A Wild Ride

In Revelation 1 John is worshiping and "in the Spirit" when something happens. He is carried into a vision in which he receives images, commands to tell, visual actions of other characters, pictures of things no person has ever seen and direct communication from God.  John's experience, written down by God's command ["write in a book what you see"], is our book, "The Revelation of John."  One version shows this title as "The Revelation to John" (probably more correct).  But the best title is given in Chapter 1, verse 1, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ ... "  

I am amazed and amused at how many people want to know about this book.  Rooms of books and commentaries have been written down.  Millions of sermons have been preached.  An ocean full of speculation has been expressed.  I wonder if much of this is what one of my professors called, "a spiritual bubble bath a mile wide and an inch deep."

At any rate, I am in hopes we will maturely, cogently and completely delve into the Revelation, going deep to let Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Bible reveal what is there ... not our pre-conceived notions ... not bad theology from movies and books ... not hyperbole from TV evangelists ... not even our traditions (we will examine which if these might be most valid).  I hope our spiritual bubble bath will wash away everything except Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Over the next few months our sermons will focus on this last book of Scripture.  We will hear about witnesses, Dragons, horses, riders, bowls, sounds, smells and word-pictures of things that are vividly strange.  It will be a wild ride.  I hope you will make a point to be part of this teaching each and every week.  Pray that I will be God-led in what I say, teach and preach.  Randy

The Part We Miss

I am amazed at the depth and breadth of the Scriptures we have been studying.  Just a few words are able to tell us much about God and about a healthy relationship with God, people and ourselves.  I marvel at the Hebrew word for soul (Nephesh) which describes a God-breathed and God-imaged part of the people God made and loves.  The Hebrew concept of kindness means we treat those not related to us as if they were family.  I could go on, but rest assured I have loved this journey through the "Great things of God!"

This week we will explore the Great Commandment from Matthew 28.  I could preach about evangelism ... God commands us to GO.  I could preach about how Jesus imparts His authority to people like you and me, His Church.  I could preach about some who doubted and failed to grasp the blessing of belief.  But I will focus on something in this passage that is often overlooked.  Jesus did say "make disciples."  He did say "go."  He did say "baptize."  But He also commanded us to teach people to do the things he said.  This is often missed in the missional and evangelical parts of the Great Commission.  We are to teach!

This should energize all of you who are part of the teaching ministry at AUMC.  John teaches on Wednesday nights.  All of our Sunday morning teachers follow this command.  The times I embark on a teaching passage I am hopefully teaching the people what God has said, most times through Jesus.  The Great Commandment is part external, going and winning.  But it is also internal, teaching, growing and equipping.  Let's check it out Sunday!  Randy

Required Behavior

John was talking Sunday about the old "WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?" bracelet.  He said it had a good message and was a good reminder to think about how Jesus would walk through your day, your situation and your struggles.  The prophet Micah asks another question that, I believe, is largely ignored by Christians of our day ... "WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU? (Micah 6:8).  The question is both rhetorical and, in legal terms, asked and answered.  Micah isn't asking our opinion.  He isn't seeking today's wisdom that is different from the wisdom of his day.  He is doing what prophets do ... they tell us what God is saying word-for-word.  So, this is what the Lord says we must do (it is a requirement).

I will save the last part of the answer for Sunday but I did want to talk a bit about the first part of God's required behavior ... do justice (or do justly).  In the Hebrew context a judge is not merely judicial.  A judge presides over all aspects of governing.  We carry this forward in Alabama as we have a County Judge (ours is David Money) who presides over the governing process for the county.  God takes this to what I believe is the correct conclusion.  God's people are to conduct all life in such a way that God's order, justice and presence are manifested.  Most of us want to complain about government, politics and the political process.  God is saying that you and I are to judge (govern) our daily lives under God's rule. If we see a person in need we apply God's rule to help those in need.  If we see an injustice happen before our eyes, we take the appropriate action (we don't walk on the other side of the road).  Micah reminds us of a truth that our society has failed to grasp ... if God's people do life in God's way, it will make all the lives around us better.

I was watching 48 Hours, a TV show about police seeking the truth about a crime.  In this real-life setting it is interesting to watch the people who see the crime and when the police arrive they run for the protection of their home.  I think Micah would remind them, DO justice.  When good people fail to do this crime grows, criminals become more bold and justice does not happen.  Who is responsible for justice?  We are!  Government works when the people do justice.  Jesus said, if a friend wrongs you or does something that should be addressed you go to that friend.  If injustice happens in front of you, stop protecting the criminal ... because if you and I fail here, the crime will visit our own doorstep.  Micah is right.  Randy

Interesting

Over the past few years it has been interesting to see how our sharing of faith has been viewed in America.  In my first years as a child I don't remember that "God-talk" was viewed negatively but it certainly has changed for the worse.  So, what should we do?

I think there are two very appropriate responses to negative people and negative press we seem to attract as Christians.  The first is pretty simple.  When God-talk is negatively viewed and even suppressed, we talk about God anyway.  Our passage for Sunday will include parts of Deuteronomy 6 in which God tells His people to talk about God when they get up, when they walk down the road and when they Go to bed at night.  Andy Andrews does this in a beautiful way as each night he prays with his kids and asks them, "How was your day?  Did you do anything you regret and need to confess?  Are there things you need forgiveness for?  Are there things you wished you had done?"  These questions call his children to reflect on God's activity in their day and to seek God's activity in the days to come.  Confession, forgiveness and dreams are always appropriate places for God-talk.

