to become ever more like him and this is tangible evidence that you have life in you, not just mortal life but real life, the kind that never dies. And because you will come to know Jesus the way Paul did, like Paul, you will know that Jesus really is true to his word and has the power to deliver on his fantastic promises.

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

–Isaiah 58.1-9 (NIV)

In today’s passage the old prophet takes Judah (and us) to school. God reminds us through Isaiah that all too often we get our end and means mixed up. Too often, we broken humans focus more on doing things that are supposed to keep us humble and focused on God rather than remembering that things like fasting and prayer are simply the means to that end. Simply put, they are means to help us remember that Jesus is Lord and we are here to obey and serve him, not ourselves.

As God points out through Isaiah, God is not interested when we make his means our end. If we do not come to him in prayer with an open, honest, and humble heart in which we know God is God and we are not, we can expect God to ignore our prayers. He is not interested in helping us in our efforts of self-aggrandizement. Likewise, if we fast and then act in ugly ways toward others because of it, or if we act in ways that draw others’ attention to the fact we are fasting (an act of self-aggrandizement), God is not interested in that either. That is not a sacrificial act on our part. We are simply going through the motions because we think doing so will make us righteous in God’s sight and the sight of others. We are making the means an end.

No, what God wants from us is for us to love him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But there is the rub. Most of us simply cannot or will not do that on our own without some incentive.

The incentive, of course, is the cross of Jesus because it is the symbol of God’s eternal invitation to end our exile from him.

As we have seen before, as long as we do not fully appreciate the folly, hopelessness, and utter futility of the human condition and our ability to fix ourselves so that we can live in God’s Holy Presence, we will never begin to appreciate the wondrous thing God has done for us. But when, by the grace of God and the power of his Spirit working in us, we start to comprehend the mess we are in and begin to see the cross for what it is, it changes everything for us. It makes us fall in love with God all over again (or for the first time). It makes us fall to our knees in humble prayer and thanksgiving to God for ending our exile from him. It makes us confess that Jesus is Lord and we are not.

And when that happens, we begin to act like Jesus is Lord. We begin to show our love for him, in part, by demonstrating our love for others, and this is an end that is pleasing to God. What does that look like? Isaiah tells us in today’s passage. We will be implacably opposed to injustice of any form–real injustice about which God is concerned, not the injustice of our own making or that reflects our personal or political agendas. We will look out for society’s poor and most helpless and move to do something to help them. We will honor our fathers and mothers. We will feed the hungry and clothe the naked. We will heal the sick and tend to the brokenhearted. The list is endless because the world’s needs are endless.

Doing any of this, of course, requires a heart that is not self-centered. It requires a generous spirit and a willingness to not be the center of attention all the time. It requires a heart that is compassionate and truly cares about people and their needs. This is where the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting, et al. (the means) come in because God can use those means of grace to help create in us the kind of generous hearts and spirits that are pleasing in his sight.

And of course when we start demonstrating our love for the Lord Jesus and our willingness to obey and serve him, we are providing the world a witness of what the Kingdom of God looks like and how God intends to set his world aright. Talk about an opportunity to live your life with meaning and purpose!

But doing this will be costly. With the Spirit’s help, it will entail putting to death all that is in you that wants to rebel against doing any of this. It will mean that we will face ridicule and opposition. We will have to suffer for the Name’s sake. Don’t believe me? Look at the opposition Jesus aroused as he showed folks in his society what the in-breaking of the Kingdom looks like. That, among other things, ended up getting the Lord of the universe crucified, and he warns those who would follow him that the same thing will happen to them.

Yet if Jesus is who he says he is, the cost pales in comparison to the benefits. We who love Jesus and act as if he really is our Lord have new life and new creation. We no longer serve ourselves but rather the God who loves us and gave himself for us, and a powerful way to serve God is to serve others. What an amazing thing it is to think that the very Lord of Creation is willing to use us, warts and all, to help him usher in his Kingdom here on earth. If you can’t find meaning and purpose in that, I’m not sure you will ever be able to find meaning and purpose in your life.

