Category Archives: The Good News of Jesus

Just Ask

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There is a gas station (It’s the Adams 66) in Council Grove, Kansas where the owner runs out to fill your tank, wash your windshield and polish your mirrors.   Remember that?  I’ve become so accustomed to waiting in line inside a “convenience” store while a surly dropout finishes talking on the cell phone that this guy was a shock.  As I stood there, baffled by this flash from the past, he asked, “Anything else you need?  Check your oil? Tires okay?  Just ask…”

You think that’s amazing, check this out.  The Creator of the universe has said, “Just ask…”

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

It’s not that God is a genie in a bottle or a cosmic ATM.  It’s that God invites us to engage with Him in a relationship.  He invites us to ask.  He encourages us to seek and knock.  All these actions initiate a new experience in a relationship.  It’s the relationship Adam and Eve had before they hid from God in shame.  It’s the way God intended life to be.

Maybe you are reading this and thinking, “I’m not so sure there even is a God.”  I’ve been there, hiding behind a wall of suspicion, for fear of being fooled.  That is, until one day I asked and God responded.  That was an astonishing and life changing moment for me.  God knows it’s tough for us to engage with Someone we cannot see.  He knows it feels safer for us to only trust in ourselves.  That’s whats so cool about His invitation – ask, seek, knock.  You do that, He says, and you will have the door opened to an amazing, interactive, personal relationship.

Questions?  Just ask…

Enemy Whisperer

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The hounds of Hell live just around the corner from my house in Colorado, two German Shepherds with slathering fangs and burning hot coals for eyes. The chain link fence that stops them from eviscerating me has my deepest respect and gratitude. But I am convinced that the “Dog Whisperer” could nonchalantly walk into their yard and gentle them in short order.

It takes a lot of courage to be a “whisperer.” The “Dog Whisperer” and these guys who get into corrals with wild horses have great courage. But they also have something the average person does not. Somehow, they have the capacity to show they pose no threat, that they understand that the animal’s aggression is based in fear. The one who “whispers” really wants the very best for those animals.

Jesus says, “Be an enemy whisperer:”

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:43-44)

The love that Jesus refers to here is genuine concern for the wellbeing of your potential adversary, at the risk of your own wellbeing. Jesus would have us get in the corral with our enemy, posing no threat and acting with the understanding his aggression is rooted in fear. Jesus would have us communicate by what we do that we are truly there to bless. Clearly, that takes a lot of courage. But it takes something else, too, something the average person does not have.

That previous quote from Jesus is incomplete. He ended the sentence by saying,

“…that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:45a)

To “be a son” of someone is an idiom for being so full of his character and spirit that you thoroughly resemble him. Jesus says, love your enemies, showing that you are full of God’s Spirit and in step with His character. The Spirit of God is something the average person does not have. But Jesus came to “whisper” us, to show us He posed no threat but was out for our genuine good. He said He didn’t come to condemn the world but to save us (John 3:17). Jesus knew that without God’s Spirit we were stuck in fear. But He came, at the risk of His own life, to bless us. For those who will truly trust Him, Jesus connects them to and fills them with God’s Spirit in a living way.

And says, “Whisper your enemies…”

Hope for Life

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Imagine the crew that Ernest Shackleton left behind, hopelessly stuck in Antarctic ice, facing a certain, slow, agonizing death by freezing, as he attempted to go for help. If you are not familiar with how far he needed to hike and then sail to find rescue, look it up. It’s one of the most astounding adventures of all time. But the guys left behind, huddled together, day after frozen day, with death circling like a wolf: how deep their despair must have been.

And how great their joy when one day, a speck on the horizon appeared, to let them know that Shackleton had returned, that he was not dead and that they were about to become the benefactors of a most improbable rescue! If you can grasp a sliver of their amazement, their blinking wonder and joy, then perhaps you can glimpse a portion of the disciples’ joy when they saw and touched Jesus after His resurrection.

Later, Peter wrote these words:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3)

As each person discovers that “speck on the horizon” and recognizes Jesus coming for them, they catch the full glow of Peter’s words. Not many of us can write music like Handel, but we can all jump up and sing “Hallelujiah!”

Amazing Love, How Can it Be?

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Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 )

If you can include yourself as one of those who have “turned our own way,” who have “gone astray,” then Jesus loved you and paid the punishment you owe.

No Lie

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Jesus knew He would be tortured to death within the next several hours. He knew the men around Him had left everything behind to follow Him, that soon they would be consumed by a tsunami of terror and grief. He had one last chance to speak with them. It was time for straight talk. Here’s what He began with:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-4a)

In effect, He said:
A. No matter what happens, don’t panic; God is trustworthy and so am I
B. I am going to fix it so that we can live together with God forever.
C. It really is true that God’s “house” has “rooms” (literally, places for people to move in and live forever).
D. There is no way I would lie to you about this at a time like this.
E. I’ve got to leave you, but I will come back for you.

All of that is comforting. It sounds like what a loving father might say to his family just before he leaves to immigrate to a new country where they will be safe, and where he will bring them as soon as he has a job and a place to live. “Don’t worry! I will come back for you!” Comforting.

But then Jesus said:

“You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:4b)

You can imagine how that comment raised anxious questions:

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:5-6 )

Jesus wasn’t lying about any of that, either.

Revealed!

