Feb 12 2014

Becoming a better listener


ear

I’m a big talker. I suppose you could say I have the “gift of gab” what ever that is.. Those of us who talk a lot are not usually the best listeners. And, there’s that thing about having 2 ears and only one mouth…. So, I’ve set about to become a better listener.

What have I been hearing? Here is the list.

Music – I know that is strange to most of you. Almost everyone I know listens to music at least while they are in the car but not me. Until recently that is, sometimes I actually listen to music on purpose. I have often joked that I like music a lot but not enough to listen to it. I have discovered anew the beauty of music, several different kinds.

Public Radio – One the way to work I listen to the local Public Radio FM station. Yes, they still have a liberal to nutty political slant but I am listening, and to my shock, enjoying the programming. Some of the segments are very educational and interesting. I would like it better if all the men didn’t sound effeminate and the woman as if they were performing for an English Professor. And, I think the programming is actually good enough to stand on its own sans federal tax dollars.

I enjoy Click and Clack, the car guys, Prairie Home Companion (I cringe when Garrison Keillor mentions politics…) because the music is so good. I must say Garrison is a pretty good singer himself, and I enjoy the music of Louisiana they play frequently on the weekends. It’s good stuff!

My Wife – I’m trying to do better at this. It should be easy because my much-better-half is an interesting woman! When she comes home from one of her many exploits I sit with her at the kitchen table, look her in the eyes, and listen to her talk about what she has been doing. I am always amazed at how much she can get done and how many people she can recruit to help her get it done. 

I love the sound of her voice! Just hearing her in the other room gives me a level of comfort. I love hearing her signature little moan as she awakes from a midday nap. And, my wife Carol is one of the most wise persons (and most generous) I know. So listening to her is very worthwhile, in many ways.

People in the midst of grief – Last Wednesday Carol and I began our 11th year of facilitating grief groups. We had a room full of pain last week, people desperate to find answers that are not forthcoming, a brief respite from the insistent inner pain, but nothing makes it better it seems. Oh, except for talking. Each week we watch a video together and then have some discussion afterward. It was our listening to their talking that made a difference last week. Crying and talking is what soothes the grieving soul. There were tears and there was lots of talking. In those times my chief assignment as God’s representative is to be a compassionate listener.

Yes, the leaders talk some but the real help comes when the hurting soul pours out the pain in verbiage. Anger at God, the unfairness of it all, and the shear pain of a broken heart that has no cure at hand. We will listen for 12 more weeks (too much ice this week..) and out listening will make a difference in those lives. People know that if you hang in there and listen to them that you must care, and we do. 

Great Bible teachers/preachers – For a long time now in an average week I will listen to a few hours of sermons. It’s like an ongoing seminary class. There are so many wonderfully gifted people available on my Ipod or my laptop just a click away. My heart is made glad and I am fueled for the fight of faith that each day presents. I love the Word of God and after more than 50 years of studying I am still hungry for knowing more about Jesus and his grace and love.

Well, it’s time to feed my beautiful body. Carol has the good stuff ready to put where my laptop is now so this is all for this installment.

As a well-known female friend says, “Go with God”. That is a good plan!

Royce

Jan 19 2014

Nuggets of Fudge – A WONDERFUL MESSAGE OF LIFE


As those who claim to represent Jesus Christ today, we Christians need to get clear on our core message, then get on with proclaiming it to the world. This is true across the theological spectrum. Unfortunately, much that is offered as “gospel” today has little in common with the message announced by the apostles in obedience to Jesus. The confusion began quite early. John Chrysostom of Constantinople (A.D. 349-407) thought the apostolic message included “the glad tidings of the soul’s immortality.” However, the idea of an “immortal soul” that lives forever comes not from Jesus or his apostles but from Socrates and Plato. According to Genesis 2, God made man from dust of the earth (physical body), breathed into him breath of life (spirit, breath, wind), and man became a living soul or living being. Only God is immortal by his own nature (1 Tim. 6:16). We humans are not naturally immortal; we die unless God gives us life.