Does this mean that we are to ignore the means of Christian discipline–prayer, fasting, reading Scripture, receiving the sacraments, Christian fellowship, acts of service? Of course not. These disciplines are tried and true means to a greater end. They help us better demonstrate our love of Jesus and our faith in  him. But they are not ends in themselves and we must always be on our guard to make sure they don’t become ends. Here are two good questions to continually ask yourself. “Why am I doing what I am doing? Who do I want to ultimately get the glory?” Answering these questions honestly well help ensure that you don’t get your means and end confused.

Oh yes. There is one other critical piece to all of this. Notice carefully to whom God is addressing through the prophet. It is not individual Jews; it is the nation of Judah. God expects us to act together as his people, not as autonomous individuals. In other words, God intends those who declare Jesus as Lord to be part of Jesus’ body, the Church. Only then will we be obey God fully and act like Jesus really is Lord. Working together as Christ’s body is God’s will for us to show others what the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom really looks like. Sure, we have to do our part as individuals, but we also have to be faithful collectively as Christ’s body, the Church. God did not create us to be Lone Rangers. He created us to live, work, and serve together and that is how he can best use us to love and serve him, and to minister to his broken and hurting world.

Keep your means and end straight. Use the means of grace to help you love and obey Jesus together. When you do, not only can you expect the Power of God to work in you to help him accomplish his redemptive purposes for his fallen world, you will also be able to enjoy the benefits of Christian fellowship and mutual accountability along the way. Doing so will bring you strength in your weakness and a heart full of joy, meaning, and purpose. If that sounds like something you can sink your teeth into, take the plunge and give your life to Jesus. He will take you on the ride of your life.

Sermon delivered Saturday, February 5, 2011 at the Schoedinger Funeral Home, Columbus, OH. There is no audio version of this sermon available.

Lectionary texts: Job 19:20-27a; Psalm 121; Revelation 21:2-7; Psalm 23; John 11:21-27.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Good afternoon, everyone! I am officiating this service and preaching to you this afternoon because Tom asked me to do so. It is a request that makes me very sad to fulfill, especially given the sudden and unexpected timing of his death, but I am honored and humbled to do so. You know, when I asked Tom why he wanted me to preach at his funeral, he told me that my sermons reminded him of the peace and mercy of God. I asked Tom what he meant and he told me that my sermons reminded him of God’s peace because they pass all understanding, and God’s mercy because they seem to extend forever.

I want to speak a word of hope to you this afternoon, a hope that is uniquely ours as Christians. I do not offer it as a disinterested third party because over the past several months I have come to know and care about Tom and Alice. And so I offer you this word of hope as one who grieves with you.

Life can beat us down at times, can’t it? For those of us who knew and loved Tom, it was tough to watch him battle an awful disease like cancer and all that it can do to the body and mind. To say the least, we, like Martha in today’s Gospel lesson, are sometimes tempted to cry out in anguish, “Lord, if you had only been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). Illness, infirmity, suffering, and death can make us fall into despair to the point where we are tempted to give up all hope and wonder where God is in it all.

But just when we are tempted to fall into despair the way Martha did, we remember that our Redeemer lives and like Job in today’s OT reading, that suddenly changes everything for us.  Because Jesus our Redeemer lives, we are reminded that our sin and the separation it causes from God does not have the final say or the last laugh. Because Jesus our Redeemer lives, we remember that God loves his fallen creatures so much that he became human and lived among us, fully human and fully God. On the cross, God bore the punishment for our sins. He took care of the intractable problem of human sin that causes separation between God and us, and gave us our one and only hope and chance to live with him forever. In becoming human, God reminds us that we humans have worth in his eyes, that he intends to redeem us, not destroy us. The cross is God’s eternal invitation to us to come and live with him, now and for all eternity.

Because Jesus our Redeemer lives, we remember that in his mighty Resurrection the tyranny of death is ultimately destroyed. The Resurrection reminds us that life is more than biological existence. It reminds us that life, real life, is enjoying a relationship with the Source and Author of all life, and that God has acted decisively in human history to break the bonds of death so we can enjoy that life with him, not for a span of years, but forever.

