Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev.3:4-6)

In some ways, Sardis came off as the least pleasing church in the list of churches in Asia. Jesus charged them with living on a reputation that pertained only to the past. He pronounced them spiritually dead and charged them with not completing the work he had given them. He called them to repentance and obedience and warned them that if they did not “wake up” he would come when they least expected it to discipline them.

And yet, he was very aware of the few in their midst who had been faithful and had continued to serve while the rest had abandoned their calling. He described them as those who had not “soiled” their clothes. The Greek word translated as soiled means “to defile by sexual immorality and/or involvement in pagan idolatry.” Those who had coasted to a halt in their passion for Jesus and their service to God had drifted back into a mixture of Christianity and pagan immorality. They kept an appearance of faithfulness and maintained ties with the church but partied with the pagans on weekends.

God knows our hearts, our lives, our works, our secrets, and our sins. We cannot hide our unfaithfulness from him in the midst of the congregation on Sunday nor will our faithfulness go unnoticed even in the midst of the unfaithful. The writer of Hebrews told the faithful Jews, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Notice that God notices.

As difficult as it is to stay on track with the Father in the face of persecution, it is often more difficult to stay on track in a fellowship of lukewarm and dispassionate believers. In that environment, over time it is easy to begin to believe that “lukewarmness” is the standard and is somehow acceptable to the Lord. In his letter to Sardis, Jesus is clear that a casual attitude toward the cross and a double-minded man who tries to dance with the Lord on Sundays while dancing with the world the rest of the week is unacceptable. It’s like a man who sleeps with prostitutes six days and week but comes home declaring faithfulness to his wife on Sundays.

But Jesus declares that the faithful walk with him and they dress in white – the color of righteousness and priesthood. He promises all of us that when we live a life of overcoming the enemy and faithfully remain in the ranks of heaven, we also will be dressed in white. Not only that but those who continue in faithfulness will have their names eternally written in the book of life. Jesus declares that he will personally acknowledge the names of those who do not compromise, who do not become casual or careless, and who do not lose their passion for the kingdom before the Father and his angels.

Too many believers had a heavenly fire in their hearts for a season and served God with energy and passion for a time. But after a few years the kingdom of heaven lost its fascination for them. The riches and pleasures of the world began to glow brighter than the treasures of heaven. Little by little they began to mix the “not so bad” things of the world with the good things of heaven and eventually they simply slipped back in the world while maintaining their “membership” at the local church. Many believers know that their faith is not what is used to be but are banking on God remembering what they used to do when they stand before him. This letter indicates that these “believers” are in a very dangerous place.

We can easily look down on those who have slipped away but we can all be tempted to do the same thing when, after years of going to church, our faith can seem ordinary, humdrum, less rewarding than what the world is offering, and has even become unpopular and criticized in the culture. We must all guard against this “natural erosion” of faith and passion. How can we guard our hearts and keep the fire alive? Be sure you stay around people who still have a fire in their bones for the kingdom. The heat from their fires will keep your embers burning. If your group of believers has settled down and made peace with the world, find a new group. Intentionally risk. Develop a habit of doing “crazy things” for Jesus. Go on mission trips to 3^rd world countries. Pray for the sick at the local HEB. Share your faith with a stranger. Pursue the gift of tongues or prophecy. Consistently do things that are a “little scary.”

Risking things for the kingdom and being around others who risk makes your life in Christ an adventure. It does not get boring or irrelevant. It keeps stoking the fires and the excitement of seeing God do miracles through you makes the promises of the world seem lackluster. I believe that Jesus will not only acknowledge your name before the Father and his angels on the Day of Judgment, but even now as we passionately serve him. Those who serve faithfully now are already known in heaven and your name is already spoken there. Remember when God asked Satan if he had considered Job? Remember the angel who told Daniel that he was already highly esteemed in heaven. If you are living four Jesus, your name is already spoken in the courts of the King. Live in a way to insure that your name never fades in the halls of heaven but is mentioned there often until you arrive in person.  Be blessed.

