“He Ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”

MONDAY, JULY 26 <Acts 1:1-11>                                                                                                      

After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight.                                 Acts 1:9

Many men (if they are honest) might say that when they got married, they married “up.”  In saying this, they would not be describing a physical place, but a state of being that is higher than they were before they were married.  This is a helpful analogy when we talk about going to heaven.  Heaven (though very real) is not exactly a place in the same way the moon or a town is a place.  It is a state of being fully in God’s presence.”  J.I. Packer tells us that “’Heaven,’ in the Bible, means three things: 1. The endless, self-sustaining life of God. In this sense, God has always dwelt “in heaven,” even when there was no earth. 2. The state of angels or men as they share the life of God, whether in foretaste now or in fullness hereafter.  In this sense, the Christian’s reward, treasure and inheritance are all “in heaven” and heaven is shorthand for the Christian’s final hope.  3. The sky, which, being above us and more like infinity than anything else we know, is an emblem in space and time of God’s eternal life….”^[1]  When the Bible and Creed proclaim that Jesus ascended into heaven, they do not mean Jesus got on the cosmic elevator “up,” they mean that Jesus entered (for Him, re-entered) a life unrestricted by anything created, a life lived in the direct presence of the Father.  It means the same for us.  “Going up” to heaven means most of all, a change of life, moving from a life that is limited (often painful and sinful) to the endless, righteous, joyous, amazing life in God’s presence.  

Prayer: Lord, give me a real sense of anticipation of my life to come, not to diminish this life, but in knowing the joy that is to come, I will have strength to live well and faithfully now.  Amen.

TUESDAY, JULY 27 <Philippians 2:1-11>

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name….              Philippians 2:9                                  

Young people today often use the phrase, “You (he, she, it) rule!”  They mean that a person or a thing is the greatest!   In a world that is full of evil, disease, war, selfishness, etc.; in a world that seems to be in the firm hand of an evil power; if we acknowledge Jesus’ Kingship at all.  We think of Jesus’ like the King or Queen of England, a title with no real power.  The message of the Ascension is that Jesus rules!  He has “moved up” and sits at the Father’s right hand, exalted to a condition of supreme dignity and power, ruling everything in heaven and earth in the name of the Father.  He is no paper King, but the real King with all the power and authority of God.  As JI Packer puts it, “…Christ really rules it, that He has won a decisive victory over the dark powers that had mastered it and that the manifesting of this fact is only a matter of time.  God’s war with Satan is now like a chess game in which the result is sure but the losing player has not yet given up, or like the last phase of human hostilities in which the defeated enemy’s counterattacks, though fierce and frequent, cannot succeed, and are embraced in the victor’s strategy as mere mopping-up operations.”^[2]  So often, we live as though the enemy is winning. What difference might it make if we lived according to the truth that our Lord has already won and is in charge?

Prayer: Lord, give me eyes to see what you are doing all over the world and in my own life and community that show that you are working and winning.  Give me the confidence that comes from serving you, my King and Lord.  Amen.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28 <Matthew 24>                                                                                                           

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.            Matthew 24:36

There is the story of a little boy, after hearing about some trouble going on in the world, was heard to pray one night:  “God, I don’t know if you are listening, but if you are, you had better do something quick.”   This, in a nutshell, was the attitude of many in Jesus’ time.  They had grown weary of being ruled by foreigners and longed for the promised Messiah to come, to drive out the oppressors, right the wrongs and set up His Kingdom among them.  The same is true today.  We grow tired of seeing all the evil in the world and we long for God to send Jesus to make everything right.  When is Jesus coming back? The best answer is that only the Father knows and all the prediction and speculations do little good in the end.  What we do know is that He IS coming.  He said so and that should be enough for us.  Our job is first and foremost to trust that the Lord has a timeline and a purpose which He will bring to completion in His good time.  In the meantime we are to wait, not in the sense of doing nothing, but in the sense of anticipation.  In the end we will meet the Lord through the door of death or at the very end of history.  It does not matter which one.  What does matter is that we keep praying, keep faithful and keep working.

Prayer: Lord, help me not to get wrapped up in predictions of when You will come; just the confidence to know that You are and to live as well as I can for You until the time comes for me to go.  Amen.

THURSDAY, JULY 29 <1 Corinthians 15:35-58>

…in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.                                                                                         1 Corinthians 15:52

Once again, J.I. Packer writes: “Nowhere does the strength of the Creed as a charter for life come out more clearly.  In today’s world, pessimism prevails because people lack hope.  They foresee only the bomb, or bankruptcy, or a weary old age—nothing worthwhile.  Communists and Jehovah’s Witnesses attract followers by offering bright hopes of heaven on earth—following the Revolution in one case, Armageddon in the other; but Christians have a hope that outshines both—the hope of which Bunyan’s Mr. Stand-fast said, ‘the thoughts of what I am going to … lie as a glowing Coal at my Heart.’ The Creed highlights this hope when it declares: ‘He shall come.’  In one sense, Christ comes for every Christian at death, but the Creed looks to the day when He will come publicly to wind up history and judge all men—Christians as Christians, accepted already, whom a ‘blood-bought free reward’ awaits according to the faithfulness of their service; rebels as rebels, to be rejected by the Master whom they rejected first.  The judgments of Jesus, ‘the righteous judge’ (2 Timothy 4:8; compare Romans 2:5–11), will raise no moral problems.”^[3]

Prayer: Lord, give me a sense of real optimism, not the kind that comes from a drummed up power of positive thinking, but the real thing that knows you are ruling powerfully now and will come on day to make all things new and right.  Amen.

FRIDAY, JULY 30 <2 Corinthians 5:1-10>                                                                                            

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.                                                                                                        2 Corinthians 5: 10

Max Lucado tells about two castle builders.  One castle builder is on the beach.  He is a young boy.  With his bucket, shovel and other beach tools, he builds his castle of towers, walls, and ramparts.  On another side of town there is another castle builder.  He is a man.  He is building walls of assets: stocks, bonds, property; towers of memberships in the right places–towers of privilege and prestige; ramparts comfort–of vacations and trips and second homes.  The boy on the beach knows that his castle will not last.  His wonderful creation will only last a day until the tide comes with one great final wave and washes it all away.  Though this may make him a little sad, it does not really.   He is ready for it and when the time comes, he will take his father’s hand and go home.  However the man building the other castle is different.  For most of his time constructing, he had put the end out of his mind.  He did not or would not think of it, and he suffered the illusion that his castle would protect him somehow.  Now as he sees the end, his fear grows daily and he has no answers. The Bible tells us that though we are saved in Christ, we will still be judged for what we did with the salvation and the gifts we had been given.  Did we live for ourselves?  Did we build our own castles?  Or did we live for the Lord and His kingdom and trust that God is building something for us that will last for an eternity?  What kind of Castle are you building?                                                                                             

Prayer: Lord, help me never put my trust in the things or accolades of this world.  Help me be ready to take your hand when the time comes, bidding good-bye to temporary things and receiving the eternal things you have made for me.  Amen.                                                                                                              

^[2]Packer, J. I.: Growing in Christ. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 1996, c1994, S. 63

^[3]Packer, J. I.: Growing in Christ. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 1996, c1994, S. 67

“He Descended Into Hell, The Third Day He Rose Again From The Dead.”

 MONDAY, JULY 19 <Read Romans 5:1-20>

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned….                                                                                                                Romans 5:12

Why do people die? It is an age old question, and the truth is we do not always know why a particular person dies at a particular time. But the Bible gives a straight forward about why we will all die sometime. Death, both spiritual (separation from God) and physical (separation from life), came as the result of the disobedience of our first parents. Because they sinned and we all sin after them, we all die. Death was never part of the original natural processes. It was God’s judgment, an intruder, which came as a result of sin. The good news is that God did not leave us in our predicament. First, he dealt with spiritual problem by taking the penalty for sin upon himself. This is what the Jesus’ suffering and death on cross was all about. Through it, we are forgiven and we are reconciled to God. Then, God dealt with the problem of physical death by raising Jesus. Jesus is the “first” of many who will follow him. Though our current bodies do die, Jesus’ own resurrection has transformed death into a doorway to a new and eternal life. Yes, life is very hard and painful sometimes, but we know who wins in the end. It is the Lord, we are his, and that is enough.

