4/14/10 Isaiah and the resurrection Isaiah 25,26

7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 25:7,8)

19 But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise— let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning; you will make it fall on the spirits of the dead. (Isaiah 26:19)

(Isaiah and the scroll- by Raphael)

Isaiah prophecied the destruction of the nation for turning away from God.  But he also prophecied hope even after the nation was reduced to ruins.  God will destroy the "shroud that enfolds all peoples"- that is the burial cloth that wraps up the dead.  He will "swallow up death forever"-- like God comes and eats death up.  Paul quotes this as a testimony to the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:54.  Once I had a dog who gave birth to puppies outside in a shed.  A few days later I awoke and found a dead snake right outside her little birthplace.  The mother dog had killed it.  I didn't have time to bury it that morning, but when I came back that afternoon the mother dog had eaten the snake whole.  That is the kind of image Isaiah gives here.  God will eat up death- swallowing it so it will not harm us anymore.  The context indicates that He does this not for everyone, but only for "those who trust in Him."  It is "His dead" that will live.  Just as God allowed Israel- who was as good as dead- come back from exile, captivity, and destruction- He will bring those who are his back to life. 

Prayer- Thank you Lord, that death has lost its sting because of what you have done.  Thank you that when it is my turn to die, I can rest assured that there is more beyond because you have killed my death on the cross. You will raise me up as Christ was raised up.

4/13/10- Do You Want to Get Well? John 5:1-9

 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda  and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3-4 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.  5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

(Pool at Bethesda today- rediscovered c. 1997)

There was a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years.  There was no social security, and begging was usually the way of life for the disabled.  Doubtless, he was used to begging for help.  If Jesus made him well, his whole life would change.  So Jesus asked him what appears to be a silly question- "Do you want to get well?"  The man had been by this healing pool for so long, and had little hope to be healed because he couldn't get to the water quick enough (the legend was that the first in the water after it has been stirred, would be healed).  The man appeared to be looking for a miracle, but in some ways he had given up hope.  Jesus came to this hopeless man and helped him.  Jesus comes to us and asks, "Do you want to get well?"  Many of us make up excuses for not being better people. Many of us are so used to coping with our problems, that we really don't want to get well.  Almost like a fish who has gotten so used to the darkness that it has lost its ability to see light- and doesn't want the light.  Self-help books tell us how to cope, but Jesus enables us to go forward- and be well.  We do not need to know how to be more comfortable on our mat of suffering as much as we need to know how to be forgiven and how to have hope. Jesus tells us to rise up and go forward.  The world needs us to want to be changed by Jesus, and the world needs us to rise up.   More importantly, God needs us to be new creatures and to follow Him.  Perry Tuttle gave us a challenge from this passage last night.

Prayer: Lord, help me to always want you to come into my life, make me well, and give me the grace to rise up.

4/12/10 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 A New Creation

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

(Butterly- a Christian symbol of someone transformed; worm to cryssalis, to butterfly)

To be a Christian is to be a new creature.  We don't regard people according to what they have or don't have.  In the early church, there were people who hadn't been together- slaves and the rulling class.  Jews, Greeks, Romans, and "barbarians" all met in the same place to worship- whereas before they met separately.  God was able to bring people together- reconciling them to God and to each other.  We have been given the task to bring people together. Perry Tuttle in his book quoted Maya Angelou who said, "We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” 



Prayer; Thank you Lord, that you make me a new creature.  Make me new today, and put a new song in my mouth- a song of reconciliation to others.

4/11/10 Compelled to Share Love in an Anti-Christian Environment, 2 Cor. 5:11-14

11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are "out of our mind," as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

 (Corinthian Body Models- in Museum in Corinth)- People would bring models of the sick part of their bodies to the pagan temple.  It was in such an environment of rampant sexual immorality and superstition that Paul shared his faith- and we are called to share ours).

Paul says that we are dead to our "old self"- the way the world encourages us to be- proud-of-what-we-have/have-done, selfish, with a look-out-for-number-one attitude.   This is not a bad thing, but a good thing.  "One died for all- therefore all died"- means that Christ died on the cross, and we who believe in Him- die to the world too.  He gave up living for worldly things- and we should too.
But at the same time- the one who died was raised again, and we were spiritually- but really- raised again too.  Once we believe- truly believe (none of this nominal or intellectual stuff), then the love of Christ changes us.  One sign of our change is that the love of Christ makes us want to share that love.  Paul says he "tries to persuade people" or that "the love of Christ compels us." To share the love of Christ in an anti-Christian environment (as I'm convinced we have now in the media), means to sacrifice pride, to believe God ahead of the news media who always blow up the bad news about Christians and share little or nothing of the good news (for example- think of Haiti- tens of millions of dollars were sent there by Christians after the earthquake-- millions of people were helped-- but what will we remember from Christians in Haiti- missionaries trying to "kidnap" children- which in itself was much to do about nothing as the parents gave the kids and the authorities had no means for paper work).  To share Christ in an anti-Christian environment- was exactly what Paul did, and it is exactly what we should do as well.  The only way to change the world's attitude about Christianity is to share Christ and let the Holy Spirit change people- one life at a time.  The risen Christ empowers us- even compels us by his love to not keep the love of Christ entombed in our own hearts.

