And the Word was Made Flesh
John 1:14 (KJV) 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Isaiah 55:7-11 (NRSV) 7 let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NRSV) 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
I may have lived too long. When I was a child, we carried our Bibles to church. When the preacher asked that we turn in our Bibles to the Scripture of the day, we did so. There was only one translation used at that time, the King James, and the words of Jesus were printed in red. The Bible was revered as the Word of God.
Today, men and women emerge from seminary with the belief that the Bible’s only role is to lead us to salvation. Once that act is completed, the Bible is no longer relevant, and we should change our thinking about the Word of God, seeking answers from our culture rather than being the change agent in our culture. In fact, we are encouraged to disregard much of the Bible lest we are thought to worship the Bible rather than the God of the Bible. I may have lived too long, because to me, when John said the Word was made flesh, it is impossible to separate the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit from the Word.
I may have lived too long, because we seem to have rejected the caution issued by Isaiah that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, and instead have elevated our intellect to a level above God. We seem to have forgotten that Paul told Timothy that these sacred writings not only lead us to salvation, but also is used for teaching, reproof, correction, and righteousness.
In my life, I have come to understand that intentional discipleship, the search for holiness, is not a one-time event. Instead, we must be willing to submit our lives in their entirety to staying in relationship to the Most High God. How is this accomplished? We stay in relationship to God by staying in the Bible. We pray as we read the Word that the Holy Spirit would shine the light of truth upon the words we read, and that our hearts would be quickened so that we can embrace the truth and be transformed.
As a preacher, my job is to proclaim the Word of God. For this reason, when I stand in the pulpit the first thing I do is read the Word aloud. My sermons are based upon the Word–I explain the context of the Word, the author, the audience, and then I relate the Scripture to our world today. If my message is unrelated to the Scripture, then why am I there? To impart my own wisdom?
I believe without stipulation that the Word of God is more than history, although it is indeed the history of man, particularly the Jews. I believe that the Word includes the mystery of how this Holy Word was made flesh, born of a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus spoke the Word, and when there was a misunderstanding, He explained the Word. I believe the Word was meant for all time and all people, and that Jesus is truly the only way to salvation. I believe.
Father God, we pray that the Holy Spirit will pour out another Great Awakening, where new disciples are made, and those who have taught their congregations that the Bible is no longer relevant will either be given a fresh anointing or be removed from their pulpits. pray that current disciples will stand strong, and will continue to use their Bibles not as weapons, but as guides. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
You, O Lord, Are Our Hope!
Psalms 71:1-6 (NRSV) 1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
This morning I awoke to news of one policeman and two policewomen slain in the line of duty over the last several days. My heart hurts. My tears freely flowed, partially because of the senseless loss of life, partially because the lives of the officers’ families will never be the same, and partially because there seems to be no spiritual or moral restraint left to prevent this type of atrocity.
Psalm 71 was written by David during his old age. David was not a perfect man, but he served a perfect God. David knew where his hope lay, and his faith never wavered. We, too, serve a perfect God, and regardless of the cruelties of this world, our faith must remain strong.
But how do we accomplish such a feat? First, keep a notebook and enter the times your faith was tested, but God proved stronger than your opposition. Trust me, doing this is a faith-builder.
Secondly, stay in touch with God through prayer, scripture reading, and attending a Bible believing church regularly. Can your faith be built up without going to church? Let me put it this way…when you are hungry all you need to satisfy your hunger is to go to the table. If we are spiritually hungry, or our faith is growing weak, one of the best things we can do is go to the Church’s table, where we will find grace, faith, and other Christ followers who will lift us up with their prayers and friendship.
Sometimes we may feel we are on this journey alone, but we are not.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Father God, today we call on You for strength. May our faith be bolstered by You and by those You place within our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The Bible is either God’s Word, or it is not
John 1:1-5 (NRSV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
The United Methodist Church has reached the point in time when we are neither united, nor are we truly Methodist. In six weeks, delegates from all over the world will meet in St. Louis to decide basically upon whether we will follow God’s Word, or we will modify His Word to reflect the current world culture.
Three plans will be presented for a vote. Plan one, the Traditional Church plan, states we will continue to adhere to our Book of Discipline. Actually, it purports to give legs to the Discipline which will begin to be enforced. The Discipline includes the questionable paragraph that states “a homosexual lifestyle is not compatible with Christian teaching.”
Why do I call the paragraph regarding homosexuality questionable? Well, for me it has always seemed odd that this one sin is singled out in our Discipline. Is homosexuality the unforgiveable sin? No. But the problem with homosexuality is that those who practice it will not admit it is a sin. If we refuse to admit our sin, we will not repent of it nor turn away from it. If we fail to repent, can there be forgiveness of that sin?
Those who want to exit our churches if the Traditional Church Plan passes will be allowed to do so, and will be able to take their property and all assets with them.
The second plan is termed the One Church Plan. In this plan, the Book of Discipline will be changed to eliminate talk of homosexuality, and those practicing this lifestyle can now be ordained to preach and homosexual marriages can now be performed by our pastors in our churches. Supposedly, churches within the different Conferences can choose to either accept this practice, or they can refuse to perform homosexual unions or receive a homosexual pastor. But, if both the state and the church says it is legal to marry people of the same sex, and a pastor and/or church refuses to do so, does that open the parties up to legal action? Very likely it will. If churches who can not tolerate these changes decide to exit the United Methodist denomination, they may do so but must forfeit their churches and assets under the “Trust Clause.”