The second response is to think and reflect upon our actions.  How am I impacting those around me?  Is my witness reflective of Jesus or is it an expression of my self-centerdness?  Is my God-talk, as expressed through my actions, truly God-talk or is it ME-talk?  "God told me ___ !" ... "My God is like this!" ... "I don't think God meant that!"  Do you see how those statements frame God in a very me-oriented box?  Thankfully, God is not anything like me!

Mother Teresa had her God-talk and actions suppressed in India.  A group of officials gathered to determine how they could expel her and end her Christ-oriented work.  It seemed the expulsion would happen until one official said, "Expel her when you find someone else willing to do what she does!"  Her God-talk and God-action trumped their religious persecution.  May it also be so here! Randy

Greatness

In a society where greatness is discussed as the athlete who excels or the business executive that makes big bucks for his/her company, I wonder if we know what greatness really is? We will look at true greatness over the next few weeks as we explore the great things of God.  What is true greatness?  What is brave, courageous, worthy?  Does society have it right or wrong?

These are good questions and they can be somewhat addressed by watching a sporting event.  The announcers will call Lebron James great because he raises the level of his team.  They will call a player courageous because he/she makes great plays and excels in athletic prowess.  They will proclaim a player the "king" because of skills, size, strength, dexterity or "having a head" for that sport.  But are any of these things really great?  Are the great pastors on TV or serving mega-churches?  A better question might be, what does God think is great, because God's opinion is the only one that really counts.

Why is God great?  What is great about the great commandment, the great commission, the great requirement and the great promises of God?

Maybe, great describes a person who places others before themselves.  As we celebrate our independence and freedom, lets ask, "Who are those great people that founded, affirmed and protected our freedom?"  And, who is the one who gives us true freedom?

"Let them know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth!" Ps. 84:18 NRSV

Sleeping

Yesterday I went home at lunch and did an hour ride on my bicycle.  As I cooled-down I sat on the couch and found myself drifting off in a very short (10 min.) little power nap.  I wish I could say I plan and do this every day.  I think it might make me more productive, but usually I am moving form one place to another.  But since Wednesday is a long day (7am-8pm plus homework after 8pm) I didn't feel too guilty.  Sometimes sleeping is good.  But sometimes sleeping is not so good.

The New Testament talks about sleeping.  The message is pretty clear ... be alert!  "So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing."  Paul writes these words to the church in Thessalonia (Chapter 5) in a time of strife, turmoil and darkness.  It is not unlike our times.  Last evening, while we worshiped God and studied His word from Philippians, a church in Charleston, South Carolina was attacked by a vicious, troubled and evil presence in the form of a young man.  Nine African-American believers were killed, including their pastor.

Two comments about this story.  First, we never know when that day is coming when Christ returns or when we will go on to be with God.  So be "clearheaded."  We serve a loving and perfect God in a fallen world where people are capable on atrocities we wouldn't ever consider possible.  We must be awake and sober to these events and be listening for how God would have us respond. The mayor of Charleston encouraged his community to embrace and uphold this little church in their grief, loss and recovery.  We can pray, be aware of our surroundings and become those people who respond by making our presence in the life and work of God's church felt, seen, persistent and awake!  Come alive Church ... now is the time for God's people to shine!

Second, we (as a nation) have become asleep and inattentive to the work of Satan through drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence.  Our congregation has been hit directly by this as we have been robbed of our belongings and the memories those belongings represented.  I would be willing to bet (and I think law enforcement would agree) all of these thefts (my guitar, the Navajo mission team) are related to drugs, alcohol or the violent threads being woven through the fabric of society.  People's possessions, including precious life, have become things to be taken if the perpetrator has a need, desire or whim to take them.  Personal desires have trumped the good of society.  Wake up, especially you fathers and mothers, and tell your kids that this is not how to do life.  Wake up church and teach that the world is not about self, getting what YOU want from God ... life is about God getting what HE needs from the people HE created.  Pray ... act ... love those that have been hurt and oppressed ... teach ... learn ... become examples/witnesses ... and do what the United Methodist Discipline leads pastors/leaders to do ... oppose evil wherever it presents itself.  The violence in our society isn't against those other people ... it is against people that God created. THEY are our brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers ... part of that true vine called Christ.  Randy

Persist

Persisting is an honest and necessary attribute of the Christian journey.  Much of life isn't found in the glitzy, the glamorous, the flashy, the easy, the push-button mindset or the quick rise to the top.  Life generally doesn't work that way.  Life, instead, seems to be a constant act of persisting through, past, over and under obstacles.  Those who persist seem to get to those places where God's plan and work become more evident.  Peter knew this as he encourages us to persist when it is appropriate and wait when it is necessary.

Jimmy Rane forwarded an email to me which reflected this theme.  Someone was questioning the value of being in church for the past 30 years, yet not remembering sermons, Sunday School lessons and other "teachings" that would constitute the spiritual food of the church experience.  A wise person answered the questioner asking how many meals they had consumed during that time.  They might not remember each meal (maybe only a handful) yet each meal gave them the nourishment for that day's journey through life.  Without that food, they would not have survived to ask that theological question.

I wonder ... do we take in the lessons of the sermons, Sunday School teachings and other spiritual mentoring that feed us what we need to survive each day?  Do we notice the nourishment or do we take it for granted like those meals that have sustained us over time?  What would our lives be like without that spiritual nourishment?  And ... what would our lives be like if we had listened, savored, reflected and applied those lessons?  Randy