Month: March 2018

“Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about those Christians who have died so you will not be sad, as others who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and that he rose again. So, because of him, God will raise with Jesus those who have died. What we tell you now is the Lord’s own message. We who are living when the Lord comes again will not go before those who have already died. The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And those who have died believing in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive will be gathered up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NCV)

I am encouraged by those words from 1 Thessalonians. The resurrection takes on special meaning for me since I have loved ones who died before me; a brother, a granddaughter, my mom, and Wayne. What if Jesus had not conquered death? How miserable I would be! I am grateful we have a future life after life on this earth. Jesus promised a new heaven and a new earth.  Celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus every week, not just on Easter, reminds us that we, too, will rise from the dead!

Happy Resurrection Day!

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen”         (Jude 24-25).

I read this morning about the people of Israel asking Samuel for a king. Samuel talked to God about the situation and God said to go ahead and anoint a king, but tell the people what will happen when they have a king. If you are not familiar with that event it is recorded in 1 Samuel 8. Verses 10 to 18 list all the things that will happen when they have a king; he will take your sons and daughters to work for him, he will take the best of your fields and a tenth of your crops, etc.

But the people wanted a king anyway. So after warning the people not to turn away from God, Samuel said, “For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.” I had underlined those words in my Bible sometime in the past.  This morning, however, I thought about the King of kings.

The Apostle Peter reminds us we are “a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9). The Apostle Paul charged Timothy to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11) until Jesus comes again; “which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15).

King Jesus is above all kings but He does not take as much as He gives.  He gave His life for our salvation. He made a way for us to be His people. He gives us His Spirit to guide us, and He has made peace between us and our heavenly Father. “The Lord was pleased to make you his own.” With such a loving, forgiving, and giving King, how can I do less than to give Him my all? Am I allowing Him to be the King of my life?

“I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).

I am continuing to read Bob Martin’s book, God, Our Father. Again he forces me to think deeper and sometimes differently about spiritual things.  I’m reading the chapter about the Lord’s Supper or Communion, as we sometimes call it.  I think both terms describe some part of what we do.  It is the Lord’s Supper because he is the Host.  It is also communion because of our close relationship with the Host. It is a remembrance of Jesus’ death for our sins and his resurrection which promises resurrection for us, as well. But it is more. Look at what Mr. Martin says in this quote.

“Anticipating His resurrection, Jesus could assure His disciples of His ongoing presence at ‘the breaking of bread.’ For this reason He spoke of eating and drinking with them ‘in my Father’s Kingdom’ (Mk. 14:25). Here, as elsewhere, ‘the Kingdom of God’ and ‘the Church’ are to be understood synonymously. That Jesus will be there to eat and drink with His disciples in my Father’s Kingdom’ is His promise to be present as both Host and Food whenever and wherever the Church gathers together ‘to break bread.’ Consequently, to ‘break bread’ with Him is not only to remember His death, it is also to celebrate His resurrection and His presence” (p. 163).

It’s easy to remember His sacrificial death when we think about “the body and the blood” but I sometimes fail to remember He is hosting the meal and is the meal.  As Mr. Martin points out later in the chapter, Jesus’ body and blood were separated at His death.  They are reunited when we partake of His body and blood (i.e., the bread and the fruit of the vine).

His Body (The Church) must have the blood to be alive. It’s a transfusion, Mr. Martin says. It is renewing Jesus’ life and presence into our life. It is what sustains our relationship with Jesus. His “blood type” is exactly what is needed to renew and sustain the Church.  What an amazing event to look forward to every week!

If God’s people experienced communion in this way, would it not bring unity to the Body?

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1Corinthians 10:15-17).

 

 

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:18-20).

We had two days without electrical power and the second day I started my generator (with a neighbor’s help) in order to keep the fridge and freezer at appropriate temps. My sister-in-law provided a hot meal each day with her wood stove cooking. I have a gas fireplace-no cooking there. The power came back on Saturday evening as my dad and I were leaving my sister-in-law’s house.  He was overjoyed, to say the least!  When I drove up to my house it was still dark! I was disappointed but knew that sometimes my power isn’t on at the same time as theirs. So Molly and I settled in for another chilly night. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. I suddenly realized that when I shut down the generator the evening before I’d forgotten to go back to the basement and turn the main breaker back on. How stupid and forgetful can one person be?!  I could have had a warm house all night if I’d remembered to turn on the breaker! The power was available but I wasn’t making use of it. How foolish!

I know, without a doubt, my spiritual life is a bit like that.  I don’t utilize the power available to me. The Apostle Paul calls it God’s “incomparable great power for us who believe.”  He says  that power is like the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That’s powerful power! My faith is often weak and I don’t trust God to work in my life. I push ahead trying to solve it all on my own.  I think I’m getting better at allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, but still have a long way to go.

Jesus has promised victory over sin and death. He has the power to forgive sins and raise the dead.  I can trust him to work in my life.  “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4b).  So when the world looks hopeless and dark and I wonder what’s next?  I can have the assurance that God reigns and his power will overcome all the evil powers of the world—one day! Power is available. Am I using it?