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Farm Truck

2012-03-07T04:01:08Z

This is awesome:

Farewell, George

2012-02-15T17:16:13Z

I found out on yesterday that a dear friend, George Wolfe passed away of complications from a fall. The news rocked my world. I've known George for over 20 years.

My first memory of George was from college, the summer I lived in a rented 3 story house with 14-16 college and single guys (not recommended, BTW). He and I were watching TV and he turned to me and out of the blue he said "Brother, I have to confess that I have an attitude with you now. I'm sorry, I don't know why, I have no reason, but I just do. I had to tell you to get it off of my chest, please forgive me." I had only become a Christian a few months before and I didn't quite know what to make of his surprising openness. I think I said something like "It's OK." or something equally profound. But that was George, a man with a heart bigger than his small frame could possibly hold.

Though I knew him well enough, we were never what folks might call close friends. He was just always around. I would see him regularly at various singles or campus events and at church services for 4-5 years until Maria and I were married and we moved to Detroit for my job.

That was over 19 years, 2 states and 5 residences and ago, yet George kept up with us and he'd send us 1-2 letters a year, hand written, 2-3 pages each. Peppered with scriptures and dripping with encouragement, it was always a highlight when a letter from George arrived. Along with news of his life, he'd remind me of how great our God was and exhort me to remember his blessings and not neglect my faith. He'd encourage me to be mindful of my duties as a husband and father to lead my family and raise my girls in the Lord, while at the same time praising me for how I was doing with them.

I was not nearly as good of a pen pal, but I did manage to write back a couple of times, telling him how encouraging it was to receive his letters. Encouragement was clearly his gift and I told him so. He wrote back right away, you'd think I had wrote him a check for a million dollars he was so thrilled that his letters were making such an impact.

If anyone in this world had the gift of encouragement, it was George. He was the kind of guy that was easy to overlook, but if you stopped and paid attention to him, you were the one blessed.

The world will be a decidedly dimmer place without George in it. Lord, give him a big hug for me, please, and George, save me a place at the table.

Till the Decisive Hour

2012-01-30T00:59:55Z

I posted on Twitter & Facebook:

Today in church we sang songs from 3 centuries, 2 each from the 1700s & 1800s, 3 from the 1900s so we can stay relevant.

I love the diversity of our music ministry. I'm a big fan of the old hymns, but new music is good too. I guess new is relative since our songbook dates to 1999.

The oldest song today was the one that moved me. Isaac Watts penned "I'm Not Ashamed to Own My Lord" in 1707 (it wasn't put to music for 130+ years!) and this verse helped tie together our works vs His for me:

Firm as His throne His promise stands, And He can well secure What I've committed to His hands Till the decisive hour.

Yes, we work, we obey, we follow and act based on His command. Obedience is not trivial, yet the best we can do is commit it to his hands. But that is enough, as he can and will carry it through to that decisive hour.

Communion Lesson

2012-01-08T19:07:58Z

This is the communion lesson I gave at church this morning.

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:7-10

There at the beginning of verse 9 is a curious phrase - 'once made perfect'.

How is it that Jesus, the Son of God, was made perfect?

Jesus was perfect before he came to Earth and he arrived here perfect, just as all babies are perfect. The Jesus we just celebrated last month, that baby in a manger, started like all other babies - pure, sinless, holy.

But human babies (as opposed to God babies) don't stay perfect. We quickly stray from that path. We sin, at first without knowing better, but eventually we know full well what we're doing. We all become prodigals, and so do our kids. We live our lives our way, convinced that we know what we're doing, though we do not. And we, and our children, prove this every day.

We are in a very real sense being made imperfect.

But Jesus lived the path we could not. When faced with choices to sin, he did not. Through 'prayers and petitions' and 'fervent cries and tears', he learned the obedience we refused to master.

In the process, he was made perfect.

The perfection he had before wasn't chosen or earned, it simply was. He had no opportunity for imperfection. So he had to come, he had to be tempted because it wasn't enough for Him to simply be perfect; in order to become our 'source of eternal salvation', he needed to be made perfect.

That's the real price of our sin - that a sacrifice that was simply perfect wasn't quite sufficient; it had to be made that way through suffering. In a very real sense, he had to earn it in order to offer it to us.

]]> The above was the lesson as I delivered it this morning. A wise brother came to me after and said he liked it, but offered one small correction.

