The Real Good Samaritan

(link to the audio here)

Luke 10:25-37

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

D.A. Carson, New Testament scholar and co-founder of the Gospel Coalition has said, mastering God's Word is one thing; being mastered by it is something entirely different.

This morning we have a very familiar passage of scripture before us. I would dare to say that if I took a quick survey almost everyone in this room knows about the parable of the Good Samaritan.  I would also dare to say that most of you think you know the punchline to this sermon already. And maybe you do since this is one of the most culturally referenced parts of Scripture. And yet, this is God's Word. We may be masters of it, but even today, as familiar as this passage is, we still need to be mastered by it.

Prayer

My goal this morning is to look at this passage on two different layers. As I just mentioned, the first layer will be very familar to most of us. Still, in that familiarity, I trust God will speak to us and use his word as a sharp, double edged sword. The first layer we will consider is the point and pupose of the parable in its immediate context. Following that, I would also like to look at this parable in the sweep of middle section of the book of Luke. From 9:51 to 19:44, Jesus is on this relentless journey to Jerusalem, teaching both disciples, bystanders and opponents both by lesson and by example, what going to Jerusalem really meant and why it was necessary for us all.

Before we dive in, I think it will be helpful for us all to remember a couple of things about parables.  Parables, of course, are stories. They are illustrations Jesus and other teachers of that day used to hammer home a point that may not have been obvious to the immediate audience. Thus in Matthew many of Jesus' parables start with the phrase "The kingdom of heaven is like..."

One guiding principle we must keep in mind is that since parables are illustrations, they have one main point which takes us outside of the parable and into a spiritual reality. Thus, the parable of the lost sheep is not about diligent shepherding, but rather about the unstoppable love, grace and mercy of God. Additionally, since parables have one main point, they are not meant to say or communicate everything that Bible has to say on a topic.

Another reality about parables is that most were given with the intent that the audience would find themselves within the parable. I realize this is risky because by human nature we will want to place ourselves as either the hero or the villian. But, if we have ears to hear, if we really listen as the Spirit speaks God's word to us, I am confident we can see who we are in this parable.

The final item to consider is the combination of these prior elements. These aren't just stories like Age of Ultron or Cinderella or even Pilgrim's Progress. Jesus used parables both as challenging calls and stinging rebukes. He openned vistas of God's magificent grace so that we might believe and he presented spirtual realities so that we would see the exclusivity and preemince of his own life, death and resurrection. You see parables have one main point and we find ourselves in them so that the Spirit can move us forward in our faith.

With all of that being said, what is the stage that this parable is playing on? Look with me at Luke 10.  Verse 25 sets it up for us nicely. An expert in the Jewish law is seeking to test Jesus' view on salvation. Of course, much could be said about the scribes and Pharisees and other Jewish authorities, but what has always intrigued me is the phrasing of the question.  "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Do? Inherit? These words don't seem to go together, do they? An inheritance, almost by definition, is something done to you. So this question is in essence asking "what can I do to be born into Bill Gates family?"

But it also betrays where the lawyer's heart really is. Intrinsically we go here by default, don't we? What can I do? What can I do to fix my marriage? What can I do strengthen my kids? What can I do to improve my walk with God? What can I do to prepare for the next stage of life? High School, College, First Job, marriage, Kids, empty nest, grand children, retirement, nursing home, death. And so many more. What can I do? Many of us in this room are asking this very question. It seems to be the fundatmental human question.

Notice though, how Jesus responds. Those of us who have a theological defense mechanism might have arched our backs and cut loose on the lawyer. But not Jesus. Jesus, the master teacher and superb discussion guider responds with a question of his own. Its a question right up the alley of this Jewish legal scholar. In fact, some would say its was a high arching softball pitch intended for an easy answer. So Mr legal scholar, how would the Law answer your question?