Prayer: Lord, you have dealt with me both inside and out, forgiveness, reconciliation and a new life now and a new body which is to come. Thank you Lord for all that you have done and will do! Praise be to your name both now and forever. Amen

TUESDAY, JULY 20 <Read Acts 2:22-41>

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.                                                                     Acts 2: 26-27

If you have ever hiked in mountains or back country, you know the importance of a good map or a compass. Even more important, if the place is very remote, is a guide, someone who has been there before, knows the place and can guide you through. This is the sense of what the Creed is saying when it affirms that Jesus “descended into hell.” The word “hell” as it is used in the Creed it is very confusing for modern readers. That is the meaning of the word has changed since the English form of the Creed was fixed. Originally, “hell” meant simply the place of the departed, the place of the dead, corresponding to the Greek Hades and the Hebrew Sheol.  However, since the seventeenth century “hell” has been used to signify only the state of final retribution for the godless, for which the New Testament name is Gehenna. What the Creed means, however, is that Jesus entered, not Gehenna, but Hades or Sheol.  In other words, Jesus entered the place of the dead. He really died, and that it was from a genuine death, not a pretend one (as some have suggested throughout history), that he rose again. That’s important, not only because his real death paid a price we could not pay, but because we know that Jesus walked the path we all will walk one day. He has been there before us, will be there when we go and will guide us through.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for leading me. What a blessed thought! Thank you too that one day you will lead me through the darkest place and I will come out into your glorious light and life. Amen.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 <Read John 14>

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.                                                                                                                                                            John 14:3

Soren Kierkegaard tells a story about a father and his young daughter who were trapped in the second story of a burning house. The father opened a bedroom window and jumped to safety. He called to his daughter and said, “Honey, Go ahead and jump. I’ll catch you!” “But Daddy, I can’t see you!” She replied. “Don’t worry darling,” he said. “I can see you. Trust me!” As Christians, we believe that the Jesus is alive, and because we know him as Savior, Lord, and Friend, we find a way through all life’s challenges, dying included. Having gone before us and experienced death himself, he will be with us when our time comes, and carry us through to the life beyond death into which he himself has passed. Apart from the Lord, death is the greatest of terrors, but with Christ death loses the “sting,” the power to hurt. When the Creed says that Jesus descended into “hell,” more than anything else it means that Jesus has gone through death and transformed it, and now we can face death knowing that when it comes we shall not find ourselves alone. He has been there before us, and he will guide us through. We may be fearful and blind, but we will hear his voice and take his hand. That will be enough.

Prayer: Lord, help me to trust you always, particularly in the times danger and fear threaten to envelop me. Help me to “jump” into your loving arms and remember that you see me even when I cannot see you. Amen.

THURSDAY, JULY 22 <Read 1 Corinthians 15>

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  1 Corinthians 15:17

Suppose that Jesus, having died on the cross, had stayed dead. Suppose that, like Socrates or Confucius or Gandhi, Jesus was now no more than a memory. We should still have his example and teaching; wouldn’t they be enough?  The answer is a resounding “no!” Both the cross and the resurrection are necessary parts of one work of salvation in which God achieved the victory over both sin and death. Through the cross, Jesus won our forgiveness once for all and reconciled us to God. Like an army that has won the day on the battlefield, but then receives the sword or the signature of surrender of the opposing Commander making the victory official, the resurrection completed victory won on the cross. J.I. Packer puts it this way: “What is the significance of Jesus’ rising? In a word, it marked Jesus out as Son of God (Romans 1:4); it vindicated his righteousness (John 16:10); it demonstrated victory over death (Acts 2:24); it guaranteed the believer’s forgiveness and justification (1 Corinthians 15:17; Romans 4:25), and his own future resurrection too (1 Corinthians 15:18); and it brings him into the reality of resurrection life now (Romans 6:4). Marvelous! You could speak of Jesus’ rising as the most hopeful—hope-full thing that has ever happened—and you would be right!”^[1]

Prayer: Lord, help me to never doubt that Jesus’ death for me was a real event and even more that the resurrection is a certainty awaiting me when the time comes. Amen.

FRIDAY, JULY 23 <Read Psalm 23>

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.                                                                 Psalm 23:4

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was one of America’s great preachers. The story is told how his first wife died from cancer when she was in her thirties, leaving three children under the age of twelve. What does a father tell his motherless children at a time like that? On his way to the service, he was driving with his little family when a large truck passed them on the highway, casting a shadow over their car. Barnhouse turned to his oldest daughter who was staring disconsolately out the window, and asked, “Tell me, sweetheart, would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?” The little girl said, “By the shadow, I guess. It can’t hurt you.” Dr. Barnhouse said: “Your mother has not been overrun by death, but by the shadow of death. That is nothing to fear.” At the funeral he used the text from the Twenty-third Psalm, which so eloquently expresses this truth. The great truth for Christians is that death is longer the end. It is like when we get struck in the stomach and the breath is knocked out of us. It still takes our breath away and still hurts, but it no longer can do permanent harm. It has lost its sting, its claw, its tooth. We need not fear.

Prayer: Lord, help me not to fear the end, but look forward to it. For you have promised to be with me both now and forever. And I do so look forward to seeing you and the life to come and the glory of it all!  Amen.

Audio version coming soon!

I have told a cute story over the years about a man who met one of those folks who had one of those huge travel trailer type things, you know, when you go on vacation, like a Winnebago. He was out in the parking lot talking to this guy and the guy is all excited about his Winnebago.  He says, “Yeah, it’s great!  We go all over the country; and it sleeps eight.  By the way, what do you do?”  The pastor said, “Well I pastor the church over there, and it sleeps about one hundred and fifty.”

As you know, I have been preaching through the Apostles’ Creed.  The problem is when you do doctrinal preaching, sometimes, it can be rather boring.  In other words, we might literally sleep one hundred and fifty.  But, you know what?  I like to preach about doctrine, about Christian truth.  It excites me.  It might sound strange, but what I am hoping is that as we go through this that some of my enthusiasm will rub off on you, and we can all learn something.  These are things we already know, in most cases. But it is good to revisit them because they do form a kind of helmet around our head to help us when we doubt. We hear all kinds of things out there on television or people who argue this and that, all kinds of books that are written about “what really happened.”  They form a shell around our head to help us to ward off these things.  Or, another analogy, they are our foundation on which we stand which will take us into eternity.  So, these things are exciting.

Now, we have gone through the Apostles’ Creed and learned several things.  We started out by saying that “I believe in God.”  That is what the Apostles’ Creed starts with.  “I believe in God;” notice it doesn’t say “We.”  We noted that when we believe in something it starts with you, the individual.  Your faith doesn’t depend on your grandparents, your parents, your children, or anybody else.  You have to come to faith.  You have to believe these things.  We all do, as individuals.  Yes, God brings us together as a Church, but our faith is our faith. One of the dangers of being a pastor is, and for a pastor’s child (PK’s we call them – preacher’s kids), you know, sometimes pastors get so wrapped around the axle because their kids are an example of him or her.  “Well, they have to believe, too.”  It is hard.  I have always known that my children have to come to faith themselves.  I have tried not to be too strict.  Kathy might be able to tell you different, I am not sure, but…  But it is a tricky business.  I prayed when I saw them come out of the womb.  “Lord, bring them to faith, their faith.”  You know, I criticize the Church, I am not talking about church with a little “c”, I am talking about Presbyterian Church, and the American Church.  We don’t do enough evangelism.  We are not doing enough evangelism. But you know what?  God brings the Church together every generation.  The Holy Spirit is still working.  People are still coming to Christ.  People still show up to Church, because people are coming.  We would like to see more.  But, people are coming; and that is encouraging, that’s encouraging. 

We have learned that faith starts with ourselves.  We believe.  We say we believe in God. Well, what kind of God do we believe in?  We “believe in the Father Almighty.”  We noted that Father has little to do with gender, very little to do with gender.  People get wrapped around the axle again with this idea of:  Is it a she or a he, or whatever, that sort of thing.  God doesn’t have gender like you and I do.  But, he is a Father.  It points to the fact that God is a personal God who can be known.  It points to the fact that God is the Creator of all things and we, and all things aside, depend on him for our existence of every moment.  There are a lot of wonderful theological things about God as Father, who is also Almighty.  The Christian view of God is that God is not only Maker of Earth and Heaven, all of the Earth and all of his details, but the entire Universe and the billions of galaxies and stars in every detail.  I have said a couple times to you that when I think about that, I feel like Winnie the Pooh, a bear of little brain, because it is so much bigger than any of us can understand.  But, that is good, because if we could understand God, God wouldn’t be God.  I would be suspicious of a God I could understand, totally.  Now, that doesn’t mean we can’t know him; we can.  But God is a God who is the “Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.”

We learned that Jesus Christ is his only Son.  That is, again, it doesn’t mean that Jesus is his son like Thor was the son of Odin or Hercules the son of Zeus.  It is pointing to the fact that Jesus is God walking on the earth.  Yes, it does say that Jesus is the Son.  He was born of the Virgin Mary, the son of a human woman, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Again, the Incarnation, bigger than we can understand but we affirm that Jesus was God walking on the earth.