This is what Jesus was trying to get Martha to see in today’s Gospel lesson. Did you notice he did not answer her implied question about why awful things can sometimes afflict us? Instead, Jesus gave her a much more satisfactory answer. He reminded her about what constitutes living and real life. Jesus reminded Martha (and us) that in him, God was doing the impossible for us. This wondrous gift of life is ours if we will accept his gracious invitation to enter a relationship with him by faith, to trust God to be true to his word, and to invite him to live in us to transform us into his very likeness so that we can enjoy real life with him, both now and for all eternity.

Why is this important for us to remember today as we come to celebrate Tom’s life? Because he believed the Promise. When I first met Tom and Alice I was amazed at their faith. Usually when someone is dealing with a terminal illness, he or she is afraid and can struggle mightily with impending death. But there wasn’t a trace of that in Tom, and I asked him about it several times. It was quite inspirational! You see, Tom had a real relationship with the Living Lord who loves him and claimed him from all eternity, and as the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 23, not even the darkest darkness of physical death can separate Tom from God’s great love in Jesus Christ. Tom knew that his Redeemer lives. That is why he did not fear death in his mortal body and that is why we know that even now he is alive and enjoying life as God intended it to be lived.

But the Good News of Jesus our Redeemer does not stop there. While we Christians believe that God has decisively defeated evil and death in the death and resurrection of Christ, the final victory is not yet fully consummated. We wouldn’t be here right now if that were the case, would we? But as our lesson from Revelation reminds us, when Christ returns to finish his mighty work, God will raise our mortal bodies and transform them into resurrected ones that will no longer be subject to any of the awful things that can happen to our mortal bodies. There will be no more hurting, suffering, sickness, sorrow, infirmity, or death. God will wipe away all of our tears forever. We will be reunited with our loved ones, never again to be separated from them, and best of all, we will get to live directly in God’s Presence forever with our new resurrection bodies in his New Creation. What a magnificent vision and glorious hope! For those who know and love Tom, I cannot think of anything more comforting than contemplating the hope and glory of God’s promised New Creation. And we have that hope because we know Jesus our Redeemer lives.

Certainly, this is not to deny our sorrow, nor will it take away the pain we feel from our loss, and from being separated from Tom. After all, God created us for relationships, both with him and others. You cannot love a person all your life and not feel the pain of separation. But because Jesus our Redeemer lives, we are reminded that God has in mind for us things that we can only begin to imagine, things that only a loving Father can provide his hurting children.

Therefore, let the knowledge that Jesus our Redeemer lives sustain us in the midst of our grief, and let us embrace God’s gracious promise to us with joy and thanksgiving as we remember what he has already done for us and what he has promised to complete. Practically speaking, this makes it possible for those who grieve for Tom to actually experience joy during this season of grief because we remember that real joy is always based on what God has done for us in Christ, not on the circumstances of this life. Yes, we will miss Tom’s physical presence. We will miss hearing his voice and interacting with him. But we know where he is and Who he is with. We know that our hurt and separation from him is only for a season, not forever.

And if you are struggling with or wavering in your faith, or if you do not know the love of God in Christ, then I invite you this afternoon to consider the great hope and promise of Jesus our Redeemer. Ask him to come into your life to heal your hurts and to help you live your life with real hope, meaning, and purpose. You will not be disappointed if you give him a real chance and open yourself up to his transformative Presence. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you might have done (or not done). Christ loves each of us, warts and all, and wants each of us to enjoy living life with power, meaning, and purpose, starting right here and now.

We live in a broken and fallen world, and it is often painful. But take heart and hope. Because Jesus our Redeemer lives, we know that God has overcome the world and its brokenness. By becoming human, God reminds us that he loves us, that he values his created order and creatures, and that he has moved decisively to end our exile from him once and for all. He has obliterated the power of death forever and he invites us to join him in a living relationship that nothing in all creation can ever break—not infirmity, not cancer, not suffering or death. He has promised to return in power and glory to finish his great redemptive work and destroy all evil and hurtful things forever. And best of all, we will all get to live directly in his Presence forever. That’s good news for Tom and for all the rest of us, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Whom have you so dreaded and feared
that you have not been true to me,
and have neither remembered me
nor taken this to heart?
Is it not because I have long been silent
that you do not fear me?
I will expose your righteousness and your works,
and they will not benefit you.
When you cry out for help,
let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain.”

