Judith and I love to pick dewberries. She is great at making pies and jelly. I am pretty good at eating them. It was 2012 that we were last able to pick some dewberries. The years of drought have taken their toll, but this year there was more rain which means more berries, even if there are fewer vines.
While picking some recently, I thought about how picking dewberries is similar to reading the Bible and finding spiritual truth. Three principles came to mind (sorry, can't help it I am a preacher) about picking dewberries and reading the Bible.
The Application Principle:
When dewberries are at their ripest, their sweetest, they very easily fall off the vine. If you touch them without really grasping them, they fall and are usually lost. I can read the sweetest words in the Word, I can hear the best sermons or lessons but if I do not apply these wonderful words to real actions, then they are usually lost. I must learn to grasp, to put into application what I hear. James calls us to be doers and not hearers only (James 1:22).
The Appearance Principle:
While picking dewberries, if you see one ripe one and don't go to investigate because you only see one, you will miss a lot of good berries. You need to go search for more, even if only one is visible. Where I find a ripe berry and I keep looking, usually more will appear. In reading the Bible, I may see a single truth that may seem small or insignificant. But if I do not go deeper on that "small" truth, I will miss a lot of other truths. Where there is one, there is always more. If I begin to apply God's word in a single area, if I begin to meditate on what one small truth really means, more truth will appear.
The Accumulation Principle:
Dewberries are wild vines. They are scattered and at times sparse, but if I keep picking and going from vine to vine I can accumulate enough to make something out them. It takes two cups of dewberries to make a pie. That is not all that much but you will never get two cups from a single vine. In reading the Bible, I may not seem to get very much out of it on any one particular day, but if I keep at it every day the truths accumulate. Soon, I can look back and see that my life is changing. I probably cannot tell that from one day to the next, but it will accumulate in me over time.
I don't know if you will ever pick dewberries, but I hope you will read the Bible. Dewberries are in season for a very short time, God's word never goes out of season. It is especially ripe when it is open.
for the journey...
Tim
Friday, May 15, 2015
Friday, May 8, 2015
Alpha and Omega Moments
I have a particularly lasting remembrance of my mother - among many memories of things she did, sacrifices she made, tasks she took on - but this remembrance of her is just after her death. I had made it to my parent's home as soon as I could after the call came that she had passed away. We knew this was coming, she had battled cancer for several years and there was nothing more that could be done. I made it home before the folks from the funeral home came to pick up her body. I cried with my sister and my father as we waited. Caring people from the hospice showed up and began to talk with my father. I walked back to what had been my old room and came back out into the den where her hospital type bed was placed by hospice. From that hallway vantage point, I saw a odd but comforting sight.
From the hall, I could see my mother, finally at rest, no longer in pain, her life here was done. But I could also look on down the hall to the room that had been my sister's and see there on the bed, my three month old great-niece sleeping peacefully. My sister was keeping her granddaughter that day and thankfully she was sleeping through all of this.
I stood there and looked at the two of them, both sleeping peacefully, one for a few moments, the other for good. It brought a sense of peace for me to see the two at the same time. They both were tired and sleep had overcome them. They both would wake up refreshed and renewed though in very different places. To see the end of life on this earth so near to the beginning of life on this earth helped me realize anew that these things come to us all - birth and death; weariness and sleep. They are a part of life and if we open to it, places where we can sense something of the hand of God.
There in that moment, I sensed God helping me believe, "It is going to be ok." Perhaps there is not a more needed message for us to hear in a time of loss than that. How often does that message come from our mothers? I had heard it from mine. Here, it was coming from my heavenly Father.
He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 22:13). He enables us to get through the Omega times by reminding us of the Alpha times and that those times are not that far away from each other. In any of those times, He is not far from us. God brings nothing to a close (even in death) with out bringing something to life.
As we celebrate this Mother's Day, I pray, whether your mother is near or far, present in this life or present in the next, you will sense His presence reminding you He is near and letting you know, "It is going to be ok."
for the journey...
Tim
From the hall, I could see my mother, finally at rest, no longer in pain, her life here was done. But I could also look on down the hall to the room that had been my sister's and see there on the bed, my three month old great-niece sleeping peacefully. My sister was keeping her granddaughter that day and thankfully she was sleeping through all of this.