Have you considered the implications of being made in the image of God? An image is a representation of someone or something. It is a re-presentation of the original. We are told that Jesus, as the Son of Man, was the exact representation of his heavenly Father (Heb.1:3). Jesus told Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14: 9). Jesus re-presented the Father to those whom he encountered on the earth. I’m not suggesting that Jesus was the exact representation of God in some physical way while on the earth, but that he carried within him the essence of his Father – his values, his purposes, his perspectives, his ways, his words, and his heart.

In the same way, we are made in the image of the Father and carry within us qualities of his divine nature. Some of those qualities have matured in certain believers. Other qualities are developing and still other qualities exist in seed form waiting to mature and bear fruit. All of mankind is made in the image of God. In many the image is distorted and fragmented and yet some of that image is still recognizable.

For those who have the Spirit of God within them, that image is in the process of being fully restored. As we become more like Jesus, we become more like the Father and as we mature in Christ, we are able to re-present the Father on earth in greater and greater ways. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor.3:17-18).

The implications of being made in God’s image cannot be overstated. That fact sets us apart from all of creation and in the beginning set us above creation. I wonder if Adam and Eve appreciated the exalted position they had been given and if they had understood who they were if they would have succumbed to the enemy so easily? I wonder if we understand who we are in Christ and the exalted position that we have? If we did, would we give in to the enemy so easily ourselves?

I suspect that we should spend the first part of every day considering who we are in Christ and who we are in the whole realm of creation – both in the natural and the spiritual realms. The Father has given us amazing positions in both realms. If we can ever grasp that reality in our hearts and see ourselves as God sees us it will change not only us but we in turn will change the world the Father has given us to rule.

In his life on earth, Jesus healed only a relatively small number of people on one small patch of the globe.

• He left the rest of them to us.

In his life on earth, Jesus preached the gospel to a few thousand on the hillsides of Israel.

• He left the other seven billion to us.

In his life on earth, Jesus cast demons out hundreds of spiritually oppressed Jews.

• He left the defeat of the tens of thousands remaining servants of darkness to us.

In his life on earth, Jesus went about doing good and condemning  injustice in the world.

• There is plenty more of that work to be done by us.

In his life on earth, Jesus reached out to the poor and destitute of a very small nation.

• He left the rest of the starving and naked in the world to us.

In his life on earth, jesus forgave those who nailed him to a cross.

• He left the rest of those who need to be forgiven to us.

Jesus intends to finish his work.

• He just intends to do it through us.

How much of what he left for us did we do today?

One other thing…In his life on earth, Jesus died for every lost person who ever lived to will live.

• He left none of that for us.   That’s the good news.

In order for someone to find freedom in Christ, that individual must recognize and acknowledge the sin in his/her life.  Unrepented sin gives the enemy legal access to our lives because in those areas that we have roped off for ourselves and our flesh, we are in agreement with Satan.

To help people find their freedom in Christ we must learn how to help people deal with the sin that is usually so apparent to others but not always apparent to them.  In addition, we must do so in love.  In everything we do, we must follow the lead of the Savior of all men and the one who has shown us the heart of the Father.  As we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, however, we find two or three general responses to sin and at times they seem to be quite contradictory.

Most of us love the response of Jesus to the sins of the woman at the well (Jn.4:1-26) and the woman taken in adultery (Jn.8: 1-11).  In both of those settings Jesus encounters women whose lives have been marked with sin.  The Samaritan woman of John 4 seems to have had a reputation in her village that had gained her the status of outcast. She had lived with a number of husbands and was simply living with her latest lover.  According to John, Jesus was resting at the well about noon when the woman showed up to draw water.  Traditionally the women of the village would have come to the well in the cool of the morning and the evening rather than in the heat of the day.  Perhaps, she came at noon to avoid the other women of the village. The woman described in John 8 was a woman caught in the very act of adultery who doesn’t bother to argue her innocence even when her life is on the line.

In both cases the gentleness and mercy of Jesus is almost overwhelming. In both cases Jesus acknowledges the sin in the lives of each woman but almost in passing.  Instead he emphasizes the grace and forgiving nature of God.  He points them to a better life but in no way shames them or condemns them as they go on their way.  That is the Jesus most of us love and are comfortable with – the Jesus who says little about sin but just points people to the grace of God.

