Tag: Lent 2019

Holy Week 2019 | Maundy Thursday: Celebration

The Thursday of Holy week represents the day Jesus and his disciples celebrated the first communion of the Church. During the meal, Jesus took the Passover and infused it with a new meaning pointing to the new covenant he was establishing.

The bread pointed to the body of Christ. Beaten and bruised, but not broken. The bread was shared among all those present reminded them that they are one with Christ in life and in death.

The wine would be a reminder that the forgiveness of sins required the shedding of blood. But, Glory to God, the last drop of blood shed for sin was that of the Son of God. No believer will have to die for sins. We may die for the spreading of the Gospel, but this would be an act of obedience and not a sacrifice for salvation.

The beauty of celebrating the Lord’s Supper is that we have a continual reminder that the Gospel is true and that Jesus is who promised us he is.

Holy Week 2019 | Wednesday: Confrontation

A group from our church gathered to watch the movie Risen. It tells a fictional story, that honors a very likely scenario. However, there is are some compelling moments in the movie. One that stands out the conversation between the protagonist, the tribune Clavius, and one of the tomb guards. I made a note regarding this scene: How would I have made sense of this confrontation between my experience and my worldview?

https://youtu.be/zvp30U-vhe0

 

Holy Week 2019 | Tuesday: Anticipation

The time is drawing closer. The crucifixion is steadily approaching. The disciples may have had some inkling that this week in Jerusalem would be different. But, the Gospels tell us they were not at all prepared. They were not truly ready to confront the weight of what it meant to be the leaders of the Church. Only time would prove it. And now, history has shown that they were up to the task.

It is only Tuesday. The seriousness of what will take place has not yet taken hold. The normal ebb and flow of life continues.

Holy Week 2019 | Monday: Preparation

We don’t know much of what Jesus and the disciples were doing in that final week. What I would guess, is that this was a time of preparation. Jesus understood that his time and ministry on earth were drawing to a close. I am not sure the disciples did at all.

What makes the first few days of Holy Week so difficult is that we don’t know much at all. And so we wait. Preparing for what is to come. Looking back across the centuries we know what happened. But, that does not eliminate the suspense. It does not diminish the anticipation.

Resurrection Sunday is a few days away. But for now, we wait. We prepare for what is to come.

Lent 2019 | Day 33: Service

I want to follow up on my thought from yesterday on the power of having a steady obedience. The concept I wanted to pick up on is the idea of service. As Christians, service should not be a foreign concept to us. It should be something we engage in as often as possible.

Let me begin by saying, we may not always want to serve. I don’t want to pretend that service is something that comes naturally to everyone one. It doesn’t. This reality of human nature does not change that we all should find ways of serving. Our service can be in or through the church; it can be through some community involvement; or even through some creative project. The point is we should find a way to pour ourselves into serving others according to our gifts and abilities.

How we serve will be as varied as the individual. The challenge is to not ourselves to get into some sort of comparison game. That can be very distracting, and if done in an unhealthy way can become destructive. We must all learn to be satisfied with doing our best. Not in trying to live up to someone else’s best.

Lent 2019 | Day 32: Steady

On Friday, I rode with my father to visit one of his friends. A pastor he has known for over thirty years. What I did not know was that I was going to meet a giant in the kingdom.

Pastor Tracy Hipps serves as the Executive Director of Christian Service Mission. CSM is an amazing ministry that strives to help the church reach the community in which it lives. It is a para-church ministry that is working to help the Church do the work. It really blew my mind. But, the one aspect of the man who heads this organization that stood out as we ate lunch was his commitment to a steady obedience.

In every story he shared, he spoke of waiting on God and watching God fulfill every need. When he took over, the ministry was $900,000 dollars in debt. In seven years the debt was paid off, and they now have an operational budget over seven figures. All through donations and all a result of a steady obedience. They don’t even do fundraisers. Oh, he also doesn’t take a salary. He raises his own support, missionary style.