There perfection Jesus had at first was as God, the perfection he had to attain was as a human. It's not that the perfection he had was inadequate as much as it was incomplete.

Ruth 4 - Redeemed

2011-12-07T17:31:40Z

In my last post I said I read Ruth 4, but I don't think I did.

In Ruth 4:1-6 we see Boaz meet the unnamed redeemer in public. He asks him to sit and also brings in 10 elders of the city to be witnesses of the conversation. I don't fully understand the conversation here, but I get the idea that Boaz knows the situation well and likely the individual. He knows that he will want to claim them, perhaps to increase his own wealth or prominence, but not out of concern for Ruth & Naomi. After all, if he had been concerned, wouldn't he have stepped up before now.

His self focused motives are further indicated by how once the full extent of what he will be required to do is revealed and how it will impact his own inheritance, he backs away.

Boaz shows himself shrewd here. He knows the person he's dealing with and he knows the situation well and he works it with the goal of protecting and providing for Ruth and Naomi.

Look then at the results. In Ruth 4:14 Naomi, who was self described up front as bitter, is now praised and called blessed by the women of the town. And Ruth becomes the Great grandmother of David, the most famous King of Israel and ultimately the ancestor of Jesus.

What did Ruth do to accomplish this? She stepped out in faith and remained true to Naomi. She stepped out in faith again when approaching Boaz. Boaz did all the heavy lifting here, he accomplished her redemption when she could not. Her redeemer wasn't willing to redeem, but Boaz was and made sure that it happened.

And so it is with us, we humbly approach the Lord in faith in our time of need and he acts on our behalf. The law that we hoped could redeem us could not, but Jesus made sure that we were redeemed. He, like Boaz, did the heavy lifting, we did nothing.

Ruth 3 and 4 -

2011-11-29T17:03:11Z

Ruth 3:4 - Can you imagine telling your daughter to go lie won at the feet of a man she has just met for the night?

I have to admit, I don't understand the cultural goings on here in Ruth 3. She seems to demand of him that he care for her in Ruth 3:9, and he agrees, conditionally. She spends the night with Boaz, innocently at his feet, and sneaks off in the morning before first light. It would appear to the casual observer that sin is afoot, and even today we would assume that a woman who goes out to meet a man and doesn't return until morning was up to no good. Yet both Boaz and Ruth praise her for her actions. Certainly they were noble, yet they have the appearance of impropriety.

I suppose she went out at some personal risk, but did so in faith that Boaz was the honorable man he seemed to be. He could have taken advantage of her or dismissed her as an unclean outsider, but he did not. instead, he praises her faith and promises to redeem her.

Isn't this like how we approach Jesus? We come, unworthy, unclean and with nothing but the faith that he will redeem us. He has no obligation to do so, and we have nothing appealing to offer. We approach the perfect, holy God of all creation in our rags and sin, risking His rebuke in hope for that which we cannot get on our own - redemption. And we find in Jesus, like Ruth did in Boaz, our hope fulfilled.

Ruth 2 - Boaz

2011-11-21T17:04:27Z

Some thoughts on Ruth 2:

Ruth sets out to glean, but not until she asks permission from Naomi. She gleans behind the reapers, so after they have harvested what they want, she gathers what's left behind. She's determined to provide, but respectful of both Naomi and the land owners.

She sets out at some personal risk. Boaz's and Naomi's comments indicate that some of the men in the fields would not be so kind to a lone woman working in their midst. yet she still goes out.

Boaz, even before he knows who she is, has heard of her and is impressed with her loyalty and work for Naomi. Once he knows who she is, he guarantees her protection and makes sure that she has grain to glean.

She is surprised that Boaz would take notice of her.

Naomi calls Boaz one of their 'redeemers'.

I see a parallel between Ruth / Boaz and Jesus' parallel of the sheep and the goats. Boaz recognizes Ruth's work when Ruth doesn't seem to think it's a big deal, much like Jesus' recognizing the sheep for their work for the poor that they didn't think was a big deal. Neither Ruth or the sheep did what they did out of duty. They did it because it was who they had become. The sheep had been adopted by the shepherd and had become like them, Ruth now adopted in to Naomi's family, belonged to her and identified herself with Naomi. As we saw in Ruth 1, it wasn't a matter of duty or obligation but of identity, and her work to care for the two of them was done in the same way. It wasn't any thing extraordinary, it was simply who she was.