But in his gospel, John describes another moment when Jesus heals a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years.  This man had spent his days begging at the pool of Bethesda.  In a moment of compassion, Jesus saw the man and healed him.  It is such a quick moment that the man doesn’t even discover who has healed him.  But John tells us that later in the day, Jesus found the man in the temple area and privately warned him to “stop sinning or something worse may happen to you” (Jn.5:14).   In this case Jesus gives a private rebuke to a sinful man so that he might find eternal life and not lose the healing he had received for “the kindness of God calls us to repentance” (Rom.2:4).

Finally, we are all aware of the sharp confrontations Jesus had with the Pharisees. With these men he was not gentle nor did he give a private rebuke.  He scolded them in public and called them sons of Satan (Jn.8:44), a brood of vipers (Mt.12), blind guides (Mt.23) and  more.

So how do we reconcile these encounters if we are to do all things in love? If Jesus came to seek and to save the lost why is he gentle with some and scathing with others?  I believe that the common ground of each encounter was the redemptive motive of Jesus.  His goal for all three types of sinner was redemption and that goal was motivated by love.  Remember, we are called to love even those we don’t like.

To the women, Jesus took on a priestly role of dispensing hope, gentleness, grace and forgiveness. These women were quite aware of their sins and already carried their own burden of shame for the lives they had been leading.  Jesus had no need to convince them of their sinfulness. He needed to convince them that the great and holy God of Israel was willing to forgive and embrace them despite their sinful past.

That was the message they needed to hear. To the lame man Jesus seemed to take a middle ground of demonstrating God’s mercy but then confronting his sin in a personal way so not to humiliate the man. In a sense, this man needed to be reminded that God’s mercy was not released into his life so that he could continue to be the man that he was before he was healed. He needed to be reminded that the grace of God call us to a different life.    In that case, Christ took a position somewhere between priest and prophet and brought grace with a word of warning.

When facing the Pharisees who trusted in their own righteousness and who were blinded to their sins by a spiritual arrogance, Jesus came in the spirit of the prophets with a get-in-your face rebuke and a call to repentance.  Though it was harsh it was still an attempt to redeem these men.

So in helping men and women deal with their sins there are times to be very priestly, times to be very prophetic, and times to stand somewhere in between.  For many, it will be very apparent which approach to take in order to help them find freedom.  For others it will take a clear leading of the Spirit.  One approach will easily fit our temperament while the other will be very foreign to us but discernment and flexibility is key.   Jesus did not love some and hate others.  He simply knew which approach was most redemptive in the moment – not only to the one he was dealing with but to the ones who were watching.

However, we do it, we must help people discern and acknowledge their sin and their brokenness if they are to be healed and set free.  Think about what is most needed and the spirit in which it must be ministered the next time God puts someone in your life that needs the grace and the healing touch of Jesus and may the Lord bless you today.

We are continuing to look at who we are in Christ as revealed in Paul’s letter to the church as Ephesus.  Paul continues to download the believer’s identity beginning in Ephesians 1:11 through the end of the letter.   Notice the descriptive phrases and my notes following that describe you because of your position in Christ.  These are found throughout the letter to the Ephesians.  These phrases do not just describe believers in general but describe you.

Chosen – you have been picked out of the crowd
Predestined – you were given a significant destiny before time began.  You can choose to say yes or not to your destiny.
Included in Christ – you are no longer excluded but given all things in Christ.
Marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit – you are set apart as belonging to God and sealed by the Holy Spirit.  This seal is a marker that identifies you as one who belongs to the King.
God’s possession – you are blood purchased and belong to the Father who is jealous for you.
Alive with Christ – once dead in your sins, you now possess eternal life.
Saved – you have been redeemed from the enemy and delivered from his authority.
Seated with Christ in heavenly realms – you share in Christ’s authority and rule with him. You once were subject to Satan’s authority but now he is subject to the authority you have in Christ.
God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus – you have been crafted by the creator with great intentionality.
Brought near – having been far away you have now been brought close to God.
New man – you are free from your past with a new identity and a new destiny.
Fellow citizen with God’s people – you now possess all the rights and privileges of citizenship in heaven.
Member of God’s household – you are family and now share in God’s divine nature.
A dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit – you are the temple of God.
Dearly loved child – you are treasured by the Father.
God’s holy person – you are set apart for sacred service in the kingdom of God.
Light in the Lord – you have been chosen to give illumination to the world.
Child of light – you are born of truth and holiness.
A member of Christ’s body – you have purposeful connection to Christ.

