"Simon Says"--Game On!

Being a grandparent is a wonderful treat.  Grandparenting gives us an opportunity to experience again the joys of childhood without the strain of parental responsibility.  My grandson Sam is just developing his vocabulary and communication skills, and with that development comes so many fun possibilities.  One such possibility, when he gets a little older, is the game “Simon Says.”

You know that game.  Someone—the “Simon”—gives commands.  On those commands that begin with “Simon says,” the players are to follow the command.  On those commands that omit “Simon says,” the players are to ignore the command.  It is a fun game that teaches careful listening and attention to detail.  It also requires self-control.

I think and speak often about the importance of those who claim Christ as their Savior to follow Him as their Master.  This means depending upon Him in the same way and to the same degree as He depended on His Father while He walked on earth as a man.  Consider the words of Jesus as recorded in John 5:19: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”  And, in John 8:28b: “I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”

In essence, Jesus played a pretty mean game of “Simon Says” with His Father.  He said whatever the Father told Him to say and did whatever the Father told Him to do but rejected repeated opportunities to speak and act on His own.

When Jesus exhorted His disciples to abide in Him as branches abide in the vine (John 15:4), He was in essence inviting them—and us—to play a divine version of “Simon Says.”  We need to keep our eyes on our Lord and listen carefully and attentively.  We also need to resist the temptation to move away from Him and go our own way at times.

To be sure, it is not always easy to recognize our Master’s voice, to distinguish it from our own internal impulses.  But as with most games, with practice we become much more skilled.  Let the game begin!

Losing the Ledger of Life

In a recent news blurb, I read about proposed legislation to prohibit the use of “entitlement funds” for “frivolous” goods and services.  In particular, the bill was targeting the use of Welfare money for tattoos and tanning services.  While I would agree that such services are frivolous, I am not sure what I think about the legislation.  What struck me, though, was the irony of the situation.  Entitlement is a human problem far greater in scope than the Welfare legislation. 

It is not hard to see that we live in a culture heavily influenced by feelings of entitlement.  If we work hard, we deserve material success and affirmation.  If we do something nice for someone, they owe us a return favor.  Women have the right to equal pay for equal work.  If we act in honesty and integrity, we should be immune to being cheated.  And feelings of entitlement extend to Christians as well.  If we raise our children in good, Christian homes, take them to church, have them attend Sunday School, VBS, and youth group, they will always become faithful adults.  If we engage in enough Bible study and prayer, we can solve our problems.  If we give generously to the church, the Lord will reimburse us many times over.  I have a former counseling client who abruptly stopped speaking to me when I refused to support her “name it and claim it” approach to the Christian life.

The Lord often confronts me with my feelings of entitlement.  Now that our children are grown, He often uses our dog to expose my sin nature.  Last week we had a day that was Lucy-centric.  We played in the yard, I took her for agility training (think playground for dogs), and we went for a nice walk.  Later, I called her to come in from the back yard, and she refused to come.  And when I tried to catch her, she ran away from me.  My thoughts went something like this: “After all I’ve done for you and with you today, at the very least you could come when I call you.”  I was in fact feeling that my care for and training of our dog entitled me to her obedience.

Please do not misunderstand me.  God is the God of reaping and sowing.  It pleases God when we work hard, extend kindness to others, pursue justice for everyone, raise our children in faith, invest in Bible study and prayer, give generously of our resources, and expect our Lord to act on our behalf.  And many of our desired outcomes are appropriate.  But there is a fine line between a desire—even the most appropriate of desires—and the demand of entitlement.  The Bible is very clear that we are sinners, and we deserve death.  We simply are not entitled to large salaries, fair treatment, perfect children, obedient dogs, and a comfortable life.  In fact, Jesus made it quite clear to His disciples that His followers would be subject to this fallen world and be treated with the same contempt and hatred as He was.  In the world we will have tribulation….

So if righteous living does not entitle us to freedom from the troubles of this world, why bother pursuing it?  Several reasons leap to mind.  First and foremost, our Lord, Savior, and Master desires us to be holy as He is holy.  If we are to be in relationship with Him, we must partake of His nature, which is wholly righteous.  Pursuing righteousness in this way is the goal that God wants for us.  Second, the pursuit of righteousness is also the means to that goal.  As we pursue righteousness and fail, we learn to appreciate God’s grace and depend more and more on our Master and so become more like Christ who depended completely on His Father.  In short, we become more fit for heaven.  And finally, a time of judgment is coming.  The Bible is not entirely clear what judgment for believers will look like, but there is undeniable mention of reward for righteousness in life.