Then, much like shepherd rewards the sheep, Boaz rewards her for her work by protecting her and providing for her. Not as a payment any more than the shepherd was paying the sheep in Jesus' parable, but because that is who Boaz was as well. He owed her nothing, yet gave her much because of who he was, exactly like Jesus does for us because of who He is. All that the good that we might do, as impressive as it may be even to the Lord, does nothing to earn us any blessings. We receive because of who he is instead.

Ruth 1 - Loyalty

2011-11-16T17:07:22Z

Ruth 1:1 - I never noticed before that Naomi's family was from Bethlehem.

Ruth 1:13-14 - Naomi's grief is great, saying that "the hand of the Lord has gone out against me." and she urges her daughter's in law to go back home and start over. Her world has fallen apart, long from home and having lost her husband an sons. Her argument sounds fine - go back and start over, you are young and I have nothing left to give - and Orpah relents and returns home.

Ruth 1:15-18 - But Ruth isn't having any of it. Though Naomi is likely right, the odds are more in her favor if she returns home, she refuses to abandon Naomi in her grief. I have to believe that although Naomi knew it was right to urge them to go, she is relieved to have Ruth stay and not be alone. What could motivate Ruth to stay with Naomi and return to Judah with her? There isn't really anything of benefit for Ruth in going, the only reason i can see is that Ruth refused to abandon Naomi in her vulnerable state. She knew that Naomi needed her and she wouldn't leave her alone.

Ruth 1:21 - After 10 years, she returns to Bethlehem and is recognized, yet she is not the same. Naomi means 'pleasant' and based on the loyalty of her daughters in law, she seems to have lived up to that name. But she may have left 'pleasant', but she's returned 'bitter' and asks to be called such (Mara). She says that she has come back empty, but she forgets the blessing that is Ruth, who remained y her side.

Isn't that how we act? trouble comes and we think all is lost, there is nothing left. Yet God is still with us, Jesus is still interceding and if we payed attention,we'd see many more blessings around us.

Another thing to consider is Ruth. She's just made a long journey with a self described bitter woman. A bitter woman is no fun to be around, yet Ruth commits herself and remains true. Upon arriving, Naomi essentially dismisses Ruth's loyalty saying that she has returned empty.

Yet Ruth remains.

It occurs to me that we are Naomi and Ruth is Jesus. We complain about our circumstances and lament our fate, ignoring Jesus' faithfulness. Yet Jesus remains, supporting us, encouraging us,steadfast beside us, waiting for us to notice Him there.

Hebrews 13 - Angels and Blessings

2011-11-01T16:07:28Z

Hebrews 13:2 - Back when I was in college, I spent an internship in NYC. Some brothers win the church affiliated with mine took me in and allowed me to stay with them for the 3 months I was there (that's a story in itself). One of my roommates was named Angel. He told me about how months earlier a young man who had just been baptized came to him in service and thanked him for the talk they had and how it had been instrumental in his decision to follow Jesus. Angel was sure he had never met him before, it must have been someone else. But the man insisted that on a certain subway several nights before he had run into him and sat down and talked about his decision, talking through it. Angel had never been on that train before, in fact I think he had been working that night. The man was certain it was Angel, however, an not someone else.

They concluded that it must have been an actual Angel that had met him.

Hebrews 13:5-6 -

be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say,

"The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?"

I think many disciples of Jesus get far too worked up about what man can do to them. They are fearful of their finances or their job security or who might get elected next more than they are aware of Him who has claimed them. Our lives and our speech should point to the everlasting security of the Lord in all things more than the things of the Earth that we believe may or may not bring security now.

Hebrews 13:10 - "We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat." What a bold statement to make to an audience of Jews, and what a conclusion tucked into a simple sentence in the middle of these closing paragraphs. Those who cling to the old ways have no right to the blessings of Christ that we Christians enjoy.

Hebrews 13:14 - As I read earlier of those in the OT who looked ahead to the promised messiah but never saw what we have, I felt a bit of sadness for hem. Yet in this verse I see that we share in their view ahead of things promised but not yet seen. One day, both they and us will see in full.

Hebrews 12 - Run

2011-10-26T16:20:06Z

Hebrews 12:1-2 -"run with endurance the race that is set before us" I want to run my own race, not the race that God set before me. I want to follow my own desires, my own priorities, my own plans, not God's. I rebel against His ways, telling myself I don't have time or that I have pressing priorities. Verse 2 has the key: "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith". Jesus endured for the joy set before him for our sake. If my focus is on Him, running the race should not be burdensome. It only becomes so when my focus is on me.