All of these things and more are true of you in Christ. They are not true for everyone else but you.  They are true for you. When speaking of yourself you should say what God says about you.  It doesn’t matter how you feel.  Your feelings do not establish truth.  God’s word is truth.  When the enemy accuses, you should answer with the Word of God about you.  Ask the Holy Spirit to write these truths on your heart. When you believe what God says about you will step into your destiny and be a powerful representative of God on this planet.  Think about these things and be blessed.

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”  (Judges 6:12-16)

If you read the book of Judges, you will discover a cycle that occurred over and over throughout the book that covers several hundred years of Jewish history.  After God had established Israel in the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, the nation prospered.  As they prospered, their perceived need for God diminished along with their obedience. Eventually, Israel would forget God, compromise with the culture around them, and begin to worship idols.  In an effort to call them back to faithfulness, God would allow neighboring tribes to conquer and oppress them.  When their misery became too great, Israel would turn their hearts back toward God and God would raise up a deliverer who would lead them to victory against their enemies.  As they found peace and prosperity again they would forget God and the entire cycle would start over.

Gideon was one of those individuals (judges) whom God called to deliver Israel.  In the text above we witness the call of God on Gideon.  When we first see Gideon he is threshing wheat in a wine press…probably a cave.  He is hiding what he is doing from the Midianites who would simply take the wheat if they discovered it being processed.  The angel’s words seem ironic Gideon.  “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.”

Neither of these truths was apparent to Gideon.  In his mind he was so far from being a mighty warrior that he didn’t even respond to that part of the greeting.  But he did ask honestly, “If the Lord is with us, then why are things such a mess?”  Most of us have had that same question in our own lives.  “If God loves me and is with me then why have my prayers not been answered?  Why have I not been healed?  Why is my adult child being destroyed by addictions?  Why am I still unemployed? Why did my marriage end in divorce?  Why am I still single when all I ever wanted was a family?”  Then, in so many words, Gideon goes on to ask, “If God is really a God of miracles and deliverance then why haven’t I seen any?”

I believe that Gideon had already been giving some thought to those questions. Perhaps, he had been praying for God to so something – not just for him but for the nation.  After all, weren’t the Jews still God’s chosen people and weren’t the Midianites still pagans who had gave no honor to the God of Israel at all?  God’s answer was interesting.  “Go in the strength you have and save Israel.”  In other words, “Gideon, you have been asking for me to raise up someone to lead Israel out of bondage again. Great thought!  I choose you!”

Of course, Gideon immediately declined the opportunity and pointed out all of his shortcomings.  He responded as Moses had responded at the burning bush.  “Here am I Lord, send anyone else!”  Gideon saw the problem clearly he just didn’t see himself as part of the solution. He didn’t perceive himself as mighty or as a warrior and he had not perceived the hand of God in Israel’s condition. And yet, as always, God is willing to move in powerful ways in response to our prayers if we are willing to partner with him.

How may times have we moaned about the condition of our congregation, a ministry within it, the church, the nation, or our community and asked God to do something powerful to correct the issues that are so clear to us?  How often do we pray and wait for God to raise up someone to carry the banner for the cause that we have lifted to heaven but never volunteer ourselves? Part of that is because we usually believe others are more spiritual, more experienced and more qualified than we are.  But God says, “I will go with you.”

First of all, taking on a mission that is over our heads will actually make us more dependent on God which is the very thing that makes us more spiritual. Secondly, if we were experienced we would insist on doing it our way instead of God’s way.  If Joshua had been experienced in warfare against walled cities he would have never marched around Jericho seven times to blow rams horns and shout.  Instead, he would have built catapults and siege ramps. Thirdly, the main thing that qualifies people for impossible missions in the kingdom of God is a simple willingness to be used.

God declared that Gideon was a mighty warrior because God was going to make him into a mighty warrior. God also declared that he was with Gideon because he had always been with Gideon.  He was even with the nation because he had not forsaken Israel but had been hovering and waiting for their hearts to turn towards him again.