Contemporary with Chrysostom, “Saint Augustine” of Hippo (A.D. 354-430), was shaping the Western church. Burdened with a guilty conscience after an early life of sinful indulgence, Augustine viewed God and humankind in terms of cosmic criminal law. As a result, the Western church developed a legalistic culture with a core message that focused on our guilt, God’s wrath, and Christ’s appeasement. And always looming overhead was the ever-present threat of unending torment in hell. Meanwhile, Eastern Orthodox churches were centering attention on the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, but especially the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and his Ascension to God’s right hand. The chief motivation in Orthodox Christianity is God’s glory as seen in the Risen Christ, and the expectation of our sharing it, beginning now, and far more fully in the Age to come. This difference between East and West is seen in their respective aids to devotion, whether Western crucifix (punishment, suffering) or Eastern icon (reward, glory).

So what did the apostles proclaim? Not doctrine but a story. As reflected in Acts, apostles and other evangelists alike told the story of Jesus, often in the context of God’s larger salvation story. Jesus went about doing good, the story says, then he was killed by wicked men. But the story climaxes with the announcement that God raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 2:24; 3:15; 3:26; 4:10; 10:20; 13:30; 17:31). On that grand note the apostles declared “the full message of this life” (Acts 5:20). Many Jews heard only “weakness”; many Greeks sneered, “foolish talk!” But to all who believe, both then and now, this gospel sparkles with wisdom and resonates with power. In a world of mortal humans, where sin and death seem often to hold invincible sway, there is no better news imaginable. Through Jesus of Nazareth, God has overcome sin, defeated Death, and given us the promise of eternal life. Death is not invincible after all. Life will have the final word!

Edward Fudge – January 19, 2014

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Edward Fudge is an author, theologian, thinker, scholar, teacher, preacher and most important to me, my dear friend. I invite you to visit him at EdwardFudge.com. You will find a wealth of great material helpful to any serious follower of Jesus.

 

Jan 1 2014

Loving God by Knowing Him – He is Holy


When you hear the words “God is Holy” what does that mean to you? Probably the most common idea that people have is that God is morally pure. He is that, and a facet of his holiness does have to do with his moral purity, but, that is not the primary meaning.

That God is “Holy” is that he is separate from all others. There is none like him. That God is Holy speaks to the whole of his character and his attributes. He is apart from all other beings. When you consider his attributes (omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, etc. it becomes clear quickly that the God of the Bible alone can be described with those words and their meanings. That God is Holy is that there is none like him…period.

Perhaps the best word picture of God’s holiness in all of the Bible is found in Isaiah 6. 

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1-4)

Kings and kingdoms rise and fall as did King Uzziah but God’s place of authority and grandeur is unmatched and unequaled. As one wise man once said, “In 50 years not one person who now rules a country or is a head of state will be in power”. Yet God is eternally enthroned and what king can even be compared to him? Not one.

“The whole earth is full of his glory!” How wonderful and majestic is this God and how marvelous are his ways! God is separate from all others because he is God! It is his very essence and uniqueness that sets him far apart and above every human.

God is so removed from we his lowly creatures, who can know him? Who can come into his presence and address him? You can, and I can.

We just celebrated Christmas and we sang the song “O Come Emmanuel” (God with us) God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son to live in a body of flesh, to live a life of purity and righteousness, and to take upon himself our sins, and upon the cross to die by blood shed to free us from sin(s) and death forever.

By the worth and work of Jesus Christ our Lord we can now call this Holy God, Father. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). We were (past tense) reconciled to God by the death of Jesus (Romans 5:10).

Just as God is “set apart, or separate” from his creatures, those who are now in Christ are called to be set apart (1 Peter 1:13-16) as well for His glory. That God loved us so should compel us to separate ourselves for his purposes.

Dec 22 2013

The good news of Christmas – Christ got a body


1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

but a body have you prepared for me;

6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings

you have taken no pleasure.

7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws on their hearts,

and write them on their minds,”

17 then he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

In these blessed words of God lie the essence of the Christmas story. Not only that God came in flesh (“God with us”) but that God came to do something wonderful for us.

That Christ himself became the ultimate offering for our sins cannot be missed if one is to know the true meaning of the birth of Jesus. The good news of Christmas is that in Christ alone our fatal flaws are consumed and done away with. By the body of Jesus and the Father’s love for sinners demonstrated by his crushing of Jesus’ physical body, sin and it’s consequences are done forever.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

The gospel promises given here should cause all who trust in Jesus Christ to have unspeakable joy for what God has done. Our helpless and hopeless state of sinfulness and resulting death has been transformed into blessed confidence and life that springs from our thankful hearts like a well of life giving water. Never again will God remember our sins because Christ got a body and gave it so we sinners can live forever as God’s own purchased possessions.

Merry Christmas!