And that this Christ, the Messiah, died for us on the cross, died a real death on the cross.  You know, we have seen so many people who want to deny that Jesus actually died, that Jesus really, really died, that it means something; but he did.  The Bible affirms and says very clearly that if Jesus didn’t really die, you can’t be saved.  Two weeks ago when I preached, remember I pointed to that cross.  The cross is the centerpiece of Christianity.  And yes, it is strange to people.  It is strange to hang an instrument of torture on your neck as a necklace.  It would be like having an electric chair there in modern times.  And to put it up on our churches, but we do that.  Why do we do that? We do it because it is a sign of God’s love.  It is a sign of God’s justice.  It is the way we are saved.  The Bible says “without the shedding of blood, you will not be saved.”  Some people today in the Church deny that.  They say “Oh that is too violent.”  Well yeah, it is because it was necessary.  Our sins are bigger than we think and we are not going anywhere without that cross.

Well, what happens next, that is where we are today.  That’s where we are.  What happens after the cross?  It is like a chronology, if you will.  “He died on the cross and then he descended into hell.”  Now we have gotten to one of those places where it is really hard.  What does that mean? I took a church, actually two churches, when I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee.  One church was called Eastminster Presbyterian.  It was about three hundred plus members; but they were yoked with a smaller church of about fifty.  They had an interesting arrangement.  The bigger church paid me and the smaller church paid the youth pastor.  So we got along pretty well.  But, the funny part about it was, I would preach in the little church early and the second church late.  The early church, when they said the Apostles’ Creed, they “descended into hell.”  When I got to the other church, they didn’t “descend into hell.”  For the first three or four months I was confused.  I would forget to say we “descended into hell” at the first church and then remembered and then I would do just the opposite.  I would “descend into hell” and then I wouldn’t “descend into hell.”  I’m trying to be silly here a little bit.  But, it was a little bit confusing.  Now, why do some churches have it and some not?   Well, because this phrase, “descended into hell,” for one thing it is confusing, and the other is it wasn’t in the original Apostles’ Creed.  It was added a little later, about four centuries.  That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have it.  What is going on?  What does it mean to us?  Well, first, in the Creed, hell is not really hell.  I am not swearing when I say “hell.”  Hell is not really hell.  Now, it changed along the way.  After the seventeenth century, “Hell” became the state of eternal retribution.  It changed from something else.  Now I don’t preach on “Hell” enough, I probably should.  I remember at another church I served down in Texas, I preached on an

August Sunday morning when the air conditioning was out, and I remember getting up and saying, “You are allowed to get up and take your coat off.  I am going to preach on ‘Hell’ and it is going to be very short.”  I actually didn’t because I wasn’t prepared, but….  …The state of eternal retribution. In the Bible the word is Gehennaand it refers to the Valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem.  Back in the day this little valley just outside of Jerusalem was the place where the pagans of the Jews, but they were pagans, all around, would come to this valley and they would worship the Ba’als, or the god, Moloch, and they would sacrifice their children in fire.  Burn them alive!  It’s terrible.  There is a place near there where they have found a football field sized in which the bones of the children are stacked up three foot deep.  It became the place, literally, of hell.  Later in history, people would simply dump their animals there, or in some cases, human beings.  The legend had it that there was always a fire going there and it became a symbol of this place of eternal retribution.  It exists.  It was a putrid, horrible place.

Now, in the Bible, I feel like, in some ways, doing a series like this that I am doing, it is kind of like 24, on television.  You know, you bring up things and then you resolve them later.  Well later on, the very last sermon in August, we are going to talk about “the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting,” and we are going to talk about some of these things; but the Bible says that there is a state of being after we die – in the Old Testament they called it Sheol – where we go and Jesus has transformed this place into a kind of paradise, not the Muslim Paradise with lots of virgins; but, a paradise, which is a wonderful place; but it is temporary.   At the end of history we all get a new body.  I will talk more about that.  I am maybe whetting your appetite, or in your curiosity, going, “Huh?”  But that is what is going to happen.  But the whole thing about Jesus descending into hell, lots of different interpretation, but the thing we need to remember about it is this:  that Jesus has gone there before.  Jesus has been there before.

When you are a soldier in the Army, if you go overseas and you serve in a war zone, you get a patch on your right shoulder of the unit you served in.  When people see it, they know you were overseas and served in a war zone.  We don’t say it, but it is kind of a mark of pride, a little bit.  Sometimes people get up and they talk to you about being deployed and all those different kinds of things and I try not to, but since I have been deployed, I sometimes say in my mind, “Who are you to talk to me about being deployed?  You haven’t been there yet?”  And it is not fair.  It is not fair.  It isn’t fair.  But it still is there.  Well in some ways we could say that to God?  “Who are you to talk to me about death and resurrection?”  But God’s been there, you see.  Jesus really died.  You know there are people who say that Jesus didn’t really die.  They got him off the cross.  We have the Dan Brown thing, you know—he went and got married to Mary Magdalene and produced children—all that kind of thing.  I had somebody tell me, “Oh, that’s great.  We should talk about those things and learn new truth.”  It was a member of a church and I am going, “We should certainly talk about these things but the implications are that if you believe that,” well I will talk about that in a minute, “but we shouldn’t be here.  It undercuts everything we believe.”  But God’s been there before us.

Jesus is our trailblazer.  Look at this wonderful verse.  Jesus is talking to his disciples, right at the end, and he says, “And if I go, I am going to go, and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  (John 14:3)  See the picture is that Jesus is going to lead us through when we die.  He is going to lead us through.  I love that.

Another way of thinking of it is an example I read, a man named Soren Kierkegaard used to tell this wonderful tale about how a father and his daughter got caught in a burning building.  They were in the second story and the father was able to leap out the window and land safely on the ground and then he turned and said to his daughter, “Honey, jump.”  And the daughter cried out, “Daddy, I can’t see you!”  And he said, “Don’t worry, I can see you.  Jump.  Trust me!”  That is what God says to us.  We can’t see what is going to happen in death.  We are not able to see that; but Jesus sees us.  So don’t worry. Don’t be afraid.  That’s the truth.  Jesus has been there before.  So when we say “Descended into Hell,” we probably should change the wording—that Jesus simply walked in the path of death, because that is what it means.

Then we come to the most exciting part of all.  I have to admit, I love preaching Easter sermons. If you can’t preach an Easter sermon as a preacher, without notes, with just getting up and talking, because that is what it is all about.  “The Third Day He Rose Again From the Dead.”  Now what is this “third day” thing?  I used to think, let’s see.  I am thinking in the modern ways.  Seventy-two hours, well, no, that doesn’t quite work.  Well, it is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That’s how ancients would think.  So it is the third day he rose again. 

But there is something we have to remember:  If there is no Resurrection, we should all be doing something else.  Jesus rose from the dead. Now remember I said the cross of Christ was the center of Christianity. Well I didn’t lie to you but there is something more.  You see it is the Cross plus the Resurrection.  Without the Cross there is no eternal life.  But, without the Resurrection, Jesus would have been dead and wouldn’t have completed the work.  Now, I would just ask you, what if Jesus was like Confucius or like Gandhi or some other great teacher.  If all we had were the teachings, would it make any difference?  And the answer would be a resounding “no!”  Actually I would say, “yes, it would make a big difference; because if he didn’t rise from the dead, why are we here?”  If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead it actually would be o.k. for you to sleep in on Sunday morning.  It actually would be o.k. for you to play golf on Sunday morning.  It would even be o.k. for you to leave church early and go to a Vikings game this fall.  Whoops, I am stepping on toes, I know….  You should eat, drink and be merry because it doesn’t matter any more, unless church is for you just having donuts and coffee and fellowship.  If there is no Resurrection, we all shouldn’t be here.  Paul himself says the same thing.  He says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”  (1 Corinthians 15:17)  You see, the Resurrection is like the completion of something.  It is like when a general surrenders to another general.  You know, the war is all but over but it isn’t complete until the surrender is signed, or the sword has been given over.  It completes it all. 