It’s true that God is looking for great men and women of faith that he can use for his purposes but none of them started out great.  They were just willing to give God a hearing and to take the next step.  God took care of the rest. That is all he wants from you and from me.  God used Gideon in very unconventional ways but he used him and won great victories as a result.

God rarely asks us to lead a nation into war (although he might) but he does ask us to share out faith with a hard case, pray boldly for healing in the face of stage four cancer, lead a small group, lead a ministry, mentor someone, raise money for the poor or lead a movement in our communities.  If he has put a problem on your heart, then he may well want you to be the one through whom he solves the problem.  Volunteer yourself to God. Risk a little. Trust that God will go with you.  You’ll be amazed at what God calls forth from your life!  Be blessed and watch out for angels asking odd questions.

Anyone who has read biographies of British evangelists, especially charismatic evangelists, have run across the name Smith Wigglesworth.  He was born in 1859 and died in 1947.  He was painfully shy and took every opportunity to avoid speaking in public until the Holy Spirit fell on him in 1907.  He received a vision of Jesus and the gift of tongues. After receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit he was a changed man filled with boldness and power.  His wife was astonished at the change.

Wigglesworth preached four principles that he believed should guide the life of every believer.

• Read the Word of God.
• Consume the Word of God until it consumes you.
• Believe the Word of God.
• Act on the Word of God.

Those four principles seem basic and almost self-evident but Wigglesworth radically followed each principle in his own life. He followed them so radically that he offended soft-spoken religionists across the United Kingdom. He often acted in extreme and bazaar ways but led thousands to Christ and maintained a phenomenal healing ministry for decades.

It’s documented that he punched a cancer victim so hard that he fell to the ground but was healed when he stood up.  Wigglesworth simply commented that he didn’t hit people but he did hit the devil. If people got in the way he couldn’t help it. He explained that you can’t deal gently with the devil or comfort him because he likes to be comforted.  Wigglesworth was never accused of being comforting to the devil or even to people on many occasions.  It’s also reported that during a meeting, Wigglesworth kicked a deformed infant all the way across the stage but when the child landed he was healed and whole. Another account finds him shouting at a crippled woman to walk and then impatiently pushing her until she sort of fell into a run with Wigglesworth chasing her up the aisle of the church shouting at her until she ran out the door.  She was healed.

Now, I’m not endorsing punching, kicking or chasing as a matter of style.  But here is the thing.

This man was radically committed to doing whatever he heard God tell him to do even when it was unorthodox, unpopular, extreme, strange or criticized by other religious leaders. His total goal was pleasing God not finding acceptance among men.

If you think about it, Jesus was just as radical.  He often healed on the Sabbath while religious leaders screamed that he was a devil.  He put his fingers in ears, mud on eyes, touched lepers who were never to be touched, stopped funerals and raised the dead, drove demons into pigs who then hurled themselves into the sea, and so forth.  He was radical, controversial, and totally obedient to the Father.

If we want to move in the power of the Spirit we have to catch a little (or a lot) of that spirit. I have often noticed that God uses extreme people in extreme ways.  God’s power often comes wrapped in strange packages.  That has always been the case. Take John the Baptist who lived in the desert on locusts and honey, probably never cut his hair, and wore camel skin garments. Extreme. Take Saul of Tarsus who marched through Israel arresting Christians and inciting crowds to stone them to death. He was just as radical for Jesus after his noonday conversion as he had been against Jesus. Extreme.

The church has tried so hard to be socially acceptable and to fit in with the wealthy and powerful of America that she has lost her power. We have become celebrity chasers who draw people to our churches with big names and talent because we have lost the ability to draw them with healing, transformed lives, prophetic words, and funerals that don’t get out of the parking lot because the guest of honor has been raised from the dead.

Wigglesworth was extreme. He did whatever he believed the Lord told him to do and he did it immediately.  Because of his faith and obedience he had a worldwide ministry of healing, deliverance, and evangelism. During his ministry it’s documented that he raised twenty-three people from the dead. Of course he was criticized, called a fraud, and accused of being in league with the devil. It was the same with Jesus. One often quoted phrase from Wigglesworth is,  “Only believe.  Fear looks.  Faith jumps.”