–Isaiah 57.11-13 (NIV)

This passage is actually assigned to tomorrow but I essentially covered today’s reading in yesterday’s post. Check it out.

I always have to chuckle whenever I read a story about a new traffic camera or monitoring device being installed somewhere that will ticket speeders or those who run red lights. The outcry of protests is predictable. “It’s a violation of our rights! It’s an intrusion of big government in our lives, etc., etc.!” In some cases this may be true, but I suspect if those who howl in protest are really honest with themselves (and others), they would reluctantly admit that what they are really howling about is not freedom, but rather being held accountable for their behavior (and I am among those who do not like these little critters because I, um, sometimes drive a wee bit faster than I should and/or scurry through those “pink” traffic lights). The fact of the matter is that where such devices are in place, people slow down and stop running red lights as frequently, which in turn makes our roads safer. This principle behind traffic monitoring devices also holds true for almost any form of accountability. Where we are held legitimately accountable for our actions, we tend not to misbehave.

Like it or not, we humans apparently need to be held accountable, and this make sense given how badly broken we are. We see this illustrated very clearly in the passage above from Isaiah. God takes his people to task for their idolatrous behavior, chastising them for doing so, in part, because they didn’t believe that God would hold them accountable for their actions. Because God in his mercy and infinite patience hadn’t acted to punish his people for their idolatrous behavior, they mistakenly believed they had gotten away with it. We can relate to this dynamic because we are every bit as wayward and rebellious. Material and scientific progress have been made, yes, but the human condition remains the same.

But God reminds them (and us) that looks can be deceiving. He tells them in no uncertain terms that he will hold them accountable because he loves them and wants them to conduct their lives in ways that will end their alienation from him and bring them life.

It is a choice each one of us must make and whatever we decide, God reminds us that he is going to hold us accountable for our decisions. As Dr. John Stott reminds us frequently, distasteful as being held accountable might be to us, it is actually God verifying the dignity of human beings, by acknowledging we are moral beings capable of choice and being responsible for our actions.

Sadly, however, we are so badly broken that many of us simply refuse to acknowledge this reality. We tool along in life following our own agenda and pursuing those things that cannot bring real life, meaning, satisfaction, or raise us from the dead. We pursue almost everything but developing a relationship with the living God in Christ. And we rankle when we are reminded that we only have two choices regarding our final destiny. We will either live under God’s wrath (separation from him forever–call it what you’d like) or we will live with God forever, ultimately in his New Creation, a destiny that is ours only through the great love, tender mercies, and mind-blowing grace of God as manifested in the cross of Jesus.

That’s it. There are no other available options and it really is an urgent matter of life and death because none of us is guaranteed another day to live on this earth.

None of us likes this but that doesn’t change the facts on the ground, and so instead of griping and complaining about it, we would be better served to make up our minds about the course of action we will pursue. We had better decide right now where we want to end up when all is said and done. Make no mistake, we cannot “earn” our way into God’s Holy Presence. As it stands now, none of us can ever dwell in God’s Space because the Holy cannot abide the presence of the unholy.

But take heart. Things aren’t hopeless. None of us is outside the love of God, none of us, and permanent separation from him doesn’t have to be our destiny. The Bible tells us that a successful rescue operation has already been effected. Our destiny need not be death, but life. What we must do is accept God’s gracious invitation in Christ to come and live with him in his Space, starting today. We simply must trust that the offer is legitimate and true and then spend the rest of our days demonstrating to God (and ourselves) that we believe the Promise. As we saw yesterday, this is no cakewalk and we can expect tremendous opposition along the way. But God’s love, grace, mercy, and power are stronger than the opposition and we can rest assured that he is with us, helping us in our weakness.

