To Stand

I think there is a part of us that believes that winning looks glorious and triumphant. And that comes from what we watch in the world and from personal experience. The stadium erupting in cheers, the photo finish, the big bonus, flowers, a toast. All of these things that we associate with the celebration of a victory. It’s exhilarating and there is very little like it in life.

I remember one time in 2004, my Dad, Uncle Chuck, my brother and I had gone to a Jets game. It was the last regular game of the season. Very cold. But a win and another team’s loss would mean that the Jets would make the playoffs. It was not certain so it would be a dramatic afternoon – facing Brett Favre and the Packers. Well, sometime in the late third quarter the final score from the other key game was posted and the Jets were winning so more than 75,000 people just started cheering and celebrating. It was near-deafening and electric! Isn’t that what victory feels like?

But for the life of faith, it often looks a lot different. No stadiums cheering, in fact, often no one cheering. This is in part because the spiritual arena is often solitary. The choice to refrain from temptations, the overcoming of a fear and other like these – most people don’t see or know about. But still victories none the less.

It also looks different because it doesn’t look like a victory. In fact, I would say personally, it doesn’t even feel like a victory. Take the cross for example. Completely does not look like a victory. Jesus says “it is finished (completed)” and in fact despite the shame, destruction and death – it was the most important victory of all time. We need to remember this in our battles and struggles as well. Scripture helps describe it…

“Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.” James 1:12 The Message

Winning or victory often in this life of faith is to endure or stand. “Still standing” doesn’t sound very glorious or euphoric, does it?

But you know this. If you or a loved one has endured cancer and its treatment and are still alive – you have endured. If you have struggled through job loss and didn’t lose yourself – you have endured. If you have hung on through the worst time in your life – and still believe that God has a plan to use you – you have stood and endured. And of course there are many more examples of quiet, humble victories that give glory to God and prove us faithful.

And it isn’t just fighting disease and core identity battles. Unfortunately, there are other enemies as well. “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand (Ephesians 6:13).” Notice how it doesn’t say that we get to crush the evil or evil one(s). We put on the armor to what…stand our ground – in other words remain faithful.

You and I can imagine this in all sorts of ways. The husband or wife the resists having an affair to stay faithful and stand his or her ground. The business person who sees an opportunity to exploit a client (without getting caught) and stands his or her ground. The young person who goes to a party where there are drugs and alcohol and leaves at the risk of losing friends – standing his or her ground.

I would love for it to be like some kind of Lord of The Rings – Return of the King victory of crushing evil altogether and that a new era of peace begins. But we don’t live in Middle-Earth, we live in real-time on the Earth!

But not alone. The Holy Spirit is always present in these struggles and battles. And God’s Word – all the armor there for us – to help us stand.

And there probably won’t be a parade or thousands of people cheering or a bouquet or a standing ovation. But the Lord will be smiling and has crown waiting for those that stand and endure over a lifetime and that really is enough and what this life of faith is about. And also think about the great witness it is for those around you – and how encouraged others will be. Communities, peoples and nations have been moved and transformed by the “standing and enduring” of one or a few individuals.

“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle,” said Plato. I know you are fighting some kind of battle today. It might be against a disease. Maybe it is resisting some kind of temptation or addiction. Perhaps it is an ethical matter at work, at a church or in your family. It could be standing up to a bully or abusive person or system. It might be that you are the one who has to shed light on, or reveal corruption. Maybe your doubts and fears about life have been overwhelming your faith and the time to make a stand has come.

Please know that to win today – you just need to stand and endure. I am praying for you to have and experience that strength at this moment.

Amen.

Discussion Questions

1. In the battle you are facing today, what will standing through it look like?
2. What are some other times in your life when you have stood and endured? What was unique about those experiences?
3. How can you encourage others who are facing great battles?

Read Full Post »

Who Knows?

Maybe it’s because I have reached my limit. Maybe you have too.

 

Maybe it’s because I can still vividly remember walking in the 1978 Memorial Day Parade in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, holding an American Flag alongside my Dad and his ambulance corps and feeling so proud of my nation.

 

Maybe it’s because we seem to be on a downward spiral and it seems less and less likely that we can turn around.