If we want to be great in the kingdom and move in the power of the Spirit we must be willing to hear the Lord and act on what he is telling is….not just in church but at the Mall, Starbucks, Home Depot, or wherever we find ourselves being prompted by the Spirit.  It is so easy to turn God down because we fear being wrong, causing a scene, feeling foolish, being in a hurry, or being rejected.  I struggle with the same thoughts and internal pushback in those moments. But being obedient and being willing to risk all of the above is truly liberating for your faith and God honors faith with action from heaven.

As we approach Easter, the most extreme moment in history when a dead man rose from the grave having conquered death and hell, perhaps we can choose to be a little more extreme in our own lives. If we will choose radical obedience then perhaps the church will choose it and once again simple men will turn the world upside down. Be blessed as you step out in faith doing the impossible with God who is even willing to raise the dead when there is faith and obedience.

In a few days Passover will begin at sundown.  I’ve been looking into Passover to gain a greater understanding of whom Jesus is and what he accomplished for us as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  As we discover the depths of the Passover it should also deepen our understanding of the Lord’s Supper and ultimately that is what I am in search of.

Paul tells us that Jesus is our Passover lamb (see 1 Cor. 5:7).  As you go through the prayers and declarations of a Jewish Passover Seder the operative word is “remember.” As we partake of communion the operative word is also “remember.”  But in the Jewish culture remembrance is not just a rehearsal of a few historical facts but it carries with it the idea of a deep meditation and even the thought of re-experiencing an event.  For example, the Feast of Booths is a remembrance of the years Israel spent in the wilderness sleeping in the open so observant Jews will sleep outside during the festival to re-experience what their ancestors endured in the desert thousands of years ago.

In the Passover Seder there are many symbols but they are symbols to be experienced as well as symbols that point to historical events.  Bitter herbs are to be eaten to remind a Jewish family of the bitterness of their ancestor’s bondage in Egypt.  Today, horseradish is usually the bitter herb that brings tears to the eyes as well as heat to the tongue.  Unleavened bread is central and reminds the family partaking of the meal that their ancestors left Egypt in haste but also reminds them of God’s faithful provision through manna, the bread of heaven and food of angels (see Ps.78:24-25), that sustained them for forty years. It reminds them to live righteously as children of God since leaven typically symbolizes sin in the Bible so that unleavened bread is bread or life without sin. For the faithful Jew, these things and more also pointed ahead to the age of Messiah when God would provide peace through “a prophet like Moses” and manna again.  Of course, the lamb was central as Israel killed a lamb for each household during Passover and ate it without breaking any bones as a reminder of the night God’s judgment passed over them because by faith they had placed the blood of the lamb over their doors. As the Jewish family retells the story of the Exodus the story is anchored to not only the biblical accounts, the songs, and the prayers of Passover but to textures, tastes, smells, and sips of wine related to the promises and deeds of God.  It is then followed by feasting and celebration as a people chosen by God.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, in the midst of his Passover Seder, Jesus took wine and bread and said this is my body broken for you and this is my blood, shed for you. In that Seder so may things point to the reality of Jesus who was and is the fulfillment of Passover not just for the Jews but also for all of us.  There was the lamb of God without spot or blemish whose blood applied by faith enables the judgment of God to pass over every believer.  There was the unleavened bread that pointed to the body of Christ unspoiled by sin that was not only broken but would be consumed by those who believe on him.  Throughout the meal wine marked the passages of one part of the story to another as the Holy Spirits tells the story to us and refreshes us as wine refreshed those who partook at the Seder.  And for us there is deliverance from bitter bondage in our lives to life in the Son. For us the central focus is not only the lamb but also the bread of heaven that came down to sustain us. For us the blood is not just a marker on a doorpost but the seal of a covenant between man and God.

As I reflect on these things and much more, Jesus becomes multidimensional as my Savior and my Daily Bread – my manna, my food from heaven, and my covenant sacrifice.  Manna was so significant that a jar of it was placed in the Ark of the Covenant along with the commandments and Aaron’s priestly rod. Manna was concrete evidence of God’s love and provision for his people. As long as the manna fell each morning, it was clear evidence of the presence of God with his people.  It was also evidence that they were not yet at their final destination because once they entered the Promised Land the manna ceased to fall.  As long as we take communion, it reminds us that this is not yet our final destination but that greater promises still lie ahead.