Jesus' approach here is helpful for a couple of reasons. First, it reminds us that God is never out to trick us or trap us. Even though this was the lawyer's goal, Jesus' actually wanted him to learn something, to grow in his faith, to put his trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. And, he's asking the same thing of us. He knows we all have this "I can do it myself" attitude. So he asks us, "What does the Bible say?"

But there's another, less obvious thing as well. Jesus is underscoring the reality that the Jews could know how to be saved from just their Old Testament scriptures. Think back to last week, how Steve showed us so clearly that Naaman's healing and even life circumstances point us to Christ. Remember, the Old Testament is all this guy had. Its all Nicodemus had. Its all Peter and Paul and John and James had. We are blessed with the New Testament, but the point here is that the Old Testament has always pointed to Jesus.

The lawyer responds with a classic "sabbath school" answer. He quotes two Old Testament verses Dt 6:4-5 and Lev 19:18. To pharaphrase his answer he says love God supremely and love people sacrificially. Bam. Out of the park. Home run.

Now, if I could step into the story at this point I would. The lawyer had just dialoged with Jesus and even if he did not regard him as the Messiah, most people saw him as a teacher worthy of respect. Even Nicodemus, "Israel's teacher", approached Jesus with deference. To engage in a conversation with Jesus and receive such a positive reponse was incredible. So if I could, I would step in say to the lawyer "stop talking", "just leave it alone", "don't say another word".

Fortunatey for this lawyer and fortunately for the rest of us, I was not there and God allowed the lawyer to speak out of the overflow of his heart. You see he did what we so often do. He had recited a creed, but this creed had never become a confession. He knew that God's word said in his head, but what it meant never really made it down into his heart. Think about it. Even without Luke's commentary, the question "And who is my neighbor?" betrays the real god of this man's heart.

How often do we fall into the same pit? How much to I have to give? How often to I have to go? How long do I have to serve? We seem to have this insatible need to put limits and caps on God's call in our lives. Why? Because, as Tim Keller would say, "We need to protect what is most important to us." You see, where we draw the lines, where set up the limits, that demonstrates where our true allegiance lies.

Now, before we move into the parable itself, let me hit the pause button for just a few seconds. This is the moment where we all need to be careful. At the risk of sounding over dramatic, I believe we are on dangerous ground. We are treading on the ground of familiarity. In fact for this parable it could actually be called the ground of over familiarity. I am not going to ask you to forget what you know and I won't ask you to pretend like 2 millenia of cultural baggage doesnt affect how we read this parable.  But, I will ask and have been praying that you read and listen with fresh, attentive minds and hearts. By doing this, I am trusting that God may bless us and allow his word to master us.

One thing we need to capture is how this parable probably unfolded to the original audience. You see we know (or think we know) the punch line. In fact, we, not scripture have titled the Samaritan "good", as if the parable is about him. By contrast, most of us view the priest and levite as "bad".  I would dare say, those first two guys were normal and doing what was culturally expected. And the Samaritan? He would have been viewed as the least likely to help and certainly the least likely to be the hero of this story.

Now consider with me what Jesus is saying in this parable as it plays out in verses 30-36.  An unknown man is robbed and left for dead. Two religious men pass by onthe other side of the road, doing their duty to the Law, but not to the man. A third traveler, one who would be least likely to help and probably would not have been helped by the man who was robbed if the situation was reversed not only helps but goes above and beyond the immediate need. In this little story are at least three things we are meant to see.

First, loving God supremely and loving people sacrificially requires more than religious obedience. Remember the conversation that triggered this parable. Jesus and the lawyer agreed that to have eternal life one must love God supremely and love people sacrificially. But the lawyer wanted to know the limits on this mandate. In essence he wanted to make it a religious system. The parable does the exact opposite; blasting open even the preconceived limits the lawyer already had. This is demonstrated in the first two travelers. As I said, they were doing their religious duty. They were obeying the Law. They were keeping themselves pure for service to God. And yet, Jesus' implication is that they didn't do what was most honoring to God nor what was most loving to the man. Would there have been a sacrifice in crossing the road? Absolutely. Seven days to become rituallly clean again. But what is that compared to saving someone's life?