The third plan, termed the Simple Plan, offers a way for all of the churches to remain loosely connected. The churches can choose how they want to interpret the Bible, but they would be connected by continuing to pay their tithes to the Conference and remaining under the Episcopal system of government.
For those of us who do not endorse the One church plan, we have been accused of failing to love our fellow Christians, and worshipping the Bible rather than the God who in essence wrote the Bible. We have been told the Bible is archaic and does not reflect the culture in which we now live.
I have to say that, to me, the issue surrounding the One Church Plan has little to nothing to do with love, and I do not even think it is about human sexuality. Loving people is not difficult when we pray that God will help us love people the same way He loves them. Human sexuality is a complex issue. I personally do not believe sexuality is a choice, but it is something we are born into. When I was a teenager, there was a saying that “God don’t make no junk.” What happened to believing God creates each of us in our own unique way?
Am I conflicted about homosexuality? I admit that I am. I am not sure why sexuality plays such a huge part in the way we live out our faith. Is a homosexual lifestyle sinful? The Bible says it is, just like the Bible says adultery is sinful, gluttony is sinful, and gossip is sinful. Am I so perfect that I can pick up the stone to shatter someone’s life and their faith? I think not.
While Jesus addresses divorce in the scriptures he says nothing about homosexuality. Does the absence of Jesus’ speaking of homosexuality somehow validate such a practice? Personally, I do not base my theology on what is not in the Bible, rather what is clearly stated therein. Both Moses and Paul said that laying with some of the same sex is a sin. Why didn’t Jesus either validate Moses or correct his understanding? When you look at Jesus’ teaching, you will see that He only corrected those laws that were misinterpreted. “You have heard it said…but I say…” were the familiar words spoken by Jesus when he corrected the misunderstanding of the law. He never did so with homosexuality.
The issue is, and always has been, holiness.
The One Church plan removes the onus upon us to strive for holiness. When God said “be thou holy” it was not a suggestion. Yet, men and women have knowingly lied about their sexuality in order to receive ordination. Such action should make them unfit to serve, yet the conferences prefer to focus on whether local pastors are allowed to wear stoles. Shameful.
Whether or not the One Church Plan passes, our Church has become Humpty Dumpty, never to be put together again. I mourn for our Church and for those whose ill-advised mission has torn our Church apart.
For those of you who believe God will step in and heal the deep divisions within the Church, I remind you of Heb 6 which says if we are enlightened, but then turn away, it is impossible to be restored. We have traded God’s wisdom for our own understanding, and in doing so we have destroyed Methodism. We have made an issue of homosexuality, when the true issue is do we believe the Bible or not? We need to acknowledge that regardless of the culture, the Holy Spirit will not contradict God’s Word. If we believe He will, then God help us.
When Jesus told us in Matthew 28 to go make disciples, He did not qualify the type of disciples to whom we should minister and invite into the fold. Instead of living out our purpose of letting people know who Jesus is and what He can do in our lives, we have become distracted. As a pastor, it has been my job to proclaim the Word. It is not my job to monitor the way people live out their faith. Perhaps the answer is to pray for people, minister to people, love people, and let God sort out our differences.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Father God, the world in which we live has begun to impact our Church and our beliefs. We know we are charged with loving You and loving others, and we have. We pray that during this time you would give us direction and understanding. We pray for guidance covered by love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Truth
John 5:16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24″I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
The truth is a strange phenomenon. Take the truth of God, for instance. The truth is that God exists. If we do not accept the truth of His existence, neither the truth nor His existence is changed. He still exists and that is the truth.
In this passage, Jesus tells the truth of who He is and why He has come. To some, the truth was like a soothing balm, to others it was iodine poured into an open wound.
The Jews who did not believe began by faulting Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, because He was breaking the Jewish Law. Then, they were offended because Jesus said His Father was working even to this day, and therefore, so was He. Jesus came not to do His own works but the works of God, who sent Him. “How can this be?” they must have thought. How can Jesus call God His Father? Is this heresy or is it truth?
Have you ever anticipated something, perhaps a vacation destination, but when you finally arrived it was not all you had hope it would be? I think this is the predicament in which the Jewish leaders found themselves. They knew the Scripture, they knew Isaiah had foretold a Messiah, they saw it in the Psalms, yet when He came He was not what they expected.
If only they had believed in spirit and in truth. If only they had the faith to bridge the gap of disbelief. If only they could have walked across the bridge from death to life.
Have you heard the truth? Do you have the faith to believe the truth? A man who brought his son possessed by an evil spirit to the disciples for healing left in the same predicament in which he arrived–his son was not healed. When he reported this to Jesus, Jesus answered by saying they were an unbelieving generation. The man answered, “I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)
We are each given a measure of faith to help us believe. If your faith is not strong enough, ask for more. If that faith is still not strong enough, ask for yet more. God is not some cruel jokester dangling eternal life in front of us, always just out of reach. God is a loving father and Jesus is His son, and we must only ask and salvation is ours, we must only believe and we have crossed over the bridge from eternal damnation to eternal life. Ask…believe…live. Live in belief, live in faith, live into your salvation each and every day. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Father God, our faith comes through You and is strengthened by You. May we live out our faith each and every day. May our faith, like the tiny mustard seed, be planted, watered, tended to, and grow to mountain moving faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Choices
Today is the day to choose God.
Seeking Holiness 