Hebrews 12:11 - I long for "the peaceful fruit of righteousness" that comes from discipline from the Lord. But, to receive it I have to allow myself to be trained by His discipline.

Hebrews 12:18-24 - Interesting contrast here. The author contrasts the mountain of the Lord in Moses' day where no one was allowed to approach. It was an Earthly place where God dwelt, but because of His holiness and our unholiness, no one was to come near. It's a vision of power and fear. But, he says we have instead come to God's actual citry, the heavenly Jerusalem. One would assume that if the Earthly copy was unapproachable, the true city in heaven would be even more so. But no, we, "the righteous made perfect", are welcome and are the assembly.

Because of Jesus' blood, we are welcome in God's house where the people before weren't even welcome in a replica of God's house.

Hebrews 12:25-29 - It's tempting to view my relationship with God as buddies. It is true that through Jesus I have the kind of relationship that the Jews of old could only dream of, yet I must remember, He is still God, not simply a mentor or coach or trainer. My relationship with him, though intimate and personal, must be one first of submission, reverence and awe. God does not suffer fools.

Hebrews 11 - Faith

2011-10-13T16:25:05Z

Hebrews 11:1-3 - Notice that it does not say that the universe was created by God out of nothing, but that "what is seen was not made out of things that are visible." But still, the fact that God made it at his word is something we take on faith, not on reason or empirical evidence.

Hebrews 11:4-31 The interesting thing about these faith heroes is that each of them took their faith and acted on it. In many cases, their faith is manifested in obedience to direct commands or instructions. Not an original observation I suppose, but my tendency, and I suspect many others', is to equate faith with emotion or belief or something internal or intellectual. It must be more if it is to be real.

Hebrews 11:13 - "These all died in faith". Certainly, the did not start their faith journey thinking they would not see what had been promised, but at some point it must have become clear that God wasn't going to deliver the promise in their lifetime. Yet, they did not waver in their faith. Why not? Because faith delivers along the way to the ultimate promise. For Christians, that ultimate promise is heaven, but along the way, a life of faith delivers rewards unforeseen at the start that propel us onward.

Hebrews 11:13-16 - People of faith are looking forward, to the future promises, while living in the presence. For followers of God, our present actions are informed and influenced by looking forward, in faith.

Henrews 11:26 - Faith alters our worldview, redefines riches, winning and losing.

Hebrews 10 - Remembering

2011-09-28T16:21:04Z

Hebrews 10:1-4 - It's obvious, in hindsight, that the temple system, as a copy of the realities in heaven, could not fully cleanse those who participated in it. But look at what he says in verse 2. He says that if those sacrifices had been perfect, the worshipers "would no longer have any consciousness of sins". Isn't the implication here that since Jesus' sacrifice is perfect, that we who have been cleansed should no longer have any consciousness of our sins. Does that describe you? Me neither, however, it is illuminating as to what our attitude ought to be in regard to our past sins.

Hebrews 10:11-14 - Stop for a minute and take in this picture of Jesus. Seated and comfortable because he work on our behalf is complete, awaiting a footstool made from his enemies.

Hebrews 10:17 - If God himself has decided to remember our sins no more, why should we?

Hebrews 10:19 - We have confidence to enter the most holy place. I imagine on that once per year when the high priest entered the most holy place,he likely did so tentatively, having made sure, double and triple checked that he had met all the requirements. But because of Jesus, we already have full confidence to enter ourselves.

Hebrews 10:24-25 - This passage, so often used to admonish those who have stopped coming to church, is powerless separated from the few verses before which themselves rest on the preceding chapters. Having such a great savior, having such a superior sacrifice, having such confidence to enter - why would you not want to be around other disciples? Not out of an obligation to obey, if that's why then you've forgotten what has been done for you. Taken as a commandment, it has no more power than any other. No, it is in light of Jesus and what he's done, the amazing grace bestowed upon you, that you cannot help but long to be around those who share it as well.

Hebrews 10:26-31 - If after Jesus went so far to redeem you, after the lengths he was willing to go to is known, if then you still treat sin casually, as if it wasn't a big deal or if it didn't matter, then there is nothing left. Jesus left no more room for additional redemption, he went all the way,as far as there is to go, to make our redemption sure, undoubted and absolutely complete. If we then refuse to take sin seriously, we have nothing to expect but the wrath of God.