I’m also reminded by the richness of the Jewish Seder how sterile we can make the Lord’s Supper with a quick scripture, a quick bite of a flat cracker and some grape juice. By Hebrew standards that is not much of a remembrance.  In that broken bread and in that cup of wine is every promise related to our salvation – forgiveness, freedom from condemnation, his Spirit within us, healing, provision, and more than anything else the presence of God. In fact, when we take communion we should experience his presence more than at any other moment as, in a sense, the communion bread is our Bread of the Presence.

I know there is so much more that I have yet to grasp.  I want the Spirit to peel off the layers and trust he will do so in the days ahead.  My encouragement to you is to begin your own search to plumb the depths of the Lord’s Supper.  The first century church didn’t come together primarily for great worship or a moving sermon but came together to “remember” the Lord’s death until his return.  Perhaps, we should make it more central and a much deeper experience than we normally do.  Just some food for thought this Passover and this Easter season.  Be blessed!

The past few days have been filled with the news about the shootings at Ft. Hood as a tragic accumulation of school shootings and shootings on military bases continues to mount.  Every spokesperson for the military or the school districts decry the violence and promise to do more to protect our children and our men and women in uniform.  Everyone has their theory about why these shootings continue.  Some will cry for more gun control while others will blame poverty or discriminatory polices in the U.S. Some will blame our heavy- handed ways overseas.  The common denominator is that everyone is shocked, everyone is stumped, and everyone exudes a kind of helplessness about the situation.

But over the past 20 years the same people have worked tirelessly to get God, his Word, prayer, and the gospel out of the public schools and out of the military. They seem to relate these tragedies to the failure of laws, policies, politics, or sometimes parenting. No doubt, each of these contributes but the problem is not a failure in those arenas but in the spiritual arena of this nation.

Most of our powerful policy makers in Washington and even in higher education subscribe to humanism and the idea that all men are basically good. They believe that mankind does not need a God to rise above the failings of human nature or society.  They simply need the right education, the right philosophy, the right economic programs, and the right guidance from government.  They often believe that conservative parents and religious institutions simply get in the way.  The truly see God as the enemy.  So…let’s get rid of God and his influence and see how well we are doing.

The truth is that good does reside in each man because each man was made in the image of God. Traces of God’s goodness still exist even in those who have not been made a new creation. However, our fallen dominates that “goodness” until the Holy Spirit quickens the spirit of man so that man once again begins to be governed by God. The psalmist tells us that a fool says in his heart that there is no God.  The apostle Paul tells us that without God the thinking (the philosophies) of men is futile and their hearts are darkened. Claiming to be wise we become fools. (See Rom.1:21-22).  The very thing that can push back against the evil that prompts these tragedies has been removed or is being removed from our schools, our military, our courthouses, and our culture.  Those things that were once called evil are now called good (same sex marriage, drunkenness, false religion, addictive substances, abortion, sex outside of marriage, etc.). At the same time righteousness is called bigotry, hate, ignorance, and evil.

I was visiting with an amazing  brother last night that served as a counselor immediately following the Columbine shootings. He visited with those who witnessed the killings and those who were shot and recovering in hospitals. He said that one after another, when he asked the students to describe what they had seen, they kept describing the scene as “satan pointing a gun and shooting.”  There were no promptings for that remark.  What they saw was evil dominating and directing young men to perform satanic acts of murder.  Only the power of God can push back against the reality of evil.  As a nation, we have asked God to step off the playing field and without him we will lose the game in ways we never imagined.

It’s not too late. There are still many believers who hold up the name of Jesus and pray with power against evil.  But when leaders fail, the people suffer. Strong, unwavering believers must step into the arenas of politics and law (and media) to open our classrooms, our military, and our courthouses to the presence of God once again.  More than that, our churches must rise up and push back against the enemy through prayer, righteousness, and evangelism all governed by love. The down side of free will is that God allows us to experience the consequences of what we ask for.  America voted for our current leaders who disdain the Creator of the Universe. Not all of those in authority are unbelievers. I know that there are a number of committed Christians in congress, but the believers are outnumbered.