I stood there and looked at the two of them, both sleeping peacefully, one for a few moments, the other for good. It brought a sense of peace for me to see the two at the same time. They both were tired and sleep had overcome them. They both would wake up refreshed and renewed though in very different places. To see the end of life on this earth so near to the beginning of life on this earth helped me realize anew that these things come to us all - birth and death; weariness and sleep. They are a part of life and if we open to it, places where we can sense something of the hand of God.
There in that moment, I sensed God helping me believe, "It is going to be ok." Perhaps there is not a more needed message for us to hear in a time of loss than that. How often does that message come from our mothers? I had heard it from mine. Here, it was coming from my heavenly Father.
He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 22:13). He enables us to get through the Omega times by reminding us of the Alpha times and that those times are not that far away from each other. In any of those times, He is not far from us. God brings nothing to a close (even in death) with out bringing something to life.
As we celebrate this Mother's Day, I pray, whether your mother is near or far, present in this life or present in the next, you will sense His presence reminding you He is near and letting you know, "It is going to be ok."
for the journey...
Tim
Friday, May 1, 2015
Malchus' Ear
His name was Malchus. He was the servant of the High Priest and in that position, he was privy to some pretty powerful events. He heard the discussions of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of Israel. He saw the inner workings of the office of the High Priest - he likely was a part of the discussions of how to get rid of Jesus. He probably was a part of paying Judas off with silver to betray Jesus. We know he was there in the Garden of Gethsemane when they arrested Jesus. That is where he went from the background to center stage. Peter cut off his ear (John 18:10).
I don't think Peter was aiming for his ear. I think he was either aiming to give Malchus a splitting headache or take is head off all together. Peter was a fisherman, not a swordsman. He missed, badly. Jesus rebuked him and basically told him to 'put that thing away before you hurt someone.' Then Jesus healed Malchus. I wonder what Malchus thought in that moment?
Here, all these men with all this aggression, had come to arrest Jesus. There was chaos and shouting. Suddenly there is a flash of a blade and searing, unbelievable pain and blood flowing down all over Malchus. Then there is Jesus, looking him in the face, touching his ear and the pain is gone and his ear is whole. In all this storm, Malchus gets pulled into the eye of the storm where Jesus is and where there is peace. I wonder what happened then for Malchus?
A couple of things speak to me about this story. First, Peter was trying to defend his Lord. But he was doing it from his own strength and by his own way. It failed miserably. Are there times we need to take a stand as followers of Jesus? Are their times we need to rise up against those in authority when they are doing wrong? Yes, there are those times and the possibility of more of those times seems to be increasing in our day. But we must do things Jesus' way. He never advocated violence or striking out in anger. He would take his stand before the Sanhedrin that day and he gives us an example of how to take a stand in our day.
I think there may be a message in Malchus' ear for us. When we stand for the cause of Christ but we do it in the anger of our own strength, we cut off the way people could hear - if they are willing. There are a lot of "Malchuses" out there wounded by angry Christians and they have a real hard time hearing us. What is the right way? Peter, even Peter, gives a good example later. He too is brought before the Sanhedrin, the very men who sentenced Jesus to die. But this time he is not angry nor does he bring a sword. He stands boldly in the power of Jesus and proclaims the truth of Jesus and then there is this powerful statement from Luke, "When they (the Sanhedrin) saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus" Acts 4:12. He stood Jesus' way and they were astonished.
Was Malchus there that day? We don't see his name but there is a good probability he was. He saw Peter in a whole new light if he was. That brings me to the second, final thought. Only in the Gospel of John, written years after to the other gospels, do we see the name of Malchus. Some have speculated that John knew Malchus' name because Malchus had become a part of the church by John's day. No one knows that for sure, but what a testimony Malchus would have had.
Do you have a Malchus in your life? Is he hurting now? Is he still healing? Is he now hearing? Let's not miss the message of Malchus' ear.
for the journey...
Tim
I don't think Peter was aiming for his ear. I think he was either aiming to give Malchus a splitting headache or take is head off all together. Peter was a fisherman, not a swordsman. He missed, badly. Jesus rebuked him and basically told him to 'put that thing away before you hurt someone.' Then Jesus healed Malchus. I wonder what Malchus thought in that moment?
Here, all these men with all this aggression, had come to arrest Jesus. There was chaos and shouting. Suddenly there is a flash of a blade and searing, unbelievable pain and blood flowing down all over Malchus. Then there is Jesus, looking him in the face, touching his ear and the pain is gone and his ear is whole. In all this storm, Malchus gets pulled into the eye of the storm where Jesus is and where there is peace. I wonder what happened then for Malchus?