If you are in or near Birmingham, AL, I encourage you to go over and see what God is doing through Christian Service Mission. Ask Tracy to tell you a story. You won’t regret it. I didn’t.

 

Lent 2019 | Day 31: Satisfied

The only perfection God expects he has found in his Son.

There are two ways that I think about this word in the Christian context. First, the penalty for sin has been satisfied by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Second, as believers, we can be satisfied with the new life we have in Christ.

On the first point. The fullness of sin has been dealt with by the abundance of Jesus’s righteousness. And God, through his grace, has applied that righteousness to our account. We are no longer under condemnation because the holy wrath of God has been propitiated by the blood. This is what it means for God to be satisfied by Jesus’s sacrifice for my sin.

On the second point. Now that I have been born again through repentance and faith, adopted into the family of God, and the righteousness of Christ covers my sin, I can live a satisfied life. This is not a complacent life. It is not a careless life. It is not a hesitant life. I don’t have to live in fear, but I do have to live for God. It is an intentional approach to life. My satisfaction is not in trying to do what Jesus has already done. My satisfaction comes when I live my life in accordance with God’s character. The only perfection God expects he has found in his Son. What he wants from me, from you, is a commitment to faithfully obey his commands.

Lent 2019 | Day 30: Sacred

Within a Christian framework, the word we use to describe sacred things is “holy.”

Any discussion of the sacred in our modern world can be extremely difficult. The sacred is a conversation related to the religious, and our world is becoming more secular by the day. However, as Christians, we must not shy away from talking about sacred things. Without the concept of the sacred, we eliminate an important distinction, that there are things in this world whose value cannot be eliminated or diminished.

Within a Christian framework, the word we use to describe sacred things is “holy.” The word holy has a specific meaning as it relates to God, but there is also a meaning that is applied to those objects and persons set aside and tasked with serving God and his people. This idea of “holy” is vital if we are going to understand the responsibilities and demands God has placed on us.

In the church, we must take great care never to treat as ordinary what God has identified as sacred. We must do all we can to live our lives with a sense of sacred ever present. This is what will help us stay true to who we are and who we are becoming every day.

Lent 2019 | Day 29: Surprise

Every day God puts his glory and majesty on display and we treat it as if it was no big deal.

My wife is not exactly a fan watching movies with me at theaters. Part of the reason is that I am not a quiet watcher. I like to talk to the characters, pointing out how stupid a decision was. I am the guy in the theater that laughs (really laughs) at the funny stuff, and even at some of the not so funny stuff. My wife’s dislike for my company at movies is especially true of suspense movies. I don’t like the jump scare moments in movies. In fact, I would say that I hate them.

The entire process of being surprised is not something I look forward to. I like things to be as I expect them to be. I don’t know exactly why that is. I just know that for as long as I can remember, being surprised or caught off guard or shocked has not been something I enjoy experiencing.

Now, because everyone starts thinking I am strange, I don’t start crying or complaining or get angry at surprises. And most of the time, I am fine when they happen. What gets me is the effect it has on me. I jump. My adrenaline starts pumping for a little bit. My anxiety climbs and that’s when I get the most bothered.

I have an overactive mind. I think all the time. And surprises get me wondering and imagining about things that may never happen. That’s the part that makes me “surprise averse.”

But, what do I do when I am confronted with the reality that God is a God of surprises. Every day God puts his glory and majesty on display and we treat it as if it was no big deal. What amazes me is that we are surprised by things that would never surprise God, and we are bored with things that should be surprising to us every time they occur.

My prayer is that I would take some time and that you would take some time, and think about those things God has done and is doing in your life that no longer surprise us, but should. And then, we should take some more time and look at the things that do surprise us and ask ourselves why and if they should at all.

Surprise is a wonderful gift if we are being surprised by things that draw us closer to God, and not by things that pull our attention away from him.

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