There is another reason to relinquish our attitude of entitlement.  While we so often focus on the good things to which we are entitled, more to the point is the not so good things that we deserve.  As I have mentioned, we are sinners.  The wages of sin is death.  And while we are sometimes the victims of abuse and unfair treatment, there are times when we are the perpetrators.  All too often we act in our own self interest.  If we are honest with ourselves, we cannot avoid the truth that sometimes we do not deserve to be treated kindly, or justly.  The uncomfortable truth is that the Lord could say the same thing about me that I thought about Lucy: “After all I’ve done for her, at least she could obey me!”

But thanks be to God!  This is where the good news of the Gospel rescues us.  The glorious truth is that we do not get that to which we are entitled.  In Christ, we get far more than we deserve, far better than we can earn.  We have been freed from our death sentence.  And in that freedom, we can outgrow our attitudes of entitlement and live in gratitude and thanksgiving.  We can appreciate the freedom from the frustration that inevitably follows the feeling of entitlement, and we are able to love others as Christ loves us, without needing anything in return.

He Is Risen

The entire story of humanity—from Adam and Eve through eternity—hinges on the events we celebrate this weekend.  On our own, we humans are helpless and hopeless in our sin.  But Jesus, as God incarnate, has come to rescue us.  For the joy of restored relationship with us, He died on the cross to pay our “sin ransom.”  And then He rose from the grave as the first fruit of the resurrection to eternal life that we will enjoy with Him.

Does it matter that Jesus’s death and resurrection really happened?  I would argue that the reality of Good Friday and Easter is, along with our receiving Christ’s work on our behalf, the only reality that matters.  The Apostle Paul has put it this way:

                        For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has

                        been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your

                        faith is worthless; you are still in your sins…. If we

                        have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all

                        men most to be pitied.  (I Cor. 15:16-19)

Thanks be to God.  The dead are raised, Christ has risen from the dead, and all who believe will be raised to eternal life with Him.

He is risen.  He is risen, indeed.

Thought For The Day

The Christian life is not about what we have to do; rather, it is about what we get to do.

The Return of Spring--And Christ

Spring is officially—and finally—here.  This was a long and tough winter.  February was the coldest in over 100 years.  I have lived in New Jersey for over thirty years, and I cannot remember ever seeing snow and ice on the ground continuously for so long.  And, we were not the hardest hit by far.  Communities in many New England states lived with repeated blizzards and unmanageable snowfall. 

Our winter brought to mind The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis’s well-known and much-loved Narnia book.  As the Pevensie children enter the world of Narnia, they find themselves in a land that has been locked in a very long, cruel winter by a wicked witch.  As their adventure begins, they learn about the witch’s evil curse; they also learn about Aslan, the great and good ruler who has been absent from the land.  As their adventure continues, signs of spring bring rumors that “Aslan is afoot.”

I believe that long winters can teach us something very important about our faith.  Just as we deal with the difficulties of winter knowing that spring is coming, so we can deal with the difficulties of our lives knowing that Christ is returning and that we have an eternal home with Him in heaven.  This doesn’t mean that we that we hibernate until spring; nor does it mean that we minimize hardship or live in indifference to suffering in this world.  It does mean that we can put hardship and suffering in perspective.  We take comfort in spring even as we layer on winter clothing, help children repeatedly with snowsuits, boots, and mittens, and shovel the driveway, again.  Seeing Narnia begin to thaw gave the Pevensie children encouragement to continue their fight against the witch and her forces.

We are now looking to enjoy the beauties of spring and the glories of summer, appropriately so.  But it would be wise for us to remain mindful that spiritually, our world remains locked in a long, cruel winter.  The Jewish people waited several centuries between the writings of the last Old Testament prophet and the appearance of John the Baptist, come to announce the appearance of the Messiah.  Millennia have passed since Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection and after promising to return.  It has been a long spiritual winter.  Yet Jesus reminded His followers to remain watchful for His return.  Resurrection and redemption are even more sure than spring after winter.  At this moment, though, Satan is still a very real enemy.  But may the relief of spring remind us to always be looking for signs that Aslan is afoot.

Thought For The Day

"You gain strength by admitting you need help."

                                                   Miles O'Brien, CNN

Perisseia For March 5 Canceled

Perisseia, the women's growth group at Windsor Chapel, has been canceled this evening, March 5, due to the snowstorm.   May you all have a safe, warm, and cozy day!