Author Archives: Royce

May 31 2010

Giving Thanks for President Obama


“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth…” (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

Pray for everyone? Give thanks for everyone? Give thanks for President Obama? It is clear that is what the good book says.

When I read a passage like this, at first glance it seems innocent enough, nothing to worry me here. And then, after the Holy Spirit reminds me of it again and again I am confronted with my sinfulness. I come face to face with reality, not the pretty picture I see when I compare myself with others I know. No, the reality I am forced to admit and deal with is ugly, raw, sin.

If Jesus says “love” and I don’t love, I am wrong. And, isn’t love the foundation for all we do in our lives as believers. (That is, the “good” things we do as believers.)

I find myself agonizing over passages like the one Paul wrote to young Timothy. Who was the ruler when he wrote that passage, Nero? Nero was not the kind of ruler who was loved by his subjects. He was a ruthless, power absorbed, evil monster, who happened to be the top guy in the government. Give thanks for Nero? Pray for Nero? Pray for good things to happen for Nero? That seems to be the case.

I don’t like anything about President Obama. I don’t like his personality, I don’t like the way he governs, I don’t like his deceitfulness and lack of transparency. And I really don’t like his policies and the direction he and the Democrats are taking our country. But, I am to pray for him, I can do that. I am also to give thanks for him, how can I do that? Well, I think there is an answer.

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval” (Romans 13:1-3)

You see, I tend to forget that God is in control. Leaders, those in government authority, are there to serve God’s unsearchable purposes. Read this text carefully and it will change your attitude about your response to government, it did mine. I don’t want to resist God’s will, do you?

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17)

Government, leaders with authority, those who in many ways rule our lives are God’s creation. Rulers (presidents) and the authority they have is God’s specific design. So in light of these passages I can heartedly give thanks for President Obama! He is serving God, carrying out God’s plan. I don’t have to understand what God’s purposes are in detail. My job is to be an obedient subject to the King of kings and Lord of lords and He says government and government leaders are his design and they are under his control. I don’t need to fear them, I need to submit to them, pray for them and give thanks for them.

I must admit, my faith is stretched. I struggle with this but the truth is clear and if I want to please God I must submit to Him and to His authority, even when sometimes it comes in a package I don’t like very much.

By the way, Paul was the human author of both texts quoted above and the government was about as evil and perverse as one could imagine. He recognized that even the godless Roman Empire was no more and no less than a tool in God’s hand. Think about it, God used the Roman Empire to spread the good news far and wide. The Roman rule was mighty and long-lasting but it did end when God’s purposes had been served. God is in control of everything, every day, including government.

Agape’

Royce

May 27 2010

“deceased”


A few days ago I was given the name and address of a young man who was recently incarcerated. I had heard of his arrest and knew he would go to prison. I did not know that I would be writing to him to encourage him and assure him this series of events are not the end, they are the beginning.

A few bad choices and a wife turns away in shame, a child is caught in the middle of a mess without being aware of it, and a young man with a promising career is forever marked as a felon.

This is not my first communication with an inmate. For about 3 1/2 years, every Friday night I led a small group at the city jail in Denton, Texas. I found great satisfaction in singing with, praying with, and studying God’s word with those inmates. I met some scoundrels for sure but also met some good men who had briefly run off the track. I introduced some of them to Jesus and they got to know Him well.

They were not unlike my friend Charlie. Charlie was a childhood friend who made some poor choices, kept company with the wrong crowd, and in 1969 received a very long prison sentence. I have written to and prayed for Charlie for the long decades of his incarceration. I was able to visit him several times, the last time about 4 years ago. His prison cell and my home were about 1200 miles apart.

Charlie was a brother in the Lord, and like me, he stumbled along but he was a believer. I did what I could to encourage him. I wrote letters to governors in two states, to heads of departments of corrections in two states, and to a U.S. Senator. My attempts went unrewarded, Charlie never had a parole hearing.

The last 5 to 7 years only I and an Episcopal priest cared enough about Charlie to keep writing, keep caring, keep hoping for the best. My last two letters had gone unanswered and I became concerned. I knew he was in failing health and not receiving proper care. I wrote another letter which I mailed a few days ago. Today when I came home my wife handed me the envelope I had mailed and across the envelope was scrawled the word “deceased“.

I was surprised by the grief, sadness, and anger that gripped my soul as I read that word. Grief because I didn’t get to say good-bye, sadness because his obituary listed no family, (and fittingly so, they had long ago abandoned him), and anger because for every Charlie there are tens of thousands who are no more than human garbage to most everyone.

Not one person from the church where Charlie and his brothers attended Sunday school, and not one person from the church that baptized Charlie cared enough to visit, send a post card, or show any hint of compassion when he was imprisoned less than 20 miles from them for decades. His family, including his daughter, stopped writing long ago.

I will ever be thankful for a lone priest who loved prisoners enough to visit often, wrote volumes of letters on Charlie’s behalf, and prayed for Charlie every day for many, many years according to his testimony to me. Charlie was buried in the cemetery at the church where the priest serves the members and loves the unlovely inside. I wish him God’s best blessings for loving my friend. Perhaps he had read as I have these following passages.

Hebrews 13:3
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”

Matthew 25:43
“I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”

My word to those who read these words is this. If you claim Jesus as Lord you had best get busy loving the down and out and taking Jesus’ words seriously.

Who is lonely and afraid tonight? Who is convinced no one cares? Who is waiting for your letter or your visit?

Goodbye Charlie, see you in heaven.