None of us likes to be held accountable but accountability is a fact of life and it is for our good. Are you willing to take a chance and allow God to hold you accountable for the way you live your life (actually he will whether you want him to or not)? Are you willing to trust the One who loves you and gave himself for you on the cross so that you can live with him forever?

If you are, take the plunge. Join with other Christians and live your lives together. Pick up your Bible and begin to read about God’s rescue operation so that you know what it looks like. Memorize verses from Scripture so that you can recall them when life gets hard and you need help. Meditate on those verses and pray them for your life. It will change you in ways you cannot even begin to imagine. This is called Christian discipleship and it promises to free you to live a joyous and peace-filled life in any and every circumstance. Oh yeah. The final destination ain’t bad either.

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them,“Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

–Mark 8.27-36 (NIV)

In today’s passage, we gain insight into what kind of Messiah (God’s anointed One) Jesus is and what we must do to follow him. As Mark makes clear in the exchange between Jesus and his disciples, especially Peter, Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah they were expecting and things haven’t changed a lot since then. Jesus continues to violate our expectations of him. He still refuses to allow us to make him into our own image. I don’t know about you, but I hate it when that happens. But as Mark also makes clear, everyone of us must ultimately make a decision about who Jesus is–right, wrong, or indifferent–and what we decide will have both present and eternal ramifications for us.

We have immediate empathy for Peter in this story because he is us. Aided by the Holy Spirit, Peter initially gets it. He tells Jesus he is the Messiah or Christ, God’s anointed One whom the Jews expected to usher in the the Messianic Age, an era in which God finally would put to right all that had gone wrong with his creation. We can just see Peter now. He’s guessed who Jesus really is and as Matthew tells us in his account, this earned his master’s praise. And because Peter thought he got it right and received high marks from the Teacher, he was probably full of himself. Sound familiar?

But then Jesus does the strangest thing. He warns the disciples not to tell anyone about his real identity (although Mark has already spilled the beans in the very first verse of his Gospel) an then begins to describe a kind of Messiah that most of his disciples would not have recognized. Instead of presenting himself as a political and military figure who would kick out the Romans and restore Israel to her rightful place in God’s Kingdom (i.e., at the head of the class)–the kind of Messiah most Jews expected–Jesus draws on the Suffering Servant model that we find in Isaiah 53.

Once again we can have great empathy for Peter and his reaction to this news. Surely he loved Jesus and did not wish to see harm come to him. Surely he got a bit uppity when his messianic expectations were violated, and who wouldn’t? After all, think of the times when your expectations about someone had been violated in a negative sense. How did you feel? And so Peter protests to Jesus. “Stop talking nonsense, Jesus! Everybody knows this isn’t what is going to happen to the real Messiah! Have you lost your mind??”

But Jesus had heard this before in the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. Satan himself had tried to persuade him to avoid the cross so that humanity would continue to be lost and alienated from God. When we understand this piece of Jesus’ background, we can better understand his violent reaction toward Peter’s well-intentioned but fatally flawed protest.

Why is this important for us to understand clearly? Because Jesus expects us to be just like him. He understood that it is only through suffering that we will inherit the glory of God’s promised New Creation, an inheritance that will last for an eternity.  And so Jesus stops to tell us what it will cost us to gain real life. We will have to obey him by becoming just like him in all that he does. We will have to deny ourselves, take up our cross (Luke tells us we will have to do this every day), and follow Jesus.

What does that mean? In Galatians 5.19-21, Paul gives us a glimpse of what denying self and taking up our cross will look like. We will have to overcome our desire to have casual sex and reserve that for marriage. We will need to refrain from having our own way all the time. We’ll have to give up anything that interferes (or potentially interferes) with our ultimate allegiance to Jesus–our anger, our hatred, our drunkenness, our false religions and spiritualities in whatever guise they may take, our envy, our selfish ambitions.