We believe, because the Scriptures say, that Jesus rose from the dead.  Well you might say, “Well how do I believe that?”  That is a legitimate question.  “How do I believe that?”  Well one is what I have been trying to say to you, it is absolutely necessary to believe.  If you are going to be a Christian, you have to believe in that.  Your faith is futile if you don’t believe it.  But even more, there is lots of evidence, lots of evidence.  Now, it is courtroom evidence, not scientific evidence.  Scientific evidence means you go back and try to recreate it in the laboratory.  That is not going to happen. But if you take this as courtroom evidence, there were five hundred witnesses to Jesus rising from the dead.  He appeared to people multiple times.  It doesn’t have the sense of being hallucinations.  You know I have seen people with hallucinations. I have had a few myself.  It doesn’t work quite that way.  It doesn’t work that way.  And then the lives of the disciples themselves were so completely changed that they would walk up to people and say, “Jesus rose from the dead.”  That was a threat of death but they didn’t care.  Plus, the Church…  You know, I am getting so sick of these books that are written that say the Church is cause of all the wars and suffering of the world.  If it weren’t for the Christian Church, we wouldn’t have half the hospitals in the world, half the educational institutions, and untold people who are helped and fed.  And even today, some of the best relief organizations are run by Christians.  Now we have the United Nations, I am not saying they are bad; but the best ones are run by Christians.  If it weren’t for Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ, this world would be a really horrible place, more than it is. More than it is.  Plus, the nature of God…  Remember I talked to you about the virgin birth and how some people have a hard time with that?  But, if you have already accepted that God is Father Almighty, and could make this whole universe, why can’t he reverse the things he has done?  You know, we think death is natural only because it happens to everybody but it wasn’t original.  God can reverse the natural order of things, because he is God.  Once you have accepted God Almighty, a virgin birth or a resurrection isn’t that hard.  It isn’t that hard.

We should have a healthy anticipation of what is to come!  Now this is a little precursor to some of the stuff we will talk about, but the practical idea of believing in a resurrection is, you know, we ought to have a little dance in our step all the time.  You know, I have told you a couple times that sometimes I, maybe not cringe, but you know when people talk about, well, they are talking with one another and they say, “How’s your life going?”  And they say, “Well it is better than being under the sod.”  “At least I’m on top of the ground and not under it.”  You know, it is o.k.  It really is o.k. but you know to some degree, if you want to be consistent, where would you rather be?  With Jesus in Paradise, or here?  Hmmm?  Well, you might say here.  Now, I know, I know.  I’m not afraid of death and I’m not trying to lift myself up.  I am not terribly hot on the process.  I have seen people die and sometimes it is o.k. and sometimes it is not. So I understand that.  I do.  I do understand.  But, as Paul says, “I count almost as nothing the trials and the sufferings of this time compared to what awaits us in glory.” “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared…” (1 Corinthians 2:9)   There is some sense in which you should be looking forward to this time even a thousand times more than your greatest vacation, or the birth of your grandchild, or whatever you can think.  Of all the wonderful things in the world, this is going to be much better, so much better, because you, you, have eternal life in Jesus Christ.  Indeed the story of the whole Bible is a reversal of what happens.  We lost Paradise and God is giving it back to us in spades.  We can’t imagine what it is going to be like but it is going be wonderful.

I’ll close with a story I told my first Easter here, my first Easter here, seven years ago.  In a Sunday school class a teacher asked, “What did Jesus say after he walked out of the tomb on that day?”  And one of the little girls stood up and said, “Tada!”

What are you going to say when you see him for the first time?

Would you pray with me?

Lord God, thank you for going to death for us, real death that you actually did it and that means something because we know because you did you will be with us.  You have been there before.  You are our trailblazer.  You walked the path.  You will guide us through.  You have promised that.  Thank you.  Thank you for what awaits us because we too, because you were raised, we will be raised.  It isn’t just a vain hope.  It isn’t just pie in the sky.  It isn’t just believing something we know isn’t so.  It is real.  It is true.  It is great.  Help us to believe it.  Help us to look forward to it.  Help us to live our lives as people who know where they are going and it is not bad, it’s great.  Help us live that way in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

We are picking up where we left off and we are in the process of memorizing some Scripture.  So we want to take a few moments and see if we can remember that.  We will continue to do that when I am speaking throughout the summer.  We have already learned a couple different Scriptures.  Anybody remember the first one?  2 Corinthians 5:17.  O.K.  Rhonda’s got it.  Here we go:

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17

Very good.  That’s what we learned in May; so that is an opportunity for you to review it and continue to stay on it.  We moved on after that to Romans 12:1.  

Romans 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God—which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1

If you turn your order of worship over, today’s Scriptures are there.  What I have done is I have given you a couple different versions.  We are going to actually say it here as part of the New Revised Standard but it is our next Scripture and it refers to Scripture itself.  So we are going to say that together and then we will say a prayer and then we will get into our message.  This is 2 Timothy 3:16.

2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.

2 Timothy 3:16

I invite you to take and embrace that this week.  Would you pray with me once again?

Lord we thank you for your word and Lord we ask that you would continue to use it for good in our lives.  Thank you Lord.  Quicken our hearts to hear what your Spirit is telling us this day.  Amen

Well, I recently had some work I had to have done on my car.  It was part of a manufacturer’s recall to repair the brakes on it.  So I took it in and as I took it in I wanted a technician to work on it that knew what he was doing.  Right?  Don’t you want that?  Don’t you want someone who knows what they are doing?  I didn’t want a technician that believed he or she knew what they were doing or had read about it in a technical manual, I wanted someone who knew, right?  Maybe if you are facing surgery, you know where I am going….you want a surgeon who knows how to perform the surgery, right?  You don’t want one who believes they know how.  That probably wouldn’t be a good thing.  There are just some things in our lives that we want and we need to know.  Knowledge is an important part of our lives.  It is something that is critical to who we are.  Imagine if we didn’t have the knowledge to build a bridge correctly.  Would you want to drive over it?  I wouldn’t.  Knowledge can be defined as, putting yourself in touch with what is true, putting yourself in touch with what is true.  When you know something, you know the way things really are.  It brings an element of truth and reality to it.  We know that two plus two equals four, right?  Mathematics is built on that knowledge.  When you know that two plus two is four, you know that’s the way it really is.  Right.  Having knowledge around a topic, whatever that topic may be, will help you navigate that topic and the reality of that topic; whether that topic be auto repair, whether it be medicine, whether it be physics, whether it be literature, it doesn’t matter.  If you know that topic it helps you navigate that topic effectively, with reality. 

And you know what?  That also applies to the study of God called theology.  It also applies to Scripture.  For when people lack knowledge it can lead to problems, right?  Think about what happens when we don’t know something, where it goes, whether it be medicine or any of those topics it can lead us astray and it can cause trouble.  The prophet Hosea knew this.  He said in the Old Testament, “my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.”  My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.  When there is a lack of knowledge, chaos can ensue.  This knowledge that is needed for a spiritual life is just as important as the knowledge that is needed for any other part of your life whether it be professional, relational, or whatever.  We need to have that knowledge about our spiritual life and Scripture is the source of that knowledge.  Scripture is the source of the knowledge that is needed for a spiritual life.  Too many people in the Church today, I hate to say that.  Too many people, including people in the Church today, do not have a good grounding in Scripture.  Our lack of ability to navigate spiritual truth very well can lead us off course very easily.  We see that time and time again, don’t we, in the T.V., in the papers, all around.

In 2007 Time Magazine conducted a survey and they said only half of the U.S. adults could name one of the four gospels.  And that less than half could name Genesis as the first book in the Bible.  Now, that is all of the U.S. but when they did it for those who attended Church, it wasn’t much better folks.  In 2005 a study found that English teachers in both public and private schools said that students who were familiar with the Bible had a distinct educational advantage over those who did not.  There is something about having knowledge of the Bible.  So the Bible brings a knowledge that is important for all of us to have.  I think that our Scripture speaks to that, doesn’t it?  It speaks first to its source, it is “inspired by God;” and then it tells you what it can do once we have that knowledge.  It “is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training.”  That is what it can do once we know it.  But that still leaves us hanging, doesn’t it?  Because many of us want to know, how do we gain that knowledge?  How do we gain knowledge about the Bible?  How do we get it into our hearts, our minds and ultimately our souls.

Well it may sound trivial, but the starting point for it is simply to read it.  Read the Bible.  As we read, and I want to encourage you to do that, as you read, look for the ways that God reveals himself beyond just the story that is going on, look for how God reveals his character, how he reveals his soul through the pages of Scripture.  As you read Scripture, the ebbs and the flows of Scripture, especially if you are new to Scripture or if you are unsure of the Scripture or unsure of your knowledge.  I lately have been reading through the story of David again, just enjoying it and seeing all the ups and downs that have gone through David’s life.  It is a great story.  That is the way we kind of get a piece of how God is working, how God works through peoples lives, what it tells us about God, as well.