A couple of things speak to me about this story. First, Peter was trying to defend his Lord. But he was doing it from his own strength and by his own way. It failed miserably. Are there times we need to take a stand as followers of Jesus? Are their times we need to rise up against those in authority when they are doing wrong? Yes, there are those times and the possibility of more of those times seems to be increasing in our day. But we must do things Jesus' way. He never advocated violence or striking out in anger. He would take his stand before the Sanhedrin that day and he gives us an example of how to take a stand in our day.
I think there may be a message in Malchus' ear for us. When we stand for the cause of Christ but we do it in the anger of our own strength, we cut off the way people could hear - if they are willing. There are a lot of "Malchuses" out there wounded by angry Christians and they have a real hard time hearing us. What is the right way? Peter, even Peter, gives a good example later. He too is brought before the Sanhedrin, the very men who sentenced Jesus to die. But this time he is not angry nor does he bring a sword. He stands boldly in the power of Jesus and proclaims the truth of Jesus and then there is this powerful statement from Luke, "When they (the Sanhedrin) saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus" Acts 4:12. He stood Jesus' way and they were astonished.
Was Malchus there that day? We don't see his name but there is a good probability he was. He saw Peter in a whole new light if he was. That brings me to the second, final thought. Only in the Gospel of John, written years after to the other gospels, do we see the name of Malchus. Some have speculated that John knew Malchus' name because Malchus had become a part of the church by John's day. No one knows that for sure, but what a testimony Malchus would have had.
Do you have a Malchus in your life? Is he hurting now? Is he still healing? Is he now hearing? Let's not miss the message of Malchus' ear.
for the journey...
Tim
Friday, April 24, 2015
Less is Greater
I never took a course in physics but even I know that Isaac Newton introduced the laws of gravity after an encounter with a falling apple. Though he made his discoveries in the 1600's, he is one of the great minds of physics even to this day. But none of us may have heard of him had it not been for a man named Edmund Halley.
Halley was a mentor and guide to Newton. He challenged Newton to think through some of his original notions, corrected Newton's mathematical errors and prepared geometrical figures to support his discoveries. Halley encouraged Newton to write down his work, he edited his writings and then paid for the printing costs.
When Newton's fame grew, Halley received little credit and did not seem to care. Edmund Halley did use Newton's principles to predict the orbit and the sighting of Halley's comet that bears his name but other than that, few know of his contributions. I certainly did not until this week. Was he mentioned in physics classes and I just never heard it?
When Jesus began to preach and people began to go to him instead of John the Baptist, one of John's disciples brought it to his attention. John's reply was, "He must become greater and I must become less" John 3:30. No one thought much of John the Baptist's contributions after that. Jesus took the spotlight and John was taken to prison and then to his execution.
But John, in Jesus own words, did prepare the way for him. He fulfilled his life's purpose to be the "voice of one calling in the wilderness" to prepare the way for the Lord. His words and example still echo today, "He must become greater, I must become less." For John, 'less is more,' was not the way it worked, less was greater.
This Sunday we will look at that statement and John's life but until then let me ask, where is he becoming greater in your life and where are you becoming less? Also, who is becoming greater in the kingdom because of your encouragement? If we are going to live out John's great principle of Jesus becoming greater and we becoming less, we have to have answers to both those questions.
for the journey...
Tim
Halley was a mentor and guide to Newton. He challenged Newton to think through some of his original notions, corrected Newton's mathematical errors and prepared geometrical figures to support his discoveries. Halley encouraged Newton to write down his work, he edited his writings and then paid for the printing costs.
When Newton's fame grew, Halley received little credit and did not seem to care. Edmund Halley did use Newton's principles to predict the orbit and the sighting of Halley's comet that bears his name but other than that, few know of his contributions. I certainly did not until this week. Was he mentioned in physics classes and I just never heard it?
When Jesus began to preach and people began to go to him instead of John the Baptist, one of John's disciples brought it to his attention. John's reply was, "He must become greater and I must become less" John 3:30. No one thought much of John the Baptist's contributions after that. Jesus took the spotlight and John was taken to prison and then to his execution.
But John, in Jesus own words, did prepare the way for him. He fulfilled his life's purpose to be the "voice of one calling in the wilderness" to prepare the way for the Lord. His words and example still echo today, "He must become greater, I must become less." For John, 'less is more,' was not the way it worked, less was greater.
