praying with Jesus

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

Hebrews 5:7

Jesus prayed to His Father, and He taught His disciples to pray. He offered prayers of blessing, prayers of thanksgiving, and also interceded for others with deep emotional and spiritual commitment. Just before His arrest, trials, beatings, and execution, He was praying with intensity in Gethsemane with His men. He was ultimately "saved from death" through resurrection victory over death three days after death because the Father honored the high priestly prayers of His Son.

Jesus agonized in prayer, and He is the sinless Son of God! How much more should I commit to the earnest hard work of offering prayer and supplications? I must pray in repentance so often, which is itself quite emotionally tapping. In addition, as a pastor shepherd, I am often called to pray with and for the flock in my care, often with the burdens of their repentance, often with the pain of their afflictions and losses, always with the love of Christ for them pressing hard against my heart. And the tears flow as sometimes the loud cries of this burden of prayer weights upon me.

And in those moments, Jesus Himself, High Priest and Intercessor for all believers, helps carry the load of that prayer to the Father. The Spirit of God also intercedes, joining in my groans and making sense of what I struggle to put into words. I do not ever pray in those moments alone. And when I pray to God through His Son, I know the Father hears His Son. And I am heard. I can be sure of it. And the burden grows lighter as Jesus eases the load.

watch my words

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue

keeps himself out of trouble.

Proverbs 21:23

So much trouble comes from words because words reveal the heart, and the heart is at its core broken and sinful. Words can be massively destructive. My mother may have tried to comfort me with "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." But even this well-intentioned advice backfires in the stinging tears of ridicule and attack by another person's words. The truth is that words can and often do wound people. That is why this simple proverb is profound wisdom to heed.

I want to be a man of few words, if only so that I can keep my mouth and guard my tongue. But because ministry is so communication intense for all the right reasons, my words can get in the way if I am not careful. I have to teach a lot, talk with people a lot, often about very difficult and personal subjects. And I wince when my words get in the way of God's Word, which unfortunately happens from time to time. I hate that it happens. It is very, very hard to keep my big mouth, my selfish pride, and my personal demands out of the conversation, especially if it shifts to being "about me".

But if I slip, the gospel works for the sins of my mouth! Praise God! Repentance is communication to God and people that my words and actions hurt and were wrong. I then turn to God's Word for correction when my words failed. If I center what I need to say and believe lovingly around God's Word, I stand the best chance of keeping my mouth out of the way. God's Word never sinfully wounds. It builds up, confronts, corrects, and encourages always with God's holy truth. May my words be fewer and may God's Word dominate my conversations so that the gospel is proclaimed, Jesus is made known, and God is made much of by "this poor, lisping, stammering tongue."

God's Plans

The Lord of hosts has sworn:

“As I have planned,

so shall it be,

and as I have purposed,

so shall it stand..."

Isaiah 14:24

What God plans

never fails

what He has said

comes to pass

Not so with man...

we fail

and in the end

what God does lasts

The purposes of God stand

through time and change

His plans endure

nothing people can do

will halt the wisdom of God

That which God decrees

is made sure

His Word is what will be

guaranteed

It may be known by degrees

gradual in a timescale

beyond one lifetime into eternity

it is so certain

The purposes of God stand

unchanged, unfazed by our industry

God's Word endures

forever settled, sure

secure by the wisdom of God

full days

And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

Luke 21:37-38

This is the regular schedule of the Passion Week according to Luke's gospel. Jesus kept up an exhausting pace of teaching in a city packed with Passover pilgrims who flocked to the temple in overflow crowds to hear Him. All of this was leading somewhere very important. The pace quickens as Jesus pours Himself into ministry that will culminate in false accusations from His enemies, illegal trials, and His execution on a cross by Roman soldiers outside the city of Jerusalem.

As Jesus poured His life into teaching people, He also would pour out His blood in dying for the sins of the world. He would sacrifice His time, His energy, His very life for us. It began with this intense schedule. And after His death, when He seemed silenced for good, He would burst from His borrowed tomb three days later having beaten sin, death, and hell for every one who heard Him teach, and for all the sinners who will ever live.

The gospel plan placed upon Jesus a heavy schedule. But He made use of it for the love of us. And now, as I offer Him my new day this chilly September morning, how can I not fill it as much as possible, with gospel efforts and thoughts? It seems fitting to serve Him with a full day seeing how much He did so for me. He poured Himself out in love for me. I can pour myself into my day for Him!