 

Maybe it’s because I believe a nation has a kind of soul and our nation’s soul is wounded and ill.

 

Maybe it’s because I have a daughter of a similar age.

 

But I can’t help but be so disturbed by the thought and reality of that little girl’s body found in the garbage dump after having gone missing recently.

 

Kids are supposed to be alive and walking home safely in their neighborhoods. Little girls should be swinging on the swing in the back singing Taylor Swift songs and writing and illustrating books with stick figures and backward letters.

 

But not for Somer Thompson, whose body was, as her father described, “discarded like a piece of trash.”  

 

I know this is not the first time it has happened…and it won’t be the last.

 

But it is a very startling metaphor – a young, innocent girl killed and dumped in the garbage. It screams of a people and a nation that do not value life. And we have known this for a while. It’s just a little more visible today.  

 

How can we say that we value life when we worship nearly everything else but the Author of Life? In God We Trust?

 

It’s more like – In…money, violence, sports, alcohol and drugs, possessions, sex, appearances, video games and ourselves…We Trust. You don’t need to be a person of faith to see where this has brought us and where it is going to lead.

 

The apathy doesn’t help either. Our apathy helps us drift off slowly, painlessly as we have watched our nation’s soul and many of the things of real substance disintegrate.

 

After hearing a message of warning from one of God’s prophets, a people of long ago began fasting. The king of those people was also moved by the message and said, “Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways, and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish (Jonah 3).”

 

And God’s response to those people? “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened (Jonah 3).”

 

What does God see when He looks upon America’s soul? What does God think of Somer Thompson’s body in a Georgia garbage dump?

 

Yet, God does see and respond to repentance and turning our hearts to Him. The people of Nineveh, which I mentioned above, did so, and God relented. He is after all, a God of second chances.

 

I know this is not a typical Living Water. I would have preferred to write something else. But I had to be obedient. As much as I love to talk about grace, it doesn’t take away from how much sin and evil still offend God.

 

And I am no king, but I couldn’t be silent today about how I see sin and evil corrupting our nation and how we have to turn from it – soon.

 

Let everyone in our nation call urgently on God and let us give up our evil ways and violence.

 

Who knows?

 

Amen.

Read Full Post »

Voices

 

 

 

“He (the Devil) was a killer from the very start. He couldn’t stand the truth because there wasn’t a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies.” John 8:44 (The Message)

 

 

Ever wonder where the worst thoughts in your mind come from?

 

There is no doubt that our own sinfulness, experience and all the things we read, watch and view affect it. But we also have to be aware of the one who is working overtime to keep us from God. Satan’s main goal is to keep us far from God. It’s what he is all about. (For a more in-depth exploration of this – please read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters).

 

And one of the evil one’s main weapons is lying. It’s a persistent, patient effort to chip away at our faith and replace it with destructive lies. He uses all sorts of voices – to ensure his lies take root in our souls. He’ll sound authoritative in our minds – making us wonder – “it sounds true, it makes sense, could it be true?” He uses unwitting or even willing accomplices to give voice to lies – sometimes parents, spouses, friends and coworkers.

 

I have given some thought to ones either I have heard myself or ones that others have shared. I encourage you to write back to me with ones you have heard. Here they are:

 

• You are not worthy or worth it – just give up
• God isn’t good – He doesn’t care about you
• You are unlovable – nobody cares about you
• You’re ugly on the outside and inside
• There is no heaven and no consequences – live it up
• Don’t love or trust anyone – they will only let you down
• Be afraid – be very afraid
• Too sinful, too lost, too guilty
• It’s all about you and what you want – put yourself first

 

 

Whether you have heard these or ones like them, you know how powerful and destructive they can be. If we listen to them long enough they can start to sound true. And when these become true for us – it alters our thinking, our decision making and our worldview. But most of all it corrodes and corrupts our relationship with God. It makes us believe lies about the God who is the truth.

 

Sounds awful right? Well, it is definitely awful. But hold on, there are a few things we can do about it…

 

The first thing we have to do is name the lies. Naming the lies in our lives takes away their power. So like the above list, maybe you can make a list of the lies you have heard. And by naming them, they are no longer as menacing – part of their power lies in being undefined.