I want to invite you that if you are not sure of your Bible knowledge, and it is O.K. to say that, then what I want to invite you to do is to maybe, what I say, zoom out a couple stops to get a bigger picture of God’s work.  What I mean by that, if you have ever had to Google something on Google maps, you know you type in the address and it takes you right to the address and you have it on a map; but you are not really familiar with it and you don’t know what the cross streets are, what do you do?  You zoom out a couple stops, don’t you?  Until you can get a highway or a major intersection that you recognize and then it helps you orient yourself for where you need to go.  That is what I think we need to do with Scripture.  I think too many of us, particularly those of us who have grown up in the Church, have learned to start too small, or to stay too small with things like word studies or verse by verse Bible studies.  Those things are good.  Those things are needed.  But lots of times when that is all we have, we fail to see the forest from the trees.  So what I want to encourage us to do is to zoom out a couple stops and look at the bigger themes that go throughout Scripture, things like the Abrahamic promise that God gave to him and how that carries through the pages of Scripture, why the prophets were needed, not just what they said, but why were they needed. Beyond that, why did Jesus stay focused on his purpose?  How did he do that? Or, how the Church spread across Asia Minor?  Those are things that will help us absorb and gain knowledge about Scripture.  That is what happens when we read it.  When you read or you study Scripture, how many of you have ever had that opportunity where you read a passage and you go back to it again and it says something completely different to you?  Have you ever had that happen? Yeah.  That is the Holy Spirit working though Scripture in your heart, leading you to where you need to be. That is many times where the reproof and the correction come from.  It is the work of the Spirit moving in your spirit with God speaking to you.  I think that is what is meant when it says that Scripture is active and alive and sharper than any two-edged sword.  That is what happens when you read, when you take it in and allow yourself to hear God’s voice in the midst of it, and when you do that, Scripture says about itself it will not return void.  It will have a positive impact in your life.

So read, read the Scriptures.  Read them devotionally, read them for study, read them to reveal God’s character, read them to follow the major movements in Scripture, as well.  Read.  It is a great way to gain knowledge about God.  And if reading gets us started toward knowledge then we must also take the time to meditate on Scripture, as well. If reading is what helps bring understanding, then meditation helps bring depth to that understanding.  Think of it like studying a great work of art.  I mean, I know that I can tell you about the statue of David.  I can tell you where it is, I can tell you a little about it; but if I were to go there and spend some time and study it closer, to absorb it, take time to reflect on it, what would happen?  I would have a greater knowledge of the statue, wouldn’t I?  That is kind of what happens when we meditate on Scripture.

Another way to think about it is when we read Scripture it is like a square.  It is important, we need it and it is good for us.  But when we meditate on it, all of a sudden it goes from being one dimensional to almost three dimensional; it’s in perspective.  It gives us perspective around it and that is what happens, I think, when we meditate on Scripture.

Understand the biblical meditation is about filling yourself with God’s word.  We have to make the differentiation that that is different than when you just hear the word meditation, which really means Eastern meditation.  Eastern meditation is about emptying yourself.  Biblical meditation is about filling yourself with Scripture, and that is a huge difference.  It is the idea that biblical meditation gets the Bible into you.

One of the great exercises to do that came from a man by the name of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  He taught his followers an exercise that he called “imaginative meditation”.  He encouraged his followers to enter the gospel story.  What he said was “take a story out of Scripture and become one of the participants in the story.” So let’s take the story of the crucifixion.  You pick a character that was in the crucifixion story, whether it was one of the thieves on the cross, whether it was Mary watching her son die, maybe it was one of the Roman guards, maybe it was one of his disciples standing from afar.  You read the story and you reflect on what it would have been like to be that person in that story. What did you see?  What were you feeling?  What were you experiencing as that was going on?  And it moves you into the story.  It allows God to speak to you as you enter into that story, and the pages of Scripture come alive at that point.

A couple years ago we taught a class called “Eating your Bible.”  This is one of the exercises we did.  We will probably, maybe, offer it up again this coming year.  So be watching for that.  But meditation is the next step that allows us to think deeply about the words that are on the printed page before you.  I want to invite you to do that.  Take time to enjoy and to meditate on those words, and if meditation adds another layer to that knowledge, then so does praying Scripture.  You have probably heard of “let’s pray Scripture.”  Well, I want to talk a little bit about that.  The idea here is that you take the words of the Bible and you turn them into prayers, prayers to God.  Now what I want to invite you to do is to take the red pew bibles that are in front of you and we are going to do a couple examples of this.  What I want to invite you to do is to turn to Psalm 25, which is page 502 in your red pew bible, and we are going to start by looking at the first three verse of Psalm 25.  This is a very easy, very direct way to pray Scripture because it is all laid out for you.  All you basically have to do is to pray the words back instead of reading them.

Psalm 25, the first three verses.  As you look at these words you can see how they can become prayers very easily. 

To you, O Lord, I lift up my

          soul.

O my God, in you I trust;

    do not let me be put to shame;

    do not let my enemies exult

          over me.

Do not let those who wait for

          you be put to shame;

    let them be ashamed who are

          wantonly treacherous.

A very easy, a very direct way to just say, “I am just going to recite these back as prayer to God,” a very easy way to do that.  The Psalms are probably one of the easiest books to do that in; but you can also take another Psalm which is not necessarily direct as this and just basically rephrase that.  So what we are going to do with that one is Psalm 24; it is on the same page.  Look at Psalm 24, verses 3 through 6.  It says:

Who shall ascend the hill of the

          Lord?

    And who shall stand in his

          holy place?

Those who have clean hands

          and pure hearts,

    who do not lift up their souls

          to what is false,

    and do not swear deceitfully.

They will receive blessing from

          the Lord,

    and vindication from the God

          of their salvation.

Such is the company of those

          who seek him,

    who seek the face of the God

          of Jacob.

O.K., so how do you turn this into a prayer?  Maybe you start by saying, “Lord, Lord I want to ascend your hill.  I want to ascend your holy hill.  I want to stand in your holy place, God. And Lord I know I need clean hands and a pure heart, God; so clean my hands, purify my heart, God, that I might stand before you.  Lord help me not to lift up my soul to what is false, help me not to swear deceitfully.  Lord, thank you, thank you that you will give me that blessing as I stand in your presence and I will be vindicated because you are the God of my salvation.  See how that goes?  Is that hard?  It is not real hard, is it?  That is what I want to encourage you to do.  Now we are we are going to try one that maybe you had not thought of as something you could pray, but we are going to do it anyway.  I want you to turn to Acts Chapter 12, verse 6 through 11.  It is on page 131.  And this is actually a narrative.  This is part of a narrative story.  So how do you pray a narrative? Alright, it is a story of Peter being released from prison.  I will read the story and then I will give you an idea of how it might go.  This is Acts, Chapter 12, verse 6 through 11:

The very night before Her’od was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door where keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.”  And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.”  He did so.  Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”  Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision.  After they had passed the first and second guard, they came before the iron gate leading in to the city.  It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him.  Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Her’od and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

(Tape is blank for a short time but picks up with the following:)

God rescue me.  Send your angels.  There are no guards, no gates that can hold your power, O God.  Come, rescue me.  Free me from whatever it is that is holding my back and Lord I will give you glory and I will know it is for you and for your kingdom.

Something as simple as that is a way to pray Scripture.  That is what we want to do. That is a way to do that in a way that makes sense and in a way that can allow you to absorb Scripture in ways that you have never before.  So we have been talking about the getting the Bible into us and it is important to do that because we need to have that knowledge, don’t we?  But we can’t stop there; that is not enough. 

James says we must be doers of the word not just simply hearers of the word.  In other words, we need to act on what we know.  In Jewish thought there was no separation between knowing and doing.  They were exactly the same.  So in other words, you know something by doing it.  So knowing was doing, doing was knowing.  The proof of whether you knew something or not was whether you did it.  So if you weren’t doing something that you said you knew, in the Jewish way of thinking you really didn’t know it.

So we need to do something with the things that we know.  Well I am a graduate of Bethel Seminary and, as such, I have the ability to audit any class at the school that I want to.  What is auditing a class?  It basically means you get to go to class, sit in there, you can listen to the lectures but you don’t have to do anything in the class because you are not graded on it.  You get lots of information but you don’t have to do anything with it.  And I think that is what many of us are doing.  We are auditing the Bible.  We have lots of information but we are not doing much with it.  What do you say we change that, huh?  What do you say we change that?  Imagine what might happen, if you, as you read through the Bible, made a commitment that every time you came across something that the Bible told you to do you tried to do that as best you could in your world today, whatever it might be.  What might happen?  How might that change you?  You might that change your attitude?  How might that change your faith?  And what would happen if all of us as the Church here at Faith did that?  What might happen here at Faith? 

Well, I like airplanes and someday I would actually like to learn to fly one.  Let’s say someday I decide I am going to do it and I am going to go to ground school and I am going to learn everything there is to learn about airplanes. I am going to learn about the dynamics of flight, and how you get a heavy piece of metal up in the air, how that happens.  I am going to learn about all the weather factors that can complicate flying and I am going to learn what to do in all those situations.  I am going to learn all the controls and electronics of an airplane so I can take off and land and learn how to fly through the air.  I am going to learn everything there is to know about flying an airplane; but never get in a cockpit.  Who wants to go up on a flight with me?  (Laughter)  Exactly.  Exactly. 