Avoid gospel neglect!

...how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Hebrews 2:3-4

The gospel message and the gospel life are both tremendous trusts. The warning here is not to neglect the gospel, with the call to always guard our hearts from drift by always paying closer attention to the gospel (Hebrews 2:1). This is a serious call. The gospel is not just an entry to new life, but rather, it is the life itself. We live in constant repentance and faith. We turn to the gospel's core truth when we struggle, realizing we are sinners, Christ is our Savior, and we only have hope and forgiveness and life in Him. We believe the gospel for life every day of our lives.

Why should we do this? Why should we live like the gospel is more than just a "one hit wonder"? This passage shows us that the history of the gospel itself answers this question. It appeals to history through four evidences or witnesses: 1) Jesus Himself preached the gospel. He called people to repent of sins and believe in Him because the kingdom of heaven is at hand in Him. 2) The apostles preached and bore witness to the gospel with their very lives. Those who knew Jesus most intimately always proclaimed the gospel, calling us to a gospel life by their lives. And they died for that commitment. 3) God the Father Himself authenticated both the message of Jesus and that of the apostles as they preached the gospel through miracles and signs. Those gifts tied exclusively to the apostles here were given so that the gospel might take root well. 4) The Holy Spirit distributed His gifts to those who believed within the church. The entire trinity those bore witness to the gospel's authenticity and necessity. We can see that as we read scripture today.

With such history, attestation, and importance, I too must heed the command to never risk gospel neglect. With God bearing witness to the gospel to me today, may the message of salvation in Christ alone, by faith alone, through grace alone be the focus of every one of my days. May God's Word always point me to it. May God's Spirit convict me of my need for gospel change and thus lead me to gospel declaration in what I say and how I live!

easy, tiger...

Good sense makes one slow to anger,

and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

Psalm 19:11

These wise words of deep character and self-control are ones I hope will be true of me. I want to be this kind of man, marked by good sense, not quick to fly off the handle with anger, and not easily offended. More and more I've seen society become a culture that caters to the offended and exalts individual outrage. We are a culture of the triggered. And nowhere is this now more apparent than in social media where people will quickly express outrage in a Twitter snippet or emotionally light a fuse with a Facebook post. My feeds often are disappointing cringe scrolls. America even has a commander-in-chief who tweets his feelings off the cuff. It is truly a sad time now for controlled thinking.

But it is wisdom that brings emotional control realizing we cannot just say whatever we want on a matter. Good sense is the antidote to a quick temper. The wisdom of God takes our finger off the trigger finger and keeps us from flippantly shooting from the hip at every perceived slight. It brings respect when we can overlook these small things because a bigger vision guides our lives and minds.

For Christians, I believe this good sense wisdom is found exclusively in the gospel. When I consider that the gospel declares me a sinner in need of saving grace, I understand others have the very same need as I do. When I realize forgiveness for my sins as well as the offenses of others is only found by Christ's death on the cross, it is hard for me to take up an offense for which Jesus died in agony. When I seek Christ's forgiveness in my repentance, it is impossible for me to hold back a grudge with someone whom I feel offended me. The gospel is the good sense that can make me slow to anger and able to overlook offenses because of what Jesus has done.

religion without repentance

Bring no more vain offerings;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—

I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

Isaiah 1:13

God had enough of Judah's pretense. He didn't want people showing up at His temple, going through the motions without really being serious about their sin or His holiness. You can't make God your lucky ritual and live as you want in your iniquity. Sin is serious business. Dead. Serious. Business.

Our sin separates us from God. Sin costs us fellowship with God. Sin incurs God's wrath. Isaiah was a prophet of God sent to Judah to call the people of God back to taking Him seriously. And to do so meant they had to deal with their sin seriously. Repentance needed to precede all their activities or else true worship could not happen. It just added to their offense. God did not commend their unholy, flippant, religious ritual. He wanted their repentant, heartfelt worship.

Judgment followed the cavalier dismissal of sin. Death is always the end of sin. That is the universal constant. Sin entered the world and death is always with it. Only repentance and faith in God's provision to atone sin will remedy this. Judah needed to repent and in turning to God with sincere faith, offer sacrifices.

Since Jesus died for all sin, such sacrifice is no longer needed on our part. But seriousness about sin, repentance, faith, and obedience to the gospel are needed. When I go through religious motions, whether in Sunday assembly, or in my workday devotions, without a seriousness about my own wickedness, I have done wrong and must repent.