Gun laws, giving false religions deference over Christianity, forbidding men and women to pray in the name of Jesus in the military, the promotion of abortion, turning our children over to be raised by government agencies, and removing creationism from education will not slow the rate of these tragedies.  They will increase because only Christ and his Spirit can reverse the power of darkness on this planet because only Christ and his Spirit can overcome the fallen nature of man.  There is no other way.  Please pray for the families of those who lost loved ones at Ft. Hood and pray for a nation to turn back to the one who made us strong and gave us victories in our past. Do it for your children.

We are always tempted with fatalism. When we say, “Well, I have always been impatient; I guess I have to live with it,” we are being fatalistic. When we say, “That man never had a loving mother or father, you shouldn’t be surprised that he ended up in prison,” we speak as fatalists. When we say, “She was terribly abused as a child; how do you ever expect her to have a healthy relationship with a man,” we allow fatalism to overshadow us…Fatalism is the attitude that that makes us live as passive victims of exterior circumstances beyond our control. The opposite of fatalism is faith. Faith is the deep trust that God’s love is stronger than all the anonymous powers of the world and can transform victims of darkness into servants of light” (Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, p.79).

I have known many fatalistic Christians in my life. I’m sure I have been one myself once or twice.  Fatalistic Christians face disappointment with the spirit of Eeyore. Remember the sad, depressed donkey from Winnie the Pooh who was always hopeless, disappointed, and “unexpectant” about life. Many Christians are that way.  “Well…I guess God doesn’t answer my prayers. I must be one of those God has chosen to be alone and to suffer through life.  Nothing seems to work out for me even though I try so hard.  I keep trying but I think it’s useless. I’m not sure Christianity works for me…”

Spiritual fatalism faces life with a belief that whatever my circumstances are it must be God’s will so I must learn to accept it and suffer through because there is really nothing I can do about it.  Spiritual fatalists expect disappointment and defeat.  They pray very little but if they do they don’t ask for much beyond the ordinary because they really don’t believe that God operates much outside the ordinary.  They view people who believe in the power of the Spirit and the miraculous move of God as people who seek the easy way out.  They toss them into a big pile with prosperity gospel proponents and view themselves as the true believers who endure the hand that has been dealt them with faith and perseverance.

No doubt there are times when every believer must endure and when hardship and heartaches come his way.  We all face that.  Out response is the difference.  I have come to believe that the fatalist takes the easy way our rather than the one who pushes back against the hardships of life.  The first believes that God sends all the pain and disappointment their way to make them better people. The second group believes that Satan sends pain and disappointment and that   many of the cruelties of life are not God’s will so we join him in pushing back.

Fatalists have few questions about life or faith.  They almost take the Zen Buddhist approach to life: “Why ask why?”  They rarely take personal responsibility for their situation because “there is nothing they can really do about it.”  It’s kind of a gambler’s theology which states, “Sometimes the Holy Spirit deals you in, sometimes he deals you out and you just play the cards he gives you.”

Faith does not role over but wrestles. Faith believes that we can push back the darkness with prayer and authority. Faith believes that God is partnering with us to overcome insurmountable odds. Faith believes that we are more than conquerors rather than victims of God’s will and random circumstances.

I have also discovered that faith causes us to not only wrestle with the devil but sometimes with God as well.   When I have believed God for healing or other things I must struggle to understand why one was healed and another wasn’t; why I was given one spiritual gift but not the other that I have hungered for and pursued;  why the marriage I prayed for did not survive even though I prayed with faith; and why the child died when I fully believe it was not God’s will.  And in the midst of that wrestling I am still compelled by faith to keep praying and expecting God to answer my prayers in powerful ways. That is not the easy way.

Faith does not require certainty in outcomes but only certainty in the goodness of God. But because of our faith in his goodness we ask for miracles when others concede.  We see things as attacks of the enemy to be resisted rather than the irresistible will of God.  It takes more energy to pray all night believing that your prayers make a powerful difference than just to shrug off the injustices of this world as something out of your control.  God is looking for people with faith not fatalism.  Where are you standing on the struggles in your life today?  The enemy wants to persuade us all that life is beyond our control but God tells us that all things are possible through Christ and then calls us to put on the armor of God and ready ourselves for battle because by faith the battle is already won.  Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power it says.  In Christ, you can change lives, nations, and history…so know who you are; know who He is; live by faith not by fatalism and be blessed.