Well I want to encourage all of us to learn to fly, learn to fly with God.  Get his word into you and you will be soaring before you know it.

Let me pray for us.

Holy God thank you for your word, thank you for the way you watch over us and you are so gentle and tender with us, Lord, God. Lord we thank you that you have given us your word and it is alive and active and it is something that can change us and move us closer to you because that is really the end result.  That is our end goal, that we might be closer to you, Jesus.  So Lord thank you for the gift of your word, may it bear fruit in our lives as we grow in its knowledge and its application in our lives, in your name, Jesus.  Amen. 

 As we begin the Sermon what I would like to ask you to do is let’s stand and recite the Creed and say what we believe.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
    Maker of heaven and earth,
    and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
    born of the virgin Mary,
    suffered under Pontius Pilate,
    was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
    and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
    from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
    the holy catholic church;
    the communion of saints;
    the forgiveness of sins;
    the resurrection of the body;
    and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Would you pray with me?

Father, thank you for our Lord Jesus; thank you for your work in history; thank you that ancient Christians formulated doctrinal belief and did it in such a way that we could understand, short and sweet, yet powerful.  We ask you Lord today that, as we look at a part of that Creed, we would understand a little bit more of what it meant for you to go to the Cross through Jesus Christ, what it means for us and what it means for the world.  Be with us Lord as we listen and here.  We pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

The story of an older minister who had done some services at his church and right after church he went out to dinner.  He had his bible in his hand as he sat down and ate.  There was a man who was kind of a skeptic who observed the minister as he came in and he thought he would have a little fun with the minister.  So he went up to him and he said, “Sir, do you believe that book?”  The old man said, “Yes I do.”  “Do you believe everything in it?”  He said, “Yes, I do.”  “Well, don’t you have any doubts or questions about what’s in that book?”   And the older minister opened up his bible and showed the man some of the passages he had been reading that had question marks in the margin, and he said, “Yes, I have many questions.”  “Well, what do you do with those questions?  What do you do with your doubts?”  The minister answered, “Well, it’s just like this fish I just ate.  I eat all the meat and I let any fool who wants to, choke on the bones.”

I guess he had a bad night….  That is not to say that we shouldn’t have doubts.  Everybody has doubts about things.  As a matter of fact, doubts are pretty good, I mean, we should be skeptical about some things that we hear.  I think sometimes we are not skeptical enough.  Everybody has doubts.  I like the old sign in the barber shop I go to up in Glen Lake.  It has on the wall, it says:  I’d like to be an optimist, but I doubt that it would work out.  But there is kind of a problem with doubts particularly today.  I don’t know about you, but when I went to college and to graduate school it was almost expected that you weren’t intellectual enough if you didn’t have doubts.  As a matter of fact there was a badge of honesty: ‘I have doubts.’  And the unwritten sort of thing was, because I have doubts, I am more honest than you are if you don’t have doubts.  But doubts are good in one sense and not so good in another.

Everybody has doubts, even people in the Bible.  Mary had doubts.  I love the passage about Mary, and here is a young girl who is told by an angel…  You know at first she is awakened by this angel, or she is minding her own business, this messenger of God comes up and says, “Guess what’s going to happen to you?  You are going to have a baby, out of wedlock.”  Of course, back then that meant something; around here and today, not as much.  “But you are not going to have the benefit of male presence in this.”  Now if it had been me, I would be going, “What?”  I think that was what she was doing.  “What?”  But then: “Well, how?  This isn’t normal.”  She had doubts.  But Mary had something going for her that we need, as well.  She believed in the God of the Bible.  We have just gone through the Apostles’ Creed.  What’s the thing it says about God?  “I believe in God the Father, Almighty,” El Shaddai.  She believed in that kind of God who could do anything, who had made the universe and all its detail, everything.  She didn’t understand all of what that meant, but she really didn’t have to.  Sometimes all you have to do is look at the creation around you and go, wow!  That kind of God can do anything.

The rationalism that doubts the virgin birth is still alive and well, which started a couple hundred years ago.  I still hear people say, “Well, I can still be a strong Christian but not believe in the virgin birth.”  Well, technically that’s true.  God’s grace extends to our doubts and everything else.  But it says a lot about what we believe about God.  The world believes in God if it believes in God at all, a god who is impersonal, a god who is not really involved, or a god who is part of nature.  And if you believe all that, it’s quite logical for you to doubt that this god has anything to do with doing miracles. But if you believe in the God of the Bible, it is not a problem. You see, if you believe in the God of the Bible but don’t believe in the Resurrection or the virgin birth or whatever miracle, you have already swallowed the camel.  You believe in an unseen Being who is in control of everything.  You swallowed that.  The virgin birth, that’s hard. So the Creed says, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.”  It isn’t so much about Mary, but it is laying a foundation, and the question for all of us is: How firm is that foundation of our faith? 

It also mentions the virgin birth, again not really about Mary, and it is not just about the miracle.  It is not just about that.  You know sometimes it is explained in theological books, well Jesus’ birth is kind of like all the other miraculous birth stories in the Bible.  It is about the miracle.  It is not just about the miracle; it is a little bit, but not that much.  It is really making a statement about who Jesus is and why he had to do what he had to do.

Who is Jesus?  Well Jesus is the Son of God.  We talked about what that meant.  We talked about being the Son of God and how hard that is for us in terms of, well, it sounds like he is the Son of God kind of like Hercules is the son of Zeus.  That is not what is going on. He is the second person of the Trinity come to earth and took on a human nature.  You know, we talked about that too, how hard that is for us.  It is hard to explain the incarnation.  It is impossible to explain the incarnation in ways that our small brains can understand.  But we affirm that Jesus came to earth, who was God in the flesh; that is what this little phrase means: “Born of the Virgin Mary”— God who took on human nature.  Therefore, pay attention, this is someone we need to pay attention to, and as Christians we celebrate.  But it is more than that.  It is what Jesus had to do.  The Bible regards Jesus as sinless, as perfect.  Now, you ladies, I have some good news for you.  You know, often, Eve is blamed for everything.  “It’s all her fault.”  You know what the Bible really says? We have a problem called sin and it was handed down from Adam. 

You know I wore a relatively new shirt last week.  I like new shirts because they aren’t faded, they look really good for a little while.  I liked this shirt.  It was green, that is my favorite color.  And you know what I did?  I put a pen in my pocket without the cap on.  And it was stained.  You may have a secret ingredient about how to get that out but I’m skeptical.  It doesn’t matter how often you wash, it’s there.  That stain is there.  I had to throw it out.  The Bible says that you and I have a stain in our nature.  We don’t like to talk about it much, but it’s there.  It is not what you do.  We have a congenital defect called sin: a congenital pride, a congenital selfishness, a congenital rebelliousness, a congenital lust, anger, hate.  It’s there, we all know it is.  The Bible explains human life very well, even though people don’t believe it.  It is something we are born with.  We don’t like to talk about it much.  Jesus had to take on a human nature without taking out the stain because that stain is handed through Adam.  It is handed through the male line.

It isn’t all Eve’s fault.  So Jesus took on human nature through his mother and was therefore sinless.  I know that is hard, but it is true.  I know it is difficult to understand.  I don’t understand it all.  But that is why the Bible talks about Adam being our representative and that we needed another one named Jesus.  Read 1 Corinthians, 15 and you will see it in other places as well, that Jesus was a new representative, a new man, and he is ours and we attach ourselves to him and so are forgiven.  But in order to make that sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice, he had to be sinless, and he was.  Tempted in everyway, as the writer to the Hebrews says, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize… we have one who has been tempted in every way –yet without sin.”  Without sin.

So we believe that Jesus was born of a virgin because he is God in the flesh and because he is the perfect sacrifice to deal with this thing we have in ourselves called sin.  Then the Creed moves on.  Maybe one of the glaring omissions of the Apostles’ Creed is it doesn’t say much about Jesus’ life and that was very important, very important; but it wanted to get to the real important stuff.  And Jesus came to die on a cross and that’s what it is about.  Now, we often don’t think about it, but the cross is incredibly offensive to human beings.  I mean imagine the members of a political party or a social organization, or a group of philosophers, or even a church which was constantly repeating that their founder was put to death by the government as a threat to law and order.  Imagine also that that group decorated their buildings with electric chairs, or wearing hangman’s ropes as earrings or jewelry pins.  What if that was a water board?  An instrument of torture. We don’t think about it because we are used to it.

