Only Jesus - Part 2

 

 Continued from previous post...

            “Oh master,” the disciples respond, “some people think you’re John the Baptist, others think you’re Elijah and still others are saying that you’re Jeremiah. Then there are others who are simply convinced that you are one of the ancient prophets raised from the dead…though they aren’t quite sure which one you are.”

            A pause ensues. Jesus looks at His followers.

            “But,” He begins, “who do you say that I am?”

            And Peter the fisherman replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

             “Blessed are you Simon the son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven.”

            Wow! What a high for Peter! God the Father has revealed God the Son to the fisherman. Peter sees that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of the living God. Life is good. This journey with Jesus is good. Wherever we are going with Jesus has got to be great. What a trip!

            Have you ever had THE answer in a classroom or on the job? The teacher or the boss presents a problem, asks a question, and you know the answer…you’ve got it…and out it comes…not from Sam or Susie but from you…you’ve got the answer, you’ve got the solution…and every ear in the room hears your voice giving the answer, solving the problem…and the teacher or the boss looks at you with approval and affirmation…Wow! what a feeling…wow! this is great…wow! I could live in this moment for a long time.

            But then again, have you ever gone from a Wow! to an Ouch!

            After a few more minutes’ walk Jesus has some more to say. He talks about Jerusalem…but not about sitting on a throne, not about receiving the recognition and accolades of the country’s leaders and populace, not about ruling and reigning in a reconstitution of David’s kingdom…no…He isn’t talking about a ticker-tape parade…

            Jesus is talking about rejection, torture and death…and even though He also talks about resurrection…no one seems to hear that part…all they hear is rejection, torture and death…and Peter…not being able to bear the possibility any longer…for after all, he has just proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah…takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him:

            “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

            Then the same eyes of Jesus which had looked upon Peter as Peter had confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” now gaze upon Peter and Jesus says:

            “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God but the things of men.”

            Ouch! We’ve gone from a “wow!” to an “ouch!” We’ve gone from a partnership with the Father to being used by the enemy. We’ve gone from Jesus saying, “Blessed are you,” to Jesus saying, “Get behind me, get out of my way, Satan”

            I’d say that’s going from a “wow!” to an “ouch!”

            Have you ever had an experience like that?

 

To be continued…

 

Only Jesus - Part 1

 Good morning, 

This week I want to share a message I preached in 2006. It has two wings to it, just as an airplane. Can you see them?

The lesson, or "takeaway" and call to obedience, from the Mount of Transfiguration is something I first encountered as a teenager, it was planted deep into my soul. Frankly, even though I could mouth the point of the message, it took years for it to bear fruit in my life - something that brings me deep sorrow. 

Yet, I rejoice that our Father is faithful - and I hope you will never forget that - what our Lord Jesus has begun in me, in you, in us, He will indeed complete.

May we now, and always, have eyes only for Jesus.

Much love,

Bob

Only Jesus - 

Have you ever gone from a Wow! to an Ouch!? Have you ever gone from a Wow! to an Ouch! in less than ten seconds?

            About four months ago George Allen was living in a Wow! [This was preached in 2006]. He was so far ahead of Jim Webb in the VA senatorial race that national Republicans and Democrats weren’t paying all that much attention to VA. But then, in the midst of George Allen’s Wow! he went to an Ouch! in just a few seconds, a few seconds was all that it took for him to say something stupid concerning a heckler, a few seconds was all that it took for him to utter words that could be construed as having racial overtones. A few seconds is all it took to destabilize VA’s senatorial race – and all of sudden because of George Allen’s Ouch! the Old Dominion’s senatorial race was making national headlines.

            Have you ever gone from a Wow! to an Ouch!?

            Sometimes we call it putting our foot in our mouth, open mouth inset foot. As soon as the words are out we usually realize we’ve messed up – but then it’s too late – for we are the master of our words before we speak them, but once spoken they become our master. Of course, it’s never too late for an apology, and never too late for repentance, and never too late to learn from the experience – but having said all that, my question remains, have you, yourself…ever gone from being on top of a situation, or from experiencing a wonderful relationship…when all of a sudden, whether from your actions or your words or from a combination of both…in zero to ten seconds you go from a Wow! to an Ouch!?

           

             Let’s turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 17:1 – 8.

            This event, which we call The Mount of Transfiguration, is a watershed event in the Gospels. When Vickie and I were on our recent vacation out West we passed signs indicating we were at the Continental Divide. That meant that rain that fell west of the divide would make its way down to the Pacific Ocean and that rain that fell east of the Divide would make its way down to the Atlantic Ocean. The Continental Divide is a watershed, it sheds water in two different directions.

            The Mount of Transfiguration is a watershed; on one side of the watershed is the birth of Jesus, the childhood and young adulthood of Jesus, and most of the public ministry of Jesus. On the other side of the watershed everything flows to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

            Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this watershed event, and Luke writes these words shortly after the experience, “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,” Luke 9:51. Luke also tells us what Jesus, Moses and Elijah talked about, they discussed Jerusalem, they discussed the departure that Jesus was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

            Furthermore, Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that just prior to ascending the Mount of Transfiguration that Jesus talked to His disciples about His rejection, death and resurrection in Jerusalem. The Mount of Transfiguration was a watershed event – for on the other side of this mountain lay Jerusalem and the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            This mountain was also a watershed for a fisherman named Peter, a man accustomed to earning his living at sea level.