Prayer: Lord, you know it is hard to speak to those who do not believe.  Yet, use me today, to reach out for you to another. 

P.S.- Pray for Perry Tuttle today as he leads Lake Murray Presbyterian in a spiritual enrichment

4/10/10- 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 Faith in another Home

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

One of the outstanding verses in scriptures is "we walk by faith and not by sight" yet it is sandwiched between two verses having to do with when we are at home with the body we are away from the Lord.  In other words, it is easy to get so comfortable with what we can see, with this world that we experience, that we don't want to be with the Lord.  It takes faith to believe that there is something better than our earthly home.  It takes faith to believe in Christ's resurrection, and it takes faith to believe there is a better home for us.  I saw a bumper sticker today that said simply, "Live for the present."  There are some advantages to such a bumper-sticker philosophy- no worries about the future- especially earthly security.  But if we were consistent with that we wouldn't exercise or even try to control our weight- which could leave us in pain or suffering stroke/heart attack/cancer later.  But if we have another home- that we do not have to worry about losing- there is an elimination of worrying about losing our earthly home or security.  Don't be so comfortable with the present that you feel you have to pack it all in right now.  We can let go of the present a little bit, yet we can also recognize a greater purpose, and that what good we do will be rewarded by God in the future (vs. 10).

Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to walk by faith and not by sight.  Let me be assured where my eternal home and purpose lie.

4/9/10- 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 More Than a Tent

1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

     I can remember camping many times.  One of my worst experiences was camping on an island in the middle of Lake Murray with the boy scouts.  We got there in a drizzle, set up our tents, and dug trenches around them so the water would drain away from the tent.  But it poured cats and dogs- and our "waterproof" tent soon became a sieve, and the trenches we dug filled up, overflowed, and we were stuck inside a miserable situation.  A tent is good- much better than nothing- to protect us from rain and sun (just ask the People of Haiti who would love to have a tent).  Yet, a tent is not the best there is.  So it is with our bodies.  Ask anyone who gets old.  Eighty percent of those over 65 in America have some kind of chronic illness that they live with (high blood pressure, cholesterol problems, diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, etc.).  All of those over thirty know they can't run as fast as they used to. Our bodies are like tents, and we "groan" Paul says because we don't wan to "leave" our tents- in the rain of life.  Kind of like a hermit crab doesn't want to leave their shell, even though they have outgrown it. 
     Paul was a tent maker, so he probably thought a lot about tents and our bodies.  The Spirit is a "deposit" he says guaranteeing future payments.  The Holy Spirit "dwells" (or "tents" or "tabernacles") inside of us (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:19).  The Spirit inside of us indicates that this life is not all there is- but there is more to come.  A deposit or downpayment guarantees more payments to come, and allows ownership.   Calvin said the Spirit is the real source of the assurance of our salvation- allowing us to know (as much as we know anything) that we have eternal life.  Our temporary bodies also point to something more.  Each pain can be a sign pointing to our own resurrection- reminding us this is not our permanent home- but pointing to something more. 

Prayer: Help us, O Lord, understand that this life is not all there is.  Give us grace to live beyond ourselves- for you- because you are the source of more beyond. 

4/8/10- Resurrection in the Psalms

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. (Psalm 16:9,10).

15 As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. (Psalm 17:15).

15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself. (Psalm 49:15)

(David- Michelangelo)

     There are many who do not or will not see any talk or belief of eternal life in the Old Testament.  The last two blogs I wrote about two prominent passages in Job (which many consider as written in patriarchal times- Abraham or possibly before).  Here are three passages from the Psalms that appear to have hope in eternal life, and they are important for us.  Psalm 49 specifically contrasts the death of animals (sheep-14) and the wicked (17) to the death of those who believe.  Sheep and the wicked are said to decay but God will "take us to himself."  It even speaks of the wise (10-13) and wealthy die (6-9).  One cannot be smart enough to earn our way to eternal life, and cannot pay enough to earn our way there (9). 
     Psalms 16 and 17 claim to be ancient psalms of David.  Some scholars think that the concept of eternal life was not an ancient concept- therefore these psalms cannot be that early. But such thoughts are circular (it can't be ancient because it doesn't fit into what I think the ancients believed).  The idea of eternal life, even in pagan religions or pre-historic customs (Egyptian thought, even neanderthal burial methods) has been around.  Acts 2:27,31 sees Psalm 16:9,10 as a prophecy about the Messiah's resurrection.  But all three passages above could express hope and faith in our own resurrection.
     My point is simply this: for centuries even before Christ people believed in some kind of eternal life.  But there was no secured hope of it until the resurrection of Christ. Christ's resurrection confirmed not only Christ's teachings, but the teachings of others that went along with his.

Prayer:  Thank you Lord, that though I cannot be smart enough to get to heaven, or earn enough to get there, you have provided a way for me.  I join my faith with the ancients who believed that you will not allow your faithful to see decay.