I read a quote from a man named Arnold Toynbee who wrote a book called Christianity Among the Religions of the World.  He tells the story of an English family living in China who engaged a Chinese nurse.  It was pretty apparent that she was bothered by something as she worked for them, but they couldn’t get her to say.  Finally, she broke down and said, “Well, there is something I cannot understand.  You are obviously good people.  You obviously love your children and care for them; yet in every room in this house, and on the staircase, I see reproductions of a criminal being put by death by some horrible form of torture that we have never heard of in China.  I cannot understand how you, responsible and loving parents as you obviously are, can expose your children to the dreadful effect of seeing this awful picture at this impressionable stage in their lives.”  The cross, as Paul says himself, is an offense.  You know, that offense is growing.  We have this kind of philosophy of non-violence that is out there in our modern world and people use it to say “we don’t need the cross any more,” even people who are in the Church.  There is a whole movement out there to take the cross out of Christianity because “we just don’t need that bloody thing anymore;” but as Paul says “I preach the cross of Christ constantly.”

Why?  Because we need to be reminded, and the world needs to be reminded, that God is also offended by us.  You know there has been a reaction in the world among churches to people who preach “fire and brimstone.  We can’t have that kind of judgmental preaching.”  I agree with it to some degree, I really do.  But in the process of simply, only talking about God’s love and God’s acceptance and all those things, we forget that God is offended by our sins and that is why there is a cross at all, because we can’t deal with that offense ourselves.  God dealt with it for us.  The cross is the intersection, if you will, of his judgment and his love.  Indeed, it is an opportunity.  There is an old, old story that I like to tell about a family that moved out to the prairie.  One day the father looked up and saw in the vast distance a huge smoke column and it was a fire coming toward them.  He thought very quickly and he said to his family, “Let’s start another fire,” and they did.  They burned out the area around their building so they wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the flames.  When the fire got to them, it went around.  The cross is that burned out place for you and me. You see, God judged our sin on the cross and when we stand on that we will escape the judgment that is coming, and it is coming. You know that song, the last one we just sang about the judgment.  You know we don’t realize… just read the words.  It is really talking about God’s judgment on the United States for slavery.  “The vengeance of God,” “ the grapes of wrath,” almost every verse is about that.  We don’t believe in that any more, as much.  We like to put it aside.  Was the Civil War God’s judgment on us?  Well, that’s a debate we could have.  God does judge no matter what we would think about that and will judge.  Therefore the cross is necessary, is necessary.  Look what Peter says in his very first sermon.  “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.” (Acts 2:23)  Who killed Jesus?  The Church has concluded that the Jews killed Jesus, and that has resulted in terrible persecution, for which we should repent. And Certainly the Jewish leaders had a part in it; but then there was, of course, Pilate and how interesting the Apostles’ Creed only mentions Pilate.  But I find it interesting in the story itself that also the crowd, and it was Passover, and there were people from all over the world there that day.  Every representative of every creed and every race was there saying, “Crucify him!”  And in the end, vicariously, we too, we too nailed those nails to the cross.

But in the end, the bottom line is, it was all part of God’s plan, another mystery.  But you know what?  It gives me hope.  Here’s a wicked event, a horrible event, one of the worst of history and God in his power is able to turn that horrible thing into something that is wonderful:  our salvation.  Our salvation.  Without the cross, there is no salvation.  There is no forgiveness.  Without the cross, we shouldn’t be here.  We would just be another social organization.  If Jesus didn’t die on the cross, and by the way, we will get to it, without the Resurrection, Jesus would have been just another Ghandi, nice guy but not able to save you.

The cross is necessary, and the cross is about love.  That is really the whole message.  “This is love (as John said): not that we loved God (because we didn’t), but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.”  (1 John 4:10)  He died in our place.  He took the judgment we deserve and he did so out of pure unadulterated love.  It is what the cross is all about.  It is the heart of Christianity.  J.I. Packer says this, he says, “If the incarnation is the shrine of Christianity, the Atonement is certainly its holy of holies. The reason why the Son of God became man was to shed his blood…. God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all and that was the measure of his love.”

So what are we to do with it? I will close with one more story.  It is about young children who were bored until one of them suggested that they play church.  They played for a while but got bored again soon and then one little boy said, “Hey, I got it, let’s play Jesus.”  The other little kid said, “Well, how do you do that?”  And the boy said, “First, you would be mean to me and tie me up and then you would pretend to hit me and spit on me and call me names.”  And the children decided to try it for a while but they quickly got repulsed by their own actions.  They stopped, uncomfortable with this game, and the boy playing Jesus called the game to a halt and said, “Let’s not play Jesus any more, let’s go back to playing church.”

So often we play church and we really are called to follow Jesus.  That is what our lives are about.  We are called to take up our own cross, not because it will forgive anybody of their sins, but that is because we are following our Lord.  I want you to think about it as we take communion this Sunday.  Are we playing church, or are we following Jesus?

Would you pray with me?

Lord God, thank you for the cross.  We do not forget that the cross is followed by the Resurrection, but right now we ask you to help us to remember all that the cross means, particularly as we partake of the supper which speaks to us once again of the broken body and shed blood of our Lord Jesus for us.  Bless us with your presence, with the meaning of it all.  May we walk away from here stronger in our faith, stronger in our relationship with you and stronger in our willingness to follow.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

“Who Was Conceived By the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered Under Pontius Pilate…”

MONDAY, JULY 5 <Read Luke 1:26-56>

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”  Luke 1:34

Everyone has doubts. Even Mary herself had doubts when she heard the angel’s declaration that she would have a child apart from a man. However Mary had something very powerful which helped her overcome her doubts.  She believed in the God of the Bible, the God who created the heavens and the earth, the God who could do anything. She knew the “who,” and once the “how” was explained, she had no issue with the fact that a virgin birth could and would take place through her. Though the fact defied her normal human thinking, because God was Almighty for her, it was quite reasonable to believe it could be true. For the last century or so, doubts about Jesus’ virgin birth have been present both in and out of the church. At heart such doubts really find their foundation in doubts about God Himself. If one has doubts about God’s existence or power, or if one believes God is distant or not actively involved in the world or that God is simply part of the natural world, then any idea of God overturning the natural processes (aka miracles) would be very hard to swallow indeed. If one believes that God is the One who made the heavens and the earth in every detail, that God is a being of unimaginable intelligence and power, then there should be little difficulty with a virgin birth or even the resurrection from the dead. In other words, once we know the “who;” the “how” is not so hard.

Prayer: O Lord my God!  When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands made. I see the stars; I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee: How great Thou art. How great Thou art! Amen. (Verse 1, How Great Thou Art, Hymns for the Family of God, #2)

TUESDAY, JULY 6 <Read Romans 5:1-20>

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.  Hebrews 4:15

The Bible proclaims that our human nature is tainted. Like a shirt or a pair of pants in which an ink pen has been left open in a pocket, the stain is there and will never come out no matter how much we try to wash it. Theologians call this stain original sin, not meaning the first sin of Adam, but the result of his sin, the congenital defects of selfishness, pride, envy, rebellion, etc. with which we are all born. The Bible says that this stain is handed down through Adam, with whom God had made a covenant, and which Adam, representing the entire human race, eventually broke through his disobedience. To right this wrong required the actions of another man, a new representative, fully human, yet untainted and righteous. To right this wrong required a man who could represent us, yet one more than a man who had the power to obey. The virgin birth was much more than just an entrance miracle; it presented Jesus as the one who would make things right again. First, it confirmed that Jesus, “though not less than man, was more than man. His earthly life, though fully human, was also divine.” Just as important, the virgin birth “indicates Jesus’ freedom from sin. Virgin-born, He did not inherit the guilty twist called original sin: His manhood was untainted, and His acts, attitudes, motives, and desires were consequently faultless.” 

Prayer: Silent Night! Holy night! Son of God, love’s pure Light Radiant beams from Thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.” Amen. (Verse 3, Silent Night! Holy Night! , The Hymnbook, #154)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 7 <Read Isaiah 53:1-12>

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  1 Corinthians 1: 18

Imagine members of a political party, social organization, or a group of philosophers constantly repeating that their founder was put to death by the government as a threat to law and order! Imagine also that group decorating their buildings with electric chairs or wearing hangman’s ropes as earrings or jewelry pins. Yet, this is what Christians do with the cross. To say, as the Creed does, that Jesus “was crucified,” is like saying Jesus went to the electric chair. With this in mind, one can understand why Paul spoke of the cross being a stumbling block to many (Galatians 5:11) in his day and why the cross is still offensive to many yet today. The cross reminds us that our sin is offensive to a Holy God and the high price He paid to wipe our slate clean. It also serves as an opportunity to explain why the cross of Jesus is the centerpiece of Christianity (and therefore the Creed as well). The cross speaks to the need of human beings to be forgiven of their sins and most of all, the provision for that forgiveness is the love of God that would give up His own Son for us. It is quite a story we have to tell. How are you doing at telling it?

Prayer: What language shall I borrow To thank Thee dearest Friend, For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end? O make me Thine forever; And should I fainting be, Lord let me never, never Outlive my love to Thee. Amen. (Verse 3, O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, The Hymnbook #194.)