The list is endless and Paul’s list in Galatians is not meant to be exhaustive or complete. Instead, Paul is reminding us that we are going to have to kill everything in us that is unholy in God’s sight (or as Jesus says, deny ourselves) if we ever wish to have a real and lasting relationship with God because the Holy cannot abide having the unholy in its Presence. None of these things in us is easy to ditch because they are manifestations of our fallen and sinful nature. In fact, if I am representative of the human race, they are downright impossible to kill if I have to kill them by my own strength.

The good news, however, is that none of us has to deny ourselves by ourselves. We have the power of the Holy Spirit living in us helping us to do the slow, difficult, and painful work. But why would we want to bother in the first place? I mean, really.

Just this. The rewards of doing so far outweigh the costs. Our time of struggle and suffering for Jesus’ sake is minuscule compared to the eternity of joy that awaits us.

But we don’t have to wait to die to enjoy the benefits of denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. They are available to us right now. What are those benefits? Paul calls them the “fruit of the Spirit,” which includes living a life characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5.22-25). In other words you will be living life as God intended you to live and in doing so you will find out how empty were the other, lesser things you were pursuing but which you thought would bring you ultimate meaning, purpose, and happiness.

I know it sounds counterintuitive. “Let me get this straight, Jesus. You want me to give up the joys of casual sex, drunkenness (you know, all the fun times I’ve had waking up the next morning in a strange bed or place and not remembering how I got there or what I did the night before and feeling, well, a little stupid and embarrassed about the whole thing), holding a grudge against those who have done me wrong, deficit spending in pursuit of toys and material things that bring me about a day’s worth of pleasure, arguing with others just for the fun of it and then belittling those with whom I disagree? Stuff like that? Really Jesus?”

Well, yes. But it gets worse. Following Jesus means that we are going to have to take some unpopular stands in our culture and not go with the flow. We are going to have to take stands that will cause others to call us hateful, intolerant, bigoted, stupid, unenlightened, and a whole lot more. We are going to have to deny our natural desires to be liked by everyone and our need to be popular and feel accepted (but notice in this context on whose terms our popularity and acceptance are based; helpful hint: it ain’t ours).

But if we stop and really think about it, if we are really honest with ourselves, we know that in our heart of hearts these things can never, ever ultimately satisfy us because they are the things of a world that is openly hostile to God. They are things that can never give us life or raise us from the dead. I can tell you, for example, if you have ever come close to experiencing the peace of God, it is like nothing you will ever experience in this life and you will never be able to get enough of it. If you have ever loved and were loved (and I am not talking necessarily about romantic or sexual love), you can never get enough of it. And who among us does not crave joy and goodness in our lives? Who among us except the most utterly depraved and perverted do not want our relationships to be characterized by faithfulness and gentleness? Who among us does not admire the trait of patience, especially when someone else extends it to us when we act ugly toward them? No, if we are really honest with ourselves, it is the fruit of the Spirit we crave most rather than the desires of our fallen nature.

But this all comes at a cost, the cost of our fallen, ugly selves. I am not talking about violating our core personality. God does not want that. What I am talking about is all the ugliness that bubbles up from our broken selves, our bodies of flesh that weigh us down. It requires radical surgery to kill it all off and we will spend a lifetime doing so, and then only with the help of the Spirit in us. There will be setbacks and detours along the way. We will encounter opposition from within ourselves, from our friends and neighbors, from our enemies, and yes, from Satan himself. But we have a secret weapon that gives us the upper hand. We have a relationship with the Lord of the universe, Jesus himself, and if we do our part in staying the course, he will not let us be ultimately defeated. We may lose some (or even many) battles along the way but we will not lose the war.

This is what it means to follow Jesus. It is not for the faint-hearted or queasy. We cannot be casual followers of Jesus because he loves us passionately and wants all of us, warts and all, so that he can transform us into the humans God intends for us to be. But as we have seen, the rewards are infinitely greater. We will get to live life here in our mortal bodies as God intended, albeit imperfectly. And at the end of the day, we will get to live forever in God’s promised New Creation, directly in his Presence. God’s space will be our space and we will get to experience healing, restoration, and redemption that we can only attempt to imagine or dare dream about. Take the risk. Take a chance on Jesus. Ask him to help you die so that you can start to really live.