Royce

May 23 2010

Jeb’s Story part 3


For a few nights after the execution of Jesus I had trouble sleeping, I had nightmares reliving what I had witnessed. And, during the day I tried to press my guilt down with more work and heavier drinking. It was those words about forgiveness that dogged me night and day. Was he truly a mad man? He seemed rational enough but who would even think of forgiveness moments before he died from loss of blood? None of it made sense.

One morning I went out of my house and as I talked to a neighbor about the weather I heard a screaming voice. A man was running down the lane yelling as he went “He is alive, Jesus of Nazareth has risen from the grave! Jesus is alive!” What? was the whole world going insane?

In the next few days I kept hearing more and more talk that people had seen Jesus alive. Of course I didn’t believe it, at first that is. But I began to wonder “What if Jesus really is who he claimed to be?” I soon began to worry about my own well being. My mother complained about my late hours, too much wine, a distant look, and silence.

One day I met a friend on the road who excitedly told me that he was going to see Jesus and hear him teach. I accepted an invitation to join him and the next day I saw him. We came to a place with much grass on a sloping hillside and the crowd was perhaps 500 or more when everyone was there.

Jesus stood below facing the people and he began to speak. His words were riveting and the listeners were very quiet. He spoke of the kingdom of God and of our Father’s love for us and that we should never be fearful or doubting. He said he would be going away but that he would come back for his followers and take them to be with him.

From my vantage point I could see many faces in the crowd, listening intently to every word. And while Jesus was speaking I realized for the first time that many of those faces were familiar. The men I saw at the execution, those who were actively participating, were there listening to Jesus and nodding in agreement! How could this be? How could he let them be there, how could they be there? Then it was fresh in my memory once more, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they are doing”.

I’m not sure that ever person who participated in the execution and the events that preceded it were there but I know at least five or six were. Their faces were radiant, tears came down smiling faces. They had become followers of Jesus! They were changed, forgiven, they were in the Way!

When Jesus stopped speaking some other men spoke and explained that because of the risen Lord and his death for sinners that anyone who would could be a Christian. “Change your mind about your manner of life and take up your cross and follow Messiah. Trust Jesus the Christ and he will give you immortality.”

When it became real to me what had happened, what Jesus had done for me and the others, oh how I loved him and knew I would until I die. When the men finished speaking I joined maybe two dozen others in the water below and I was baptized. I knew at once I was a changed man, that I was Christ’s man.

To be continued….     Part 1, Part 2

Royce

May 22 2010

The Gospel, Short and Sweet.


“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18)

Three verses before this one is a verse that is quoted often. I have seen it in print and heard it quoted or read several times just in the last two or three weeks.

“always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”
(1 Peter 3:15)

I submit that the challenge of verse 15 is clearly answered in verse 18. What do you give as a defense for the hope that is in you? Here it is! The good news about what Jesus has done for sinners!

What a power packed few words is packed into this verse of Scripture!

The anointed one, the Messiah the Jews hoped for, the one prophesied that would come to save his people from their sins, the one announced by angels and called “God with us”, the one of whom John the Baptist preached saying “The kingdom of God is near!”, This One has come to bring sinners to God.

Jesus suffered “once” for “sins“. Never again would a daily offering be needed. When Christ cried from the cross the word meaning “It is finished” it was indeed finished. He had paid the awful price for my sins and yours. The indictment of sin blankets all of humanity, me and you and every man and woman. But that he died “for sins” means then that he died for everyone, because “ALL have sinned” and miss the mark of God’s righteousness. Now that is good news!

He was “the righteous for the unrighteous” in his suffering and dying. This is called in the seminary class room “penal substitution”. Jesus died “for” me and you, he died in our place. It should have been me and it should have been you. The “wages of sin is death” but Jesus died the death, the “righteous for the unrighteous”, “for sins”. Jesus paid your tab to an offended and angry God who hates sin! That is good news!

He suffered the beatings, mocking, being spit upon, having beard pulled out, and being nailed to a cross as a common criminal in shame outside the city “to bring us to God!” In our sinful condition we were apart from God with no way to get to Him. Separated from the Creator with no means to bridge the gap and our certain end was the wrath of God! But Jesus died for us, in our place, “to bring us to God”. That was his only purpose. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself”. This was his eternal plan, the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous, and by that one sacrifice we are reconciled to God, brought back to God. That is good news!

Jesus suffered and was put to death, but he didn’t stay dead. He was “made alive in the Spirit“. Just as promised, after three days he came out of the tomb in a glorified body perfectly fit for heaven or earth. We are promised immortality and a body like his. The same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will give me a body like his because he died in my place, for my sins, and brought me to God!. That is good news!

When someone asks “What about this church thing? Why are you a Christian?” Here it is. It is the “Gospel”, it is the “good news” that Jesus has solved every mans two greatest problems, sin and death. Jesus has taken sin away forever and defeated death so we can be with God, sinless, forever!

Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome,

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel (good news about Jesus), for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16,17)

Here is the gracious offer, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. You can’t be good enough, we have already established that, (He was righteous, we were unrighteous). Your salvation is finished, the debt has been paid, do you believe God’s record about His Son? Then receive the gift!

Do a U Turn, change your mind about the course of your life and turn toward Christ, He is waiting for you. If you depend on Him to do what the gospel promises He will enable you to live a changed life, go public for Him by telling others and by reenacting His death, burial, and resurrection in the waters of baptism. It is the formal and symbolic way of going public for Christ. You are saying I am dying to my old way of life and I am being raised a new man who lives a life of love and service to Christ.

Perhaps you have long been a church member, maybe a preacher or teacher, but something has been missing. Have you ever put your whole trust in Jesus Christ? If not, I hope you will now. He will not always wait.

Agape’

Royce