THURSDAY, JULY 8 <Read Matthew 16:13-28>

This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.  Acts 2:23

Who killed Jesus? Some, even in the church, have blamed the Jews and this had led to unjust and wicked persecution. The answer is that everyone had a hand in it: the Jewish leaders who plotted against Jesus; the crowds (made up of people from all over the world) who were either indifferent or clamoring for Barabbas; and the Romans who carried out the execution because Pilate thought it expedient were all guilty. Even more, we must not forget ourselves. We too are guilty because our sin made Jesus’ death necessary. There is a real sense that the voices that cried out Jesus’ crucifixion and the hands that drove in the nails were ours. Ultimately, it was all part of God’s purpose to pronounce judgment on sin, for the sake of mercy to sinners. Jesus sacrifice on the cross reminds us of God’s amazing power. He is able to take the worst of human sin and injustice and use it to carry out His own divine justice. Therefore, we should never lose hope no matter what happens. It also reminds us that Jesus’ death was a voluntary assignment. No one killed Jesus without his own consent. He loved us that much!

Prayer: Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon cleanse relieve; Because of Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come I come! Amen. (Verse 4, Just as I Am, Without One Plea, The Hymnbook, #272)

FRIDAY, JULY 9 <Read Romans 8>

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  1John 4:10                                                                                                                                                                          

“Here we reach the real heart-the heart of the heart, we may say-of Christianity; for if the incarnation is its shrine, the Atonement is certainly its holy of holies….The reason why the Son of God became man was to shed His blood….God ‘did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all’ (Romans 8:32): that was the measure of His love (cf. 5:5-8). The cross of Christ has many facets of meaning. As our sacrifice for sins, it was propitiation (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2, 4:10; cf. Hebrews 2:17); that is, a means of quenching God’s personal penal wrath against us by blotting out our sins from His sight.  As our propitiation, it was reconciliation, the making of peace for us with our offended, estranged, angry Creator (Romans 5:9-11)….Again, as our reconciliation, the cross was redemption, rescue from bondage and misery by the payment of a price (Ephesians 1:7; Romans 3:24; Revelation 5:9); and as redemption, it was victory over all hostile powers that had kept us, and still wanted to keep us, in sin and out of God’s favor (Colossians 2:13-15).…”The Son of God … loved me, and gave Himself for me”; so “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:20; 6:14, KJV). So said Paul. Thank God, I can identify. Can you?”  

Prayer: “Forbid it Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God: All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.” Amen. (Verse 2, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, The Hymnbook. #198)

“AND IN JESUS CHRIST HIS ONLY SON OUR LORD”

MONDAY, JUNE 28  <Read Acts 2:22-36>

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Matthew 16:16

“Christ” is the Greek word for Messiah (literally, “the anointed one”). It is not a surname (as many seem to think today); it is an “office-title,” identifying Jesus as God’s appointed savior-king for whom the Jews had long been waiting. The Messiah was expected to set up God’s reign and be hailed as the Lord and King throughout the world. To call Jesus the Christ is to claim for Him a decisive place in history and a universal dominion, which all human beings everywhere must acknowledge. Also, “to call Jesus the Christ expresses Jesus’ fulfillment of all three ministries for which men were anointed in Old Testament times, prophet, priest and king and at the same time shows God’s provision for our need. First, as sinners we are ignorant of God and need instruction—a prophet who not only tells us about God and His will through words, but in Himself. Second, we are estranged from him and need reconciliation—otherwise we shall end up unaccepted, unforgiven, and unblessed. We need a priest to provide forgiveness, which Jesus did once for all through His own sacrifice. Third, we are weak, blind, and foolish when it comes to the business of living for God, and we need someone to guide, protect, and strengthen us—which is what Jesus as King does for us. . In declaring that Jesus is the Christ, we declare that in the person and ministry of this one man, Jesus Christ, this threefold need is perfectly met!”^[1]

Prayer:  Thank you Lord for meeting my needs; providing Your word that I may know how to live; the sacrifice that I may be forgiven once for all and your rule, that I may be comforted in always knowing Who is in charge. Amen.

TUESDAY, JUNE 29  <Read Hebrews 1> 

…that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him.  John 5:23

The terminology of Sonship can be difficult for us because being a “son” means simply being another human being with a human father. However, when Jesus referred to himself as God’s Son, He was claiming deity. The people of His time understood this and at times took up stones to kill him because he was “making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).  When we affirm that Jesus is the Son of God, we first affirm the wonderful truth that He was God in the Flesh, God born into the world as a human being (“Joy to the World! The Lord has come!”). We affirm that in Jesus we see and know God Himself, and we affirm that Jesus accomplished things only God could accomplish. At the same time, when we confess Jesus is God’s Son we are standing against the denials of Jesus’ deity that one finds throughout history; from the ancient Arians, to the modern Unitarians, various cults and much of theological liberalism. Jesus was not just a God-inspired good man, more aware of God than the rest of us (liberalism), nor was he a super-angel, first and finest of all creatures (Jehovah’s Witnesses).

Prayer: Lord, help me to recognize the various falsehoods about you when I hear them. Protect me from these things and help me to stand firm in the truth of Who You are and what You have done for me. Amen.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30  <Read Colossians 1: 11-23>                                                                                                                   

 …and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”   Matthew 3:17

One of the great mysteries of our faith is that Jesus is not only God’s Son historically, that is, He was born a child of Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, but somehow there is also a Father-Son relationship between the First and Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus himself talked this way. He called God “my Father,” and himself “the Son.” He spoke of an eternal Father-Son relation, into which he had come to bring others. “No one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27).  All of this does not mean that the Son originated after the Father, or is in Himself less than the Father.  He is in Himself divine and eternal, and is not a created being. At the same time, Jesus says that He, the Son, lives His life in dependence on the Father, because that is His nature (John 6:57) and He loves the Father.  On the other side, the Father loves the Son.  When you hear a young man introduced as “my only son” you know he is the apple of his father’s eye. When the Creed calls Jesus God’s “only Son” the idea is the same. Jesus enjoys his Father’s dearest love, and through Him, we do too.

Prayer: Though I do not fully comprehend it Lord, I thank you for the love between the Father and the Son and most of all for the invitation to become a part of the family and take part in that love. Amen.

THURSDAY, JULY 1   <Read John 1-16>                                                                                                          

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.   John 1:14

When it comes to Jesus, the mysteries just keep coming. God the Son in relation to God the Father (or how the First Person of the Trinity relates to the Second), not to mentions things we will discuss in the next weeks—the Virgin Birth, His resurrection, ascension and return. We also affirm one of the greatest mysteries, that Jesus was both “fully God and fully human,” one person in two natures.  This is the formula for the incarnation, and in a sense, sounds simple.  But, J.I. Packer points out: “the thing itself is unfathomable.”  He goes on to say, “It is easy to shoot down the ancient heresies that the Son took a human body without a human soul, or that he was always two persons under one skin, and with them the modern heresy that the ‘enfleshing’ of the Son was merely a special case of the indwelling of the Spirit, so that Jesus was not God, but merely a God-filled man—but to grasp what the incarnation was in positive terms is beyond us. Don’t worry, though; you do not need to know how God became man in order to know Christ! Understand it or not, the fact remains that “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14); it was the supreme, mind–blowing miracle; love prompted it; and our part is not to speculate about it and scale it down, but to wonder and adore and love and exalt “’Jesus Christ … the same yesterday and today and forever’” (Hebrews 13:8).^[2]

Prayer: May the mysteries about You that I do not fully comprehend draw me to You and not away. May I see them in terms of Your love for me and not my own doubts and fears. Amen.

FRIDAY, JULY 2  <Read Romans 10:9-10; Colossians 2:6-23>

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  Philippians 2:9-11

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian who was executed by Hitler during World War II. Years later, one of his students recalled the last classroom session he had with his teacher. Bonhoeffer, knowing his arrest was imminent, asked his students a question that took them by surprise: He asked them if they loved Jesus. This is not the typical question one hears in a seminary classroom. Usually the classroom is reserved for more academic questions.  But Bonhoeffer knew this was the heart of life. This is the question that stands above all others. Do you love Jesus?  Jesus turned to his disciples and asked them, “Who do people say that I am?”  It was Simon Peter who gave the answer that has resonated through the ages: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Is that the answer you would have given? Does it make a difference? Do you love Jesus?  All of heaven and earth depend on how each of us answers that question.  

Prayer: Thank you Lord for loving me long before I ever knew you. May I truly believe and confess all that the Creed says about you, but I never forget that the greatest confession is love. Help me to love you most of all. Amen.                                                                                                                             

^[2]Packer, J. I.: Growing in Christ. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 1996, c1994, S. 44