And we can do this too, can't we? Choosing something good over something better. Helping ourselves rather than helping others. Using our religious structures and traditions to limit the scope and call of Holy Spirit in our lives. Here is one simple example: I have been meeting for years with a couple other guys for breakfast once a week. Most weeks we have some pre arranged material to kick start our conversation. But I also desire to pray for our time before we meet. Sometimes, however, when I get to the prayer time I realize I am unprepared for material. At the point I typically abandon the prayer for the prep, even though I know that it is God, through prayer, that really makes our time effective.

A second thing to see in this parable is what we most often connect with, that loving God supremely and loving people sacrificially cannot be limited by our social constructs. The Jewish / Samaritan divide was what was in view here, but in reality Jesus has any such barrier in view. Male / female, rich / poor, strong / weak, white / black, straight / gay, American / foreign, Christian / secular. And on and on.

To be candid, the more I've reflected on this, the more God has pressed me. If the extent of my love for God is measured by the scope of my love for people who are different from me then perhaps my love for him isn't as deep or broad or wide or deep as I thought. Thankfully, God's love for me is not contingent on my love for him, but yet the upward call of Christ keeps pressing and pulling and urging and calling us deeper in.  And, just to add some fuel to this fire, none of this exempts from serving and caring and loving those who are closest to us.

The third thing that Jesus is pointing out to the lawyer and to us about loving God supremely and loving people sacrificially is in regard to the expanse and extent of this love. Notice the Samaritan doesn't just stop with checking on the traveler or cleaning up his wounds. He also took him to a place where he could recover and he provided for the expense of not only his stay but also his care. And, he promised to pay for any extra costs that might be incurred. To steal a line from a older strong, "His love was extravagant"

So there it is. To love God supremely and to love others sacrificially requires us to put our religiosity away, that we go beyond our social constructs, and that we allow the boundless love that we have received from God through Jesus to flow freely to those around us.

As awesome and as challenging as it is to see the depth of Chirst's call in this parable, there is another layer of the parable of the Good Samaritan that we need to consider. You see, just like the parable itself doesn't occur in a vaccum and is in fact an answer to a question, the entire encounter between Jesus and the lawyer doesn't occur in a vaccum either. Jesus is on a somewhat circuitous journey that starts in Luke 9:51 where Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. This journey culmunates with the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem followed by Jesus' entry into the temple in Luke 19:44. Along the way Jesus' mission to seek and save the lost, to redeem a people for God, to fulfill all of the Old Testament promises continued to gather steam. Each stop along the way was like a tributary flowing into the river of his mission and pupose.

With this perspective in view, let's consider again the encounter between Jesus and the lawyer. The lawyer's own answer to his original question was that eternal life is bound up   with loving God supremely and loving people sacrificially. As true as this is, how many of us could have claimed to do this before we were Christians? Personally, God was there to serve me and people were simply in the way. And so, here we have the same dilemma we have throughout the Bible: we are stuck in a deep hole with only a shovel to get us out.

So, is Jesus' response to the lawyer meant to cause us to despair?  Is there no way I can love God supremely and love people sacrificially? Since we can't do this perfectly, since no one can do this completely, are we to give up and simply languish in our sin? Or, is this actually meant to give us hope? We are correct to realize we cannot live out the affirmation of the lawyer, but we dare not stop there. We need find the one man who can.

In this sense, when the lawyer asks, who is my neighbor, we need to read the question backward. Not just who is my neighbor to love sacrificially, but who is my neighbor who loved me with the ulimate sacrifice? If we see the parable at this 2nd level then the charaters and the parable itself take on an added dimension.

