Blog

I have been reading a Lent devotional with my church.  The devotional is walking us through Jesus' last days on earth. We've all heard the story how Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, for 30 pieces of silver.  Having heard this story thousands of times in my life I've always cast Judas as the greedy, money hungry, villain who cared more about money than his relationship with Jesus. I assumed he was overall just greedy. 

After reading this devotional it made me stop and think a bit.  Judas had been following the Lord, he heard Jesus talking, he also knew about the Messiah and probably was so excited to be a part of the Messiahs troupe. I am sure he thought he was going to be on the winning side. He probably, like most of the disciples, didn't really understand everything Jesus said and did, but growing up he was taught the Messiah would overthrow Rome and make life better for the Jews.  So when he was called by Jesus, he was probably excited to be on the winning side of things.

And look.... Jesus is developing a following. He is healing people. People are flocking to hear Him speaking.  People are enamored and Judas gets to be in the "in-crowd"!  He is one of the few getting in the boat to go to the other side with Jesus. The one handing out the bread and fish that had multiplied. He gets to travel, talk with, and be part of Jesus' inner circle. It feels good. To be the important one. Recognized and esteemed.

Life is good.

Then it's not.  Jesus starts talking weird. Things about death and persecution. Things that don't sound very "Winning Team" like .  He even tells all his disciples they will betray him.  I now imagine Judas second guessing his choice.  Does he want to be lumped in with all these people who will be labeled crazy? If Jesus dies then what? None of them can do miracles. If Jesus dies, he will just be left with a mess to clean up. Known as one of the disciples, he will probably be persecuted, ridiculed and banned from both fellow Jews and the Romans. This is not what he signed up for.  I started thinking it probably wasn't all about money. It was about fear, fear of the unknown. And where does fear come from? Fear comes from not trusting that God has it under control. 

I have to confess, I have been very judgemental of Judas, thinking it was all about money and how shallow of a person would trade the Messiah for money.  I am  now starting to think Judas was probably more motivated in fear, and now I can relate. 

Being a Christian in the United States of America used to be the "thing to be". Everyone went to church. Everyone had a Bible.  But what is happening today?  We get criticized for saying men are men and women are women. We are hated for following what the Bible teaches. We can't believe a baby in a womb is a real life without being outed as a hater. You can't stand up for people's rights and give them grace for bad choices in their lives, without being called bigots and racists.   The tide has turned.

Life was good
And now its not. 

Its not going to get better in the way we want. (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news)  Just like the disciples lives didn't get better -and when I say better I mean easier. It got much much harder. But more rewarding. As the disciples spoke truth in love,  and didn't back down,  God showed up and used them to do incredible things. He wants to do the same with our lives. I am just afraid that much of the church has been just going through the motions, wanting to be on the "winning side" when it didn't call for a sacrifice.

We might not ever say we would betray Jesus for any amount of money.
But what about betraying Jesus out of fear.  Fear, that we might not be accepted. Fear, that life doesn't look like we thought. Fear, that it is going to be hard. Fear we might be on the wrong side. Fear we will be labeled.

The Bible tells us how it ended for Judas. It also shows that Jesus' death was not the end of the story. 

The USA moving farther away from Biblical truths is not the end of the story either. Do not find yourself stuck in the middle of the story, thinking it is the end,  reacting on feelings and fear. Remember we know the truth.  We know how it is going to end.  We know who is going to win. 

I want live knowing that I can trust the Lord no matter how hard life gets, that this world is not the end of life, just the beginning. 

"Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord".   2 Cor 5:8



 

“This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalms 118:24” 

Do you remember the old chorus "This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made"?  I remember singing it as a child as the overhead projector showed the words on the wall.  "I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it".  ( you are welcome for now having it stuck in your head :) ) 

It has been a tumultuous 2020, so many challenges and obstacles that we have not had to experience before. And if I am honest I don't remember waking up any day in 2020 thinking "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it",  because I was too focused on everything else around me.  Focused on Covid19, focused on wearing masks, focused on quarentine, focused on politics, focused on trying to decipher truth in everthing that was happening in our country.  I forgot to focus on the truth written in the Word of God.  Truths that say:

Joshua 1:9  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

Over and over again stories about how much God loves His people and will not forsake them. Truths that say this world will be hard, but we have nothing to fear. I realized I needed to make a decision. Do I trust God or do I not?  That is the bottom line. Do I believe God has a plan and that He is good? Even when good things may not be what my eyes are seeing.  Its easy to praise when life is comfortable. Will we choose to folllow and praise when life is uncertain and painful? 