 

Once we have the lies named, the next thing we can do is start to provide God’s answers to the lies – found in His Word. For example, when we hear that we are not worthy or worth it, God’s Word says, “You (God) knit me together in my mother’s womb – I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14).” Or when we hear that God isn’t good, His Word says, “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him…(Romans 8:28).”

 

I promise you – for every lie, for every falsehood that the evil one attempts to sell us, there is a more powerful, faithful truth from God. We can learn to know the difference between the two – to learn to separate the truth from lies in all the static.

 

You know, in these times, there are so many voices and noise coming at us – distracting, disturbing and discouraging us. It can be very easy to believe stories that are lies and live our lives around them.

 

And like the song from Casting Crowns goes, ““But the voice of truth, tells me a different story…out of all the voices calling out to me…I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.”

 

My prayer for you today is that you desire to, and fight to be able to hear the voice of truth above or through or around the lies and noise – to hear and believe that you are loved, treasured, watched over, forgiven – that you have a purpose and your fears can be overcome and that you can live in the light and truth of God’s plan for your life.

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. What are some of the lies that you have heard? What impact have they had on your life?
2. Do you have trouble telling the difference between the lies and the truth? What can you do about that?
3. Are you an unwitting or willing accomplice in perpetrating lies to others through your words? What can you do about that?
4. Do you want to hear the voice of truth in your life? Ask Him to speak clearly to you.

Read Full Post »

Presence

Presence

 

As you know, last week was the 7^th anniversary of September 11. Hard to believe. Seven years.

 

It was a Tuesday. And as usual, Brian and I would walk Jenny out to her car. At the time, Jenny was teaching 5^th grade, I was staying home with Brian during the day and going to seminary at night. So that morning we walked her out and I stayed outside for a moment and watched Jenny drive away. Brian went back inside. I looked up and the moon was still out. I remember thinking, “It’s going to be a beautiful day.”

 

While watching some Arthur (kid show on PBS) with Brian, the phone rang. It was my brother who called to say that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. He hadn’t seen any video, but it sounded like it was a small plane whose pilot had lost sight because of the sun. I told him I would check it out and see what was going on.

 

I turned on the news just a few moments before the second plane hit and watched in horror as I began to understand what was happening. And as you know everything changed after that. The phone lines became jammed after that, although my brother’s work is an 800 number and I was able to call Amer in a more southern area code. Then when we learned about the plane at the Pentagon I tried to call Jenny’s dad who worked just three miles from the Pentagon but was unable to reach him. Later in the day it was strangely quiet. We lived in an area over which many planes en route to Newark flew over – but that all stopped later that day. At one point we heard the roar of one of the military jets that were patrolling the NY/NJ area. Jenny came home later and we just watched the news for the rest of the day and night.

 

We all have our own September 11^th stories. Even today it is hard to go back there. Such evil. Such destruction. The feelings of being attacked. The audacity of the attacks. The real sense of vulnerability. But also great stories of faith, hope, courage and perseverance. So many great stories of providence. My favorite one is how on the same day, there was a conference of top surgeons at the Meadowlands Sports complex area, which as many of you know, the towers can be seen from there. And so, not long after the attacks, many of the surgeons were brought to a ferry and were brought across to Manhattan and served in hospitals all over the city helping victims.     

 

I was an intern at the Reformed Church of North Brunswick. And I had to preach the next Sunday. What was I supposed to say? What could I say to the faithful in the face of such destruction and evil?

 

And so I tried to remind everyone of who God is through Psalm 46 with thoughts like, “God is our refuge and strength and very present help in trouble…Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change…God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.”

 

Many people asked, where was God on September 11? He was there – there comforting, giving strength, performing miracles in the midst of all the evil and destruction.  

 

One day, God will overcome all the evil and brokenness in this world. Jesus’ resurrection after the cross was the breakthrough – the start of overcoming all the evil and brokenness in this world. Until then, evil will have its days, like September 11. But what evil doesn’t seem to understand is this – when people rely on God as their refuge and strength, it can’t win. It can definitely do damage. And, in the brokenness and difficult times, God’s hands somehow become more visible, if only for a moment. Until that glorious day, let’s keeping fighting against evil and injustice; and let’s keep looking for God and His hand in the worst times – He’s there, He’s present and He is a refuge – the refuge for our lives.