First, who is the victim? In the immediate context we saw the victim was anyone we are called to love sacrificially irregardless of whatever differences we may have with them. But now we can see that at a spiritual level, at the level of Jesus setting his face toward Jerusalem, we are the victim. We are the one who was bereft of resources. We are the one who was been left for dead. We are the one people avoided in the name of religion. We are the one who was naked and alone. We are the one who was without hope.

What about the first two travelers? We could play some games and say one is legalism and one license or one is religion and one is worldly wisdom. While those would be cute, the real point is that there is nothing, no system, no individual, no power, no possession that is able or even willing to save us. I think this is important to note and remember. The first two travelers didn't try to save the beaten, bloody victim and fail. They went to the other side of the road so as to even avoid the attempt. The same is true with anything you can dream up that might rescue us from our desperate condition. Nothing can save us and nothing is even willing to try.

That leaves us with the third traveler. He is the one who binds our wounds. He is the one who treats us as a friend, even though we would likely consider him our enemy. He is the one who took us out of the domain of our trouble. He the one who clothed us with clothes we couldn't afford. He is the one who provided a safe place for us. And, he is the one who promised that if any expense is incurred for our care, he would pay for it.

Does this sound familar to anyone? I would hope so. It is Jesus!

Let me botton line this for you. As Andrew made clear a couple of weeks ago, we are all on this spectrum of a spiritual journey. Because of that there are different aspects of this parable that may press upon you differently depending on where you are and what God is moving you toward.

For those who are here that have never trusted in Christ for your salvation, who when you hear all that Jesus has accomplished for his children and say "I wish that were true of me", let me say this: It can be. Today is the day of salvation. Don't wait another day or hour or even minute. Stop your striving, stop your performing, stop your attempts at self salvation and rest in Christ. Trust that God is willing and able to save and rescue and redeem and that he has done so through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Now, for those of us who perhaps are stuck in neutral in our Christian life, who hear Jesus describe what it looks like to really love God supremely and love others sacrificially and sigh and say: that's not me, what do we take from this passage? First is this: know that Jesus is the real Good Samaritan. Since Jesus loved God supremely and others sacrificially, we as his brothers and sisters inherit that obedience. By this we are freed and empowered to begin loving God supremely and loving others sacrificially. Remember, as Matt Chandler is fond of saying, God's not looking for perfection, but progress. And second, beware of putting limits on God's claim on your life. We all do this, to some degree, but Jesus, via this parable, is saying since I withheld nothing to save you, you should withhold nothing to serve those I bring across your path.

And for those who see the mandate of this parable and are seeking by the power of the Spirit to live it out, I would say praise God! You are where God wants you to be. Keep up the good work that God was prepared in advance for you to do. But you also need to remeber, along with all of us, that there is no arrival. We must always be growing and we need to continue to grow. Grow in faith, grow in dependance, grow in praise, grow in knowledge of God, grow in reliance on the Spirit, grow in communion with God.

Finally for all of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus. We need to praise God for what he has done, what he continues to do and what he will ultimately do. We are caught up in the entire sweep of redemptive history from the promise in Gen 3 to the triumphant wedding feast in Rev 19 and this reality alone should cause us to simultaneously weep and shout and stand dumb founded. And, one day we will realize that God has actually given us way more than we could possibly ask or imagine.  May that realization begin today.

To God Alone Be The Glory

The Gospel In My Basement Stairwell

This morning I found a mouse at the base of our basement stairwell. Fortunately for all (me, Sally and especially the mouse) it was still outside and I was coming down the stairs, not openning the door from the inside. So as I stood for a moment eying up this little creature, I decided in all my humanitarian kindness that I would rescue this poor thing.

Certainly, some kind of rescue was required. This mouse was doomed. He had no means of escape. The stairs are poured concrete and the walls are basement block. There would be no climbing. There would be no jumping. The little animal did not having the ability to save itself. On top of this there was no material for it to build a ramp or ladder or any other means of escape. In fact, even if I had thrown it the raw materials for a ladder, I doubt the mouse had the skills to construct the ladder. And to add to its dilemma, even if I could have explained how a ladder might be built, I am doubful that its paws could even do the work.