            How do you feel about heights? Are you okay with being up in the air or do you get a bit squeamish? I’m a bit better than I used to be but I have to admit that I’m still not very comfortable being close to the edge of a cliff or to the edge of the roof of a high building. When I was in property management, I had a building engineer named Charlie at a high rise building in Baltimore. Charlie could walk around the outside ledge of his building on the penthouse level and I suppose his heart rate didn’t go up at all – but there was no way I was going to climb over the parapet wall and go out there with him. It made my stomach queasy just to watch him. But again, heights may be no problem at all for you.

            We don’t know how Peter felt about heights but we do know that he was accustomed to working, to earning his living, literally at sea level, for after all he was a fisherman and that this mountain is characterized as being a “high” mountain.

            We do know that Peter’s trip to the mountain had been a bit rocky – we know that it had been a trip of highs and lows, in fact, we might say that Peter had the highest high he could have imagined only then to have the lowest low…for on Peter’s way to the mountain…as he was walking with Jesus and the other disciples…Jesus began a conversation that went like this:

            “What are people saying about me these days? Who do they think I am?”

To be continued…..

The Loss Of A Pet

We lost our Lily on May 3, it was five years less a day since we lost our Lina, that was on May 4.  The following day a friend called to tell me that they would have to put their puppy to sleep on May 6. A few days later, after a conversation with my friend, I felt I needed to write him.

What a mysterious gift God has given us in our pets. Mysterious and undeserved. 

Good morning dear friend,

I know I need to write you this morning, not to assuage your pain at the loss of Buddy, but to simply walk with you in some measure; not to give you answers, but to listen with you for that Voice of assurance. (Maybe even for that bark that communicates “all is well”.)

Little did I know when I answered the phone last Saturday that I was to hear that you too, with Steph, were about to lose your beloved puppy (they are always puppies to me).

Lily’s mind and her eyes were bright last Friday, but her little body was sick, it was too much for her. An old man and an old woman and an old dog went into the animal hospital, but only the old man and old woman got back into the car. I had expected to bring her home after her examination, I did not anticipate driving home through a veil of tears.

While I have been reliving those final minutes and moments, they are too much to write about at present, but I do want to tell you that she gave me lots of kisses – which was especially special, for while she always gave Vickie kisses, she seldom kissed me.

The other thing I know I want to say is that we needed to be there for her and with her as she left us. Lily trusted us with her life and she trusted us with her death – and is this not sacred?

As we were saying goodbye to Lily, I said to Dr. Kevin, “I’m glad you are the one.” He replied, “I’m glad too.” For you see, Kevin cared about Lily, she mattered to him, he is a gentle soul. I would not have wanted a stranger to do what Kevin was doing.

This was the same with my Dad’s funeral. I led his funeral because I did not want a stranger to do it, and I certainly didn’t want someone who didn’t know Jesus to do it. (While we have never talked about it, certainly it was sacred for you and Steph to have your sister June with you during her final season of life – this is the way it once was, we were with one another until our parting, we did not isolate one another nor warehouse one another.)

So my dear friend, what I am saying is that you did not betray your dear Buddy anymore than our heavenly Father betrays us when we lay this body down – or even when it is taken from us through violence. Yes, death is a hideous reality laden with grief – and who can plumb the depths of grief? But death is also abolished, it has been destroyed in and through Jesus Christ – and therefore it is a short-term reality, an intrusion into our pilgrimage (as painful as it is).

I run to 2 Timothy 1:10, “…[He] abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.”

I shelter in Hebrews 2:15 - 16, “…and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives, for assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham.”

And I shout through my grief, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

I’ve been singing “Because He Lives” and including words about puppies in it, I’ve been including Lily…just as you can include Buddy.

We know that just as Creation has suffered in our slavery and sin, that it will also participate in our redemption and restoration:

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” (Romans 8:19 – 22).

If I take Paul’s words at face value, then Creation knows more than we think it does, and it knows more about us than we know about ourselves – for it is eagerly awaiting our revealing in Christ, while we still tend to think of ourselves as either paupers or we act as arrogant fools.

One of the things about dogs is that they are innocent and we are not, and that makes it pretty hard at times to live with them and terrible when we lose them. I say that it is hard at times to live with them because their self-giving and innocence reveals my selfishness and sin – Ha! They do a better job at convicting me of sin than any preacher ever did.

I love the final pages of The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis, for it shows us reunited with those we love, including souls in Creation.

One week ago today, at about 2:00 P.M., we lost our Lily…O how my heart beats with the expectation that we will see one another again. I fully expect to be greeted by our puppies and that we will all frolic in the New Jerusalem…others may call me a fool…but let it be said that I am a fool who places all of his hope in Christ…all of it.

 

Your friend… in grief as in joy…

 

Bob