This Sunday we will look at that statement and John's life but until then let me ask, where is he becoming greater in your life and where are you becoming less? Also, who is becoming greater in the kingdom because of your encouragement? If we are going to live out John's great principle of Jesus becoming greater and we becoming less, we have to have answers to both those questions.
for the journey...
Tim
Friday, April 17, 2015
The Love of God
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell.
For a moment, let's play "Name that Hymn." Can you do it? Some of you reading these words will recognize them from the F. M Lehman hymn, "The Love of God." Some of you (like me) cannot see them or hear them without thinking of George Beverly Shea singing them on Billy Graham's crusades. It was Shea's signature song.
Lehman wrote the song in 1917 while he was at work. In idle moments during the day he wrote it on scrap pieces of paper pressed against a wall using a stub pencil. He did it all while sitting on an empty lemon crate. It all goes to prove that the message of the love of God can reach you anywhere, at any time. You may also remember these words from the song:
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
This third stanza was not original to Lehman though. It came from the translation of a Jewish poem that a Rabbi wrote during a time of severe persecution in Germany in the 11th century. More centuries later, it was found written on the wall of a cell in an insane asylum after the occupant had passed away. Somehow someone who was described as rarely in their right mind was able to remember the ancient Aramaic poem and write down those beautiful, powerful words. God's love did reach the deepest hell. Lehman was aware of that story and it fit in perfectly with what he was writing.
God's love can reach us anywhere and change anyone in any situation. Is it changing us in His church today? If it is not, it is not the fault of the love of God. Sunday, we will start with this question, "Who has taught you the most about the love of God?" OK, I see those hands and I hear the standard Sunday School answer, "Jesus." Yes, he did, and does still, but what other person in your life, not in the Bible, has taught you the most about the love of God? That is something for all of us to mark in our lives. Someday in the future, will anyone answer that question with your name?
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell.
For a moment, let's play "Name that Hymn." Can you do it? Some of you reading these words will recognize them from the F. M Lehman hymn, "The Love of God." Some of you (like me) cannot see them or hear them without thinking of George Beverly Shea singing them on Billy Graham's crusades. It was Shea's signature song.
Lehman wrote the song in 1917 while he was at work. In idle moments during the day he wrote it on scrap pieces of paper pressed against a wall using a stub pencil. He did it all while sitting on an empty lemon crate. It all goes to prove that the message of the love of God can reach you anywhere, at any time. You may also remember these words from the song:
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
This third stanza was not original to Lehman though. It came from the translation of a Jewish poem that a Rabbi wrote during a time of severe persecution in Germany in the 11th century. More centuries later, it was found written on the wall of a cell in an insane asylum after the occupant had passed away. Somehow someone who was described as rarely in their right mind was able to remember the ancient Aramaic poem and write down those beautiful, powerful words. God's love did reach the deepest hell. Lehman was aware of that story and it fit in perfectly with what he was writing.
God's love can reach us anywhere and change anyone in any situation. Is it changing us in His church today? If it is not, it is not the fault of the love of God. Sunday, we will start with this question, "Who has taught you the most about the love of God?" OK, I see those hands and I hear the standard Sunday School answer, "Jesus." Yes, he did, and does still, but what other person in your life, not in the Bible, has taught you the most about the love of God? That is something for all of us to mark in our lives. Someday in the future, will anyone answer that question with your name?
Friday, April 10, 2015
Decoration Day
Have you ever been to a Decoration Day? In many rural cemeteries it is a day to clean up and decorate the graves. Then the families of those buried there share a pot-luck, picnic type meal together. Usually there is a business meeting to go along with it. I am old enough to remember going to a few Decoration Days at the Pilot Grove Cemetery outside Yoakum when I was younger. This may seem like an odd event but I saw in the local paper this week that there will be a cemetery Decoration Day in our area. They still survive.
I had a pastor friend in a nearby church when he and I were both pastoring our first churches. The Decoration Day in the cemetery in his rural community was an annual event, always on a Sunday. It was so big, the church did not meet for worship that day. When all the people told my friend about this, he did not know whether to believe them. He showed up for church ready to preach on that first Decoration Day Sunday. Sure enough, no one came. They were all out at the cemetery.
What happens when God buries someone? I am not knocking Decoration Days, but look at what he did with Moses, "He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.' Deut. 34:6. He seems to be a God more focused on the living.