It was then that I realized that I would provide the means of its escape. I would simply place a small bucket on its side and let the mouse run (ok walk or wander) into the bucket. Its salvation would be a cooperative effort. I would provide the means and it would provide the will. And yet, it wanted nothing to do with my freely offered rescue. It had been trapped for most of the night; didn't it want to be free? Couldn't the mouse tell that I only wanted what was in its best interest? Wasn't it obvious that its rescue was contingent on it willfullly choosing to get into my freely offered bucket?

Well, the answer to all these questions was No. It didn't just avoid the bucket. It ran to the opposite corner. As much as the mouse probably hated the stairwell and at some level knew it was trapped and doomed, it clearly hated my bucket even more. It had an instinctual fear and "knew" that nothing good could possibly happen by going anywhere near that bucket.

At that point, my experiment with the free-will salvation of this mouse was over. It was time for some irresistable grace. I retreived a broom from the garage and proceed to attempt to "sweep" the mouse into the bucket. It took more than a few swipes and more than a few laps around the strairwell. It also resulted in a battered little mouse as he ran away from my rescue for every second...until it landed in the bucket and realized it was safe.

From there I carried the bucket, with the mouse bruised and tired, but very much intact, to a field near our house. I released the little creature into a new home, a home much more fit for him than the one he had been trapped in. He has been delivered, not by his own works or merit or skills or even desire. Instead, salvation came by grace, from the outside, unexpected, unwanted and yet in the end graciously received and joyfully embraced.

And if I, one who would just a quickly set a trap or leave out poison, would do this for a mouse that has no lasting value, how much more will the perfectly loving, gracious, merciful and compassionate God save and rescue and redeem and deliver us?

To God Alone be the Glory

The Blessing of the Blank Slate

This may seem like a pointless question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Have you ever felt like you were just going through the motions? Do you know what I mean? Just a robot or computer simply doing the task you were assigned, and nothing more.

Well, whether you've ever felt this way or not, that is the state I found myself in this morning as I approached my routine morning prayer time. Usually this prayer time is not dramatic, focusing God's wisdom for Bible reading, teaching or the like. Sometimes it will expand to cover other things that are pressing, but most of the time the prayers are meant to get my heart and mind in tune with God and his Word.

This morning, however, when I sat down to pray there was nothing. No thoughts of what to seek from God. No words of praise to God. Not even a "hey I can't do this without you, God" type prayer.

My "blank slate" moment was followed by a sickening realization that I can so easily simply go through the motions. Prayer time? Check. Bible reading? Check. Devotional reading? Check. Sunday morning worship? Check? Home group study? Check. And on it goes? But when there really is a "blank slate" moment, dare I proceed? What good is it for me (or anyone I may minister to) if I move forward when God, by his grace, has given me a "blank slate"?

Thankfully, graciously, mercifully, God, by the Spirit, has actually been preparing me for this moment. As others have said, the kindling was being piled up long before today. So, it was as the "blank slate" moment exposed the veritable ease with which I can simply move into other activities like a car on an assembly line, that I began to pray. This was not a "hey I can't do this without you" prayer. Nor was it me seeking God's wisdom to understand and apply his Word to my life and the lives of those around me. Both of these are good and appropriate prayers, but today those prayers wouldn't flow.

Instead the prayer was something to this effect: "Father, I know you are good, even when I can't really grasp it. I know your love is not conditioned on my loving response. I know that even in my "blank slate" moments and in times of empty robotic spiritual rituals, your grace and mercy are alive and active and real and unchanging and unending. Would you take this "blank slate" and use it for your glory. I don't get it. I don't like it. I don't want it. But I know you ordain things just like this to demonstrate all the more that the treasure we have been given in Jesus has nothing to do with us and everything to do with you. Thank you God for my "blank slate" moment. In Jesus' name, Amen."