Join with us in waking up everyday with Psalms 118:24 on your lips.
“This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it. 

I was reading in Acts, one of my favorite books of the Bible and read this:

Acts 3

Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o'clock prayer service.

Pretty neat.   Two of the disciples were headed to Church because there was a prayer service going on and they wanted to worship. They set time aside, because it was important.

There was a lame man at the gate that sat there every day knowing that the religious would usually toss some money to him, because after all you look really spiritual when you give to the poor in front of everyone on the way into church.  So, here come Peter and John on their way to the daily church prayer time.  They see the lame man.  They were headed in to worship God, but they decided to risk being late to the service by engaging with this person right in front of them. 

“Look at us” Peter orders the beggar. I can just imagine the beggar probably kept his eyes down most of the time, as it must be embarrassing asking people for money every day.   The beggar looked up expectantly at Peter’s words and thought he was getting another handout.  He holds out his jar… as the words come,

“We don’t have any money to give you…”

Eyes drop down again at the awful trick. No money?

“…but what we have we will give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk”.

Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. 8He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.

Whoa! Crazy! Peter and John were on their way to church. They were headed in to do a good thing, attend a prayer service. But they did not let that stop them from doing God’s will outside the church building. 

So often today, the American church is so concentrated on how to get people to find their way into the building that they have built, they miss the people God puts in their path every day.

Peter and John didn’t say “why don’t we help you into our church, so you can see how awesome our music, pastor, and children’s ministry are.” No, they chose RIGHT THERE AND THEN to show how Awesome Jesus is. They offered HOPE to someone that needed the healing touch of Jesus.  And when he was healed, what resulted? The man worshiped Jesus! His Life was changed. He went running into the church dancing, jumping and worshiping! Crowds of people saw the power of the living God.

The reason the American church is dying is that we have come to a place where we have been told that in order to “witness” or share our faith with someone, we have to invite them to Church and let the programs, and preaching do the rest.  It has given us an easy way out. A way to feel like we are doing something for Jesus, while never having to talk about Jesus.  If I were to ask the average Christian in America, if their neighbors know that they are Christians, I believe most of us would say “Yes, they know I go to church.”  That is not a satisfactory answer. Your neighbors knowing you go to church does not bring life change.  

What if I changed the questions.  Do your neighbors know why you believe in Jesus? What He has done for you? How your life has changed?

Another popular idea the church has embraced is, “share Jesus with someone and if necessary use words.” You can never share your faith and the “why” behind the Hope you have, if you do not use words.  Never.  Nope.  It is impossible. Go to any courtroom. There is no such thing as a silent witness on the stands.

We have gotten things wrong.

We have made our religion “Church”.

We worship “Church”.

We invite people to “Church”, we make sure our Sunday morning “Church” is attractive and engaging.”

“It’s all about the weekend stupid” came out of the mouth of a prominent pastor a few years ago that encouraged Churches and church staff to understand we don’t need to spend our time on anything that doesn’t help our church flourish during the weekend services.  That is not how it was meant to be. That is not why Jesus came.

Instead our religion should be a relationship with Jesus.

We should worship Jesus.

We need to invite people to Jesus, we should make sure every day our lives are so full of Jesus that people can’t help but to notice and want to connect with us as we have something attractive and engaging.

Listen to what happened when Peter and John decided to stop on their way to church, see a need, open their mouths and speak about the Hope they have in Jesus and offer that hope to a lame hopeless man…

All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God. 10When they realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the Beautiful Gate, they were absolutely astounded! 11They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon’s Colonnade, where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John.

12Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd.

 

Peter stopped for the 1 person God put in front of him, and in turn God brought him a crowd that he was able to share with. I believe that is going to be what we start seeing. Not people flocking to huge auditoriums, and church light shows, but communities flocking to Christians that are offering a real relationship with Jesus. Real hope. Real Love. The question is, will we be that Christian? 

Go ahead and read the rest of Acts 3-4. They were arrested. Then let go.  It’s a great story, and hard to imagine it happening to us.   

It’s not hard to imagine that God can do miracles.

BUT…

Hard to imagine because we would need to change what it looks like for us on way

 “to Church”.