Hebrews 10:32-39 - Read between the lines here. This book wasn't written primarily to prove to the Hebrews the truth of the gospel, nor to give them insight into its inner workings, although it does both. No, these were folks who had forgotten what they had received and he longs for them to be reignited by the fire of the gospel, the glory that is in what Jesus had done for them. It was no less glorious, but the memory of it had faded. We all need to be reminded, on a regular basis, of the glories of the gospel that we might not shrink back into a like of sin and guilt.

Hebrews 9:15-28 - Redemption Through Blood

2011-09-23T16:06:05Z

Hebrews 9:15 - Why can we "receive the promised eternal inheritance"? Because "a death has occurred that redeems" us.

Hebrews 9:22 - How serious is sin? "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins". Note, he makes no distinction between sins, only that forgiveness is not possible without blood. We like to think that they aren't that bad, but we're wrong, they are that bad.

Hebrews 9:24 - "For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf" As I read this, I had the image of Jesus, still dripping with the blood of the cross, entering the throne room of God to present Himself to the Father on our behalf, and it brought tears to my eyes.

I feel like the soldier, aged, at the end of Saving Private Ryan, standing at the graves of those who sacrificed on his behalf asking, "Was it worth it?" Here's the thing, those men in that fictional story didn't know what would become of the life they strove to save. But God, seeing all of time before Him, did know. He knew those he chose to save would lie, cheat and steal and that they'd act in their own interests instead of His. He knew that we'd corrupt His church and forget our first love. He knew the abuse we'd inflict on each other and the hurt that we'd cause, even in His name.

As I heard Jared Wilson say when he was here in Columbus, "Seeing us at our absolute worst, God said 'I want that guy.'"

Disciple of Jesus, if that doesn't move you, read it again and again until it does.

Hebrews 9:28 - "so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." Do you long for His coming? If you understand your own depravity, you do.

Hebrews 9:1-14 - Clean

2011-09-21T16:58:42Z

Hebrews 9:9-10 - The temple system was imperfect, temporary and was only in place until a better, more perfect way could be established.

Hebrews 9:11 - I imagine that the Most Holy Place in the temple was a place of awe and much curiosity among the devout. It was where God lived, so holy and pure that only the High priest may go there, only one per year and never without a sacrifice. It was the most perfect place on this Earth and I imagine many devout Jews dreaming of what it must be like.

Yet, when Jesus came and when he appeared as High Priest, it wasn't good enough for Him. It was the best Earth could offer, but the job he had to do, the best we have wasn't good enough. He demanded the perfection that could only be found in the true temple in heaven.

Hebrews 9:12 - Not only was the earthly temple not sufficient, the sacrifice required for once and all justification could not be accomplished by goats and calves. It demanded purity only found in God, only in Jesus' own blood.

It should not be shocking that our failings should demand such a sacrifice, rather it should be shocking that He would agree to it.

Hebrews 9:13 - The old sacrifices were enough to purify the flesh - for a time. But Jesus' blood is able to purify all the way to our consciences.

It brings to mind that scene in MacBeth where Lady MacBeth continues to wash her hands, in her mind never quite cleansing them of the blood that was spilled. Surely, the water did remove the actual blood from her flesh, but the stain on her conscience remained. No amount of water would remove that.

It is the same with the sacrifices offered in the temple, or our own penitent acts of sacrifice, be they the proverbial 'Hail Mary' or the promise of devotion made to God in a moment of desperation. They may heal for a moment, but the guilt remains on our soul. Jesus' blood, however, cleanses through and through, no guilt remains. We are clean, completely and thoroughly in a way that is so foreign to our thinking as to be almost incomprehensible. If we do truly understand it, we are likely to dismiss it as too scandalous, and not just for we pay nothing for our sins. But that is the amazing in Amazing Grace, it is completely unfair and we get away, in some cases literally, with murder.

They're Gone

2011-09-19T16:55:37Z

Dad was in town this weekend and after stopping by Cars and Coffee on a beautiful Saturday morning, I decided to take him downtown to see those old cars. Instead, we were greeted with the scene above. After sitting there for months, perhaps years, they're all gone.

Did the owner find more suitable storage? Did they get sold off to other collectors? Did he finally embark on those restorations that he'd been meaning to get to? Or, perish the thought, did he stop paying his parking fees and they get towed away and sold for scrap?

We likely will never know.