I share this, not as a boast (except maybe in Christ), but rather as an encouragement to any who may also encounter dry times of prayer, Bible study, or hearing from God. We must always, always, always remember that God is our good, good Father. And even though the path he has us on may not be straight or easy, it is the right path that will eventually lead us to him.  May God help us to believe this and trust this, and live this each day of our lives.

To God alone be the glory.

Why Do We Resist Irresistible Grace?

Ephesians 1:7-8
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

If there is one thing that resonates in throughout the book of Ephesians, it is the theme of grace. It is, without question, both the overarching point Paul is making but it is also the mortar and glue that hold his entire message together. We cannot worship, we cannot pray, we cannot serve, we cannot love, we cannot replace sin with righteousness, we cannot love our wives and husbands and parents and children nor can we stand against the spiritual forces arrayed against us without the grace of God.  So, Paul makes it abundantly clear that God's grace (and love and mercy) are prior. Prior to us believing. Prior to us repenting. Prior to us seeking. Prior to us even acknowledging. And yet, even as believers standing on this side of the Cross, we seem to resist this reality. For some reason, we want to resist the irresistible grace of God.

Why is this so? What is it that makes us want to run and / or hide from the grace of God?  There are a few things that come to mind, but I'm confident that this is by no means an exhaustive list.

First, the irresistable grace of God scares us. In saying this I don't mean it scares us like a horror film. Nor do I mean it is like the fear one might feel in an abusive relationship. What I mean when I say that the grace of God scares us is that it is beyond us and we cannot control it. It extends to people we may not wish it extended to. It covers sins we may not want covered. It is freely offered where we wish a price were attached. When all is said and done, irresistable grace is a staggering reminder that God is God and we are not. And this scares us.

In addition to being scared by the irresistable grace, we also resist it because don't really believe it. Whether we espouse an "its too good to be true" attitude or a "what about personal responsibility?" mindset, we all tend to try and limit the limitless grace of God. And even if we do get to the point of actually believing and trusting that God's grace is boundless and free, we often continue to trip up on the irresistable part. Can grace itself really affect a change in me? And if this is so, what does it say about my vaunted automony?

One final aspect of God's irresistable grace that causes resistance in us is that means God is in control and we are not. If he will save whom he will, what merit or contribution do we bring to the table? If we are redeemed 100% by the grace of God, then we really are spiritual begars and paupers. And, if this grace is irresistable then God is truely sovereign and I am not.

As I've considered these realities in my own heart and mind, I think this final truth might be the most difficult to embrace. I want so much to be in control, to be contributing, to be making a difference. But it only takes a little peeling of the onion to discover that these desires really mask a still prideful heart that is reluctant to give all the glory to God.  And yet, that is exactly what irresitable grace does. It places all the glory where it belongs: with God.

To God Alone be the Glory

An Open Confession To My Brothers And Sisters In Christ

Yesterday I read the following blog post by John Piper.

We Know They Are Killing Children-All Of Us Know

This morning as I was praying I was convicted that Piper's words were not simply a generic "you guys should have known better" but a specific "John Young, you do know better". Put succinctly, I have sinned by omission. I have let human life perish while I have stood idly by.

God is a God of mercy and grace. Christ has paid for this sin, along with the multitude of my other sins. But today this one sin and its ramifications demands a change.

I must turn from the cowardice of the crowd and turn toward the strength that God provides to speak for those with no voice.

I must turn from the laziness of thinking someone else can carry this burden and turn to the Spirit wrought reality that this may be my burden to bare.

I must turn from the fuzzy thinking that says politics and logical reasoning alone will stem the tide and turn to a prayer driven knowledge that hearts and minds must be changed by Christ.

I must turn from viewing people who disagree in this area as enemies or as ignorant or as something worse and turn to a Biblical, grace drenched view that would weep over sin and plead with God for true heart change and repentance.