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A friend of mine trained to be a spy with the CIA. One of the training exercises sent him alone into a city to look for his contact, without telling him how to identify him. In the books, the contact always has a newspaper under one arm and responds to the secret password. I wish I knew how this guy identified his contact, but I suppose then he would have had to kill me.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, that was His folded newspaper. He was revealing Who He was, to those with eyes to see. When the people spontaneously began to shout “Hosanna,” that was the password. God had set it all up in advance, and revealed it through the prophets.

Here’s the prophecy about what to look for:

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)

And here is the password:

O LORD, save us;
O LORD, grant us success.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you. (Psalms 118:25-26)

By the way, that first phrase, “O Lord, save us” contains the Hebrew word that is translated, “Hosanna!” Literally, “Help!” When Jesus rode in on the donkey, He was showing Who He was. And when the people called out, “Help, Hosanna,” Jesus responded. He said, “I have come to save you; trust Me.”

Breaking the Rules

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Why was Jesus such a threat to  religious people?  A lot of it was because He seemed to be breaking the rules of their religion.  God said,  “Don’t do any work on the Sabbath.” Religious people were very strict in deciding what actions constituted work, so they could be sure they didn’t break that rule. 

They still are, today!  In Jerusalem,  Orthodox Jewish leaders have decreed that pushing elevator buttons is work.  Consequently, the hotel elevators are programmed to stop at every floor on the Sabbath.  But Jesus didn’t seem to care about or obey their rules about the Sabbath.  There were no elevators, but Jesus sure pushed a lot of buttons, especially on the Sabbath – healing people, walking too far, and picking grain to eat. 

When religious people are threatened by people who don’t obey their rules.  If they can’t make them conform, they throw them out and badmouth them so others won’t be corrupted.  That’s what they did to Jesus (and much worse). 

You can see why they got the idea  Jesus didn’t respect the Scriptures.  But they were wrong – wrong about the rules and wrong about Jesus’ attitude toward the Scriptures (in those days called “The Law and the Prophets). 

That’s why there was much scratching of heads when Jesus said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18)

How could this teaching fit with Jesus’ apparent disregard for the rules of the religious?   Chew on that and try to figure it out.  Next time we’ll try to unpack what it means to “fulfill” the Law.

THE SHINING

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My friend, Jacques (not his real name), hated Christians – that is, until one day he met Jesus. I don’t know how that happened, only what happened next: Jacques and his wife sold everything they owned and gave the money to the poor, keeping just enough to get them to Denver and pay for one semester of seminary. You should have seen how God took care of that amazing couple. When we graduated, Jacques couldn’t be bothered with the ceremony; he had to get to Haiti as fast as he could to work among the poor. Jacques and his wife left Denver the same way they came, took the first plane to Haiti and started helping people. He picked up some gnarly Haitian disease and died not so many months later. Jacques shone like a welder at midnight.

Jesus said:
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Not many of us are called to do what Jacques did. But when we follow Jesus, wherever we are, we are meant to light up the place. Jesus talked about acts as simple as a cup of water for someone who is thirsty. Light shines.
It is important to understand Who does the shining. In Jesus’ day, the light from a lamp was fueled by oil. No oil inside, no light. We are filled and fueled by Jesus’ Holy Spirit. Let Him do the shining.

Clobbered for Good

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It’s all the rage to be outraged by bullying, in the classroom and on the internet. But we see the essence of bullying played out in boardrooms, churches, truckstops, home owner associations, newsrooms and countless other adult social situations. Bullying is pervasive. At its root, it grows out of the strong pull we humans feel to conform. Non-conformists get ostracized. Others participate in various forms of ostracism (a form of bullying) to make themselves feel accepted. That’s why Bob Dylan got booed at Newport, why you see “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service” and why most churches and clubs have a dress code (even if it is unwritten).

Jesus understood that His followers would be bullied and worse. He knew social rejection had always been the fate of those who lived by the upside-down principles of the kingdom of heaven. That’s why He said:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)

No question about it, getting in step with Jesus puts you out of step with most of the rest of the world. Don’t be surprised by what the world does to people who play by different rules. Later on, Jesus explained it further to His followers:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:18-19)

Why would anyone knowingly sign up for such treatment? You play football, you are going to get clobbered. But its worth it. Those who play hard are rewarded. So it is with those who play on Jesus’ team. His game plan is for those who have received His Spirit to be noticeably different, to be “salt and light” in the world and to thereby attract others to Him for eternal life. You will get clobbered, but it will be worth it.

Making Peace

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Smith and Wesson shares one thing with Kum Bah Yah. They don’t work – not for making peace. You can keep peace with a S&W, hope for peace by sitting in a circle and singing, but making peace is a much tougher thing to do. Making peace is personally costly; it’s not free. Making peace does not impose my will on you. Making peace erases the tension that separates two people, and creates a bond of harmony and unity in its place. Making peace is not easy or common.
When Carlos Bledsoe shot and killed Andy Long in cold blood, what were the odds that their two fathers would one day become good friends? “Tension” is too weak a word for the natural forces separating those two grieving dads. But today, Melvin Bledsoe and Daris Long are more than friends. They work together to try to save the sons of other men (See: https://losingoursons.com). I don’t know the details of how those two men came together, but somebody made peace.
Jesus said:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
Not peace keepers, not peace protesters, but peace makers.
When He said they would “be called sons of God,” Jesus meant that they would strongly reflect the character of God. Real peacemaking is something God does; it’s not something we humans are very good at. Peacemaking is something the Holy Spirit accomplishes through those in whom He has come to live.
The world has never seen a greater peaceMaker than God, Who loved you so much, He sent His only Son to accomplish everything necessary to erase the tension that separates you from God. Everything, that is, except for you accepting the peace He offered.