Recently I read this from Dr. Jim Denison, "Today Muslims visit the remains of Muhammad in Medina. Baha'i visit their founder's body at the Shrine of the Bab in Haifa, Israel. Buddhists go to the Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka, where the tooth of the Buddha is kept. Confucians visit the remains of Confucius in his hometown of Qufu, Shandong Province, China. But no one can visit the corpse of Jesus, because it has never been found."
God does not seem to have a long term plan for his people's graves. He certainly doesn't have a decoration day here on earth, he never calls a business meeting to deal with our graves. God has an even better plan for his people's resurrection. I will take a resurrection day over a decoration day any day. But how do we use the resurrection of Jesus on a daily basis? Can we? The answer is, "Yes." God wants to give us a daily dose of resurrection power. Have you had yours today? That is what we will talk about Sunday.
for the journey...
Tim
I had a pastor friend in a nearby church when he and I were both pastoring our first churches. The Decoration Day in the cemetery in his rural community was an annual event, always on a Sunday. It was so big, the church did not meet for worship that day. When all the people told my friend about this, he did not know whether to believe them. He showed up for church ready to preach on that first Decoration Day Sunday. Sure enough, no one came. They were all out at the cemetery.
What happens when God buries someone? I am not knocking Decoration Days, but look at what he did with Moses, "He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.' Deut. 34:6. He seems to be a God more focused on the living.
Recently I read this from Dr. Jim Denison, "Today Muslims visit the remains of Muhammad in Medina. Baha'i visit their founder's body at the Shrine of the Bab in Haifa, Israel. Buddhists go to the Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka, where the tooth of the Buddha is kept. Confucians visit the remains of Confucius in his hometown of Qufu, Shandong Province, China. But no one can visit the corpse of Jesus, because it has never been found."
God does not seem to have a long term plan for his people's graves. He certainly doesn't have a decoration day here on earth, he never calls a business meeting to deal with our graves. God has an even better plan for his people's resurrection. I will take a resurrection day over a decoration day any day. But how do we use the resurrection of Jesus on a daily basis? Can we? The answer is, "Yes." God wants to give us a daily dose of resurrection power. Have you had yours today? That is what we will talk about Sunday.
for the journey...
Tim
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Relentless Redemption
The resurrection of Jesus shows the relentless redemption of God's plan. If you have been worshipping with us these past Sundays at Northside, you know that we have been looking at the power of Jesus' resurrection from 1 Corinthians 15. Paul says there that without the resurrection of Jesus, which points to our bodily resurrection, there is no point to Christianity. Everything stands or falls on the resurrection.
But because there is a resurrection of all believers in Christ, we have an understanding of the lengths the power of Jesus's resurrection will go to change us - the measure of this relentless redemptive plan of God. Every place where sin has stained, scarred, wounded or warped - in every level or sphere of life where sin has brought death - the power of the resurrection of Jesus works to bring a resurrected life. Someday we who belong to him will see it all worked out even to the very molecules of our physical body as we are raised with an eternal body that will live forever.
Not only do we see the relentless redemption, we see this overwhelming victory of the resurrection and how far it goes. Historian Philip Schaff wrote:
This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a sing line he set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.
The power of his resurrection and the victory it brings is not yet fully seen. It is still working in you and in me. Someday we will see it whole, complete and finished. For now though, we can know it is at work even if we cannot see it. This post will go out on Saturday, the nameless, sad, silent Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. But on that Saturday, and on this one, God was and is still at work and his relentless redemption keeps pressing on. Let us let it and let us rejoice in it.
for the journey...
Tim
But because there is a resurrection of all believers in Christ, we have an understanding of the lengths the power of Jesus's resurrection will go to change us - the measure of this relentless redemptive plan of God. Every place where sin has stained, scarred, wounded or warped - in every level or sphere of life where sin has brought death - the power of the resurrection of Jesus works to bring a resurrected life. Someday we who belong to him will see it all worked out even to the very molecules of our physical body as we are raised with an eternal body that will live forever.
Not only do we see the relentless redemption, we see this overwhelming victory of the resurrection and how far it goes. Historian Philip Schaff wrote:
This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a sing line he set more pens in motion and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.
The power of his resurrection and the victory it brings is not yet fully seen. It is still working in you and in me. Someday we will see it whole, complete and finished. For now though, we can know it is at work even if we cannot see it. This post will go out on Saturday, the nameless, sad, silent Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. But on that Saturday, and on this one, God was and is still at work and his relentless redemption keeps pressing on. Let us let it and let us rejoice in it.
for the journey...
Tim
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