Finally (at least for now) I must turn from being content with an occasional blog post or Facebook status and turn to a Christ empowered response that brings the full weight of the gospel to bare on this issue and others like it.

Please pray, not just for me but for the countless people affected by abortion. We don't know their names or stories, but God does.

To God Alone be the Glory

In Rememberance of Jesus

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” - Luke 22:19

What do you do to remember Jesus?

Most may ask, how could I possible forget Jesus? It may be true that we may not forget Jesus the way we forget many of the people we graduated kindergarten with. However, I am convinced there are other more subtle ways that we can forget Jesus.

We can forget his deity. In this mode of forgetfulness Jesus can become the every man, the friend and brother to us all. And while he is the friend of sinners and brother to those who believe, it is only because he was also fully God that we are able to call him brother and friend.

We can forget his humanity. Here we forget that Jesus really did live for 30+ years on this earth, enduring all that trials and temptations and simple inconveniences that we do. And we can also forget that he walked through those 30+ years without sinning, not because he was God, but because he was a man who relied fully on the Holy Spirit.

We can forget his ground-level compassion. I think its easy, at least for me, to take a high-level, fulfillment of God's plan view of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. And while this perspective is true, it is not all of what he was about. He took time to touch people, to talk with people, to celebrate with people and to weep with people. He came not only as a ransom, but also as a servant.

We can forget that he is praying for us. Whether it is Romans 8 or Luke 22 or John 17, Jesus' prayers for his people are the reason we are sustained in our faith. We may think we are spiritually mature, but the only reason this could possibly be the case is due to Jesus intercession on our behalf. Without that, we would be nothing.

So, what do you do to remember Jesus?

I could list several things, such as Bible reading, prayer, devotions, worship and communion that may help us. All of these and many others serve a vital role in aiding us in remembering Jesus. However, all of them can be empty and shallow if done simply as a means to an end. Bible reading isn't simply learning more about Jesus. Praying isn't simply getting our list in front of God. Devotions aren't simply collecting other people's opinions on Christianity. Worship is simply singing songs with adoring lyrics. Communion isn't simply eating a cracker and drinking grape juice with our like minded saints.

In each of these things there is an attitude of mind and heart that allows them to be the Holy Spirit's tool for us to remember Jesus. He can repurpose our Bible reading and help us to see Jesus in ways we may have forgotten. He can reshape our prayers so that we listen more than talk and come to remember that all of God's promises are Yes in Christ. He can realign our devotions in ways that bring out the reality that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us, even in our forgetfulness. He can renew our worship, engaging our hearts and minds, allowing us to really adore the Father who loves us and the Son who died for us. And, He can reorient our communion. He can bring us to the point of knowing that we really are proclaiming something much bigger than ourselves and that while Jesus' death did save us, it accomplished and continues to accomplish so much more.

Now, what will you do to remember Jesus?

To God Alone be the Glory.

New Beginnings

What does one write on New Year's Day that has been written before? The start of a new year offers us so many opportunities. We can start a Bible reading plan. We can start a prayer journal. We can start a daily devotional. We can stop squandering our time. We can stop giving in to the one habit that has consumed us for years. We can stop being so self centered and start being more Christ centered.

And yet, all of this is surface level stuff. What really matters is not how well we know the Bible, but how well we know the God of the Bible. The Bible reading and praying, the replacing of sin with righteousness only truly comes when God invades our hearts and minds. When Jesus is first and foremost in what we think and say and do, that's what we are aiming for.

Will we ever get there? Quite frankly, no. But God's expectation is that we keep striving and pressing toward this goal. It will also be by his grace and the strength that he provides. But it still requires grace driven effort; our effort.

So let today be the day of new beginnings. It really doesn't matter if today is January 1 or July 17. Every day, every hour, every moment is a new chance to make a new beginning with God.

Soli Deo Gloria