 

Amen.

 

 

Discussion Questions

1. What is your September 11^th story or memory?
2. How did that day affect your faith? Why?
3. Have you seen God’s power in difficult times?
4. Do you think of God as a refuge? Why or why not? What keeps you from thinking of Him as a refuge?

Read Full Post »

A Life Restored

Psalm 23

A Life Restored (Remix of Sunday’s sermon – audio download – http://www.firstgrandville.org/content.cfm?id=213&category_id=4 )

 

 

To have it all on the outside – money, success, lots of stuff – but falling apart on the inside?

 

Sin, grief, anger – these things have a corrosive effect on our souls. But also, the stress, the pressure of keeping a job, finding a job, keeping a family or relationship together – what does all of this do to our souls? We depend on ourselves; we turn inward; we go off the path; we turn away from the one who loves us most.

 

And ultimately, our souls become like a wilderness or a desert.

           

We need to be restored!

 

Today, when we think of restoration, we probably think of the spa. But there is something better than anything a spa can offer…

 

The definition of restoration is, “to bring back to its former state; to bring back from a state of ruin, decay, disease, or the like.”

 

You see, from the beginning of the Bible in Genesis to the end in Revelation – the goal was reconciliation and restoration between us and God. God’s pursuit of us and then the cross through which the reconciliation was achieved. And because of the person on that cross, Jesus, God got personal, literally. And through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit we can be restored in souls and in our lives.        

 

Psalm 23 offers us this pathway to restoration guided by the Lord, the shepherd. Jesus calls himself the good shepherd in John 10. Think about it, a shepherd is personal, gentle when necessary, but also protective and patient.

 

As you might imagine the biggest obstacle to Jesus the shepherd leading us to being restored is …us…

 

But we are going to change that today…

 

Receive what His hand provides

 

He comforts…

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want

            Not lacking in anything spiritual

He makes me lie down in green pastures

            Being fed with and resting in, God’s best

He leads me beside still waters

                        What refreshes you?

Are you thirsty?

           

He restores…

 

He restores my soul

To lead away (Come away with me…) – meaning of restore – in Hebrew

 

Follow His guiding and protecting hand

 

He leads…

 

            He leads me in right paths for his name’ sake

            Not ours battle to win – it’s His.

 

He protects…

           

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me

Imagine being able to say to Satan and challenges – I don’t fear you – my shepherd is with me – I don’t fear a cancer diagnosis, I don’t fear losing my job…

 

            Your rod and your staff they comfort me

                        Shepherd – Rod for protection, staff for guidance

 

Embrace His open arms

 

He welcomes…

 

            You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies

                        Nothing can stop the hospitality of the Lord

            You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows

                        Both point to abundance

                       

He embraces…

           

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

                        Hebrew understanding of “follow” is pursue

Romans 8:28 – God works for the good in all things…

                                   

            And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

                        God’s presence – belonging to Him above all things

 

He knows what we need. We don’t need a day at the spa, we don’t need more money, we need a restored soul. And he wants to give it to us abundantly. This Psalm begins and ends with the Lord – “The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

 

Our souls were not meant to be deserts, dry and deserted – they were to be places of pastures and quiet waters – overflowing with the presence of God – the Holy Spirit.

 

Whatever is going on in your life today…

If you want rest and comfort,

If you want to feel his protection when you are in the darkest valleys,

If you want the “cup” of your soul to overflow with goodness and mercy,

If you want true abundance,

 

Then say it – The Lord Jesus Christ is my shepherd, and I am going let him lead me, and protect me, and let him fill me, and run to his open arms and never leave.

 

The restoring can start right now…

 

Amen.  

 

Discussion Questions

1. Have you thought of Psalm 23 in this way? Often you hear at funerals, which is completely appropriate. But how about it in the present tense – in the now?
2. What about restoration? What have you thought about it prior to reading this? Do you need some?
3. What is the state of your soul? What can we do about it?  
4. Have you let the Lord touch and restore you? How about today?

Read Full Post »