Love Your Enemies

No doubt, all of us can name at least one "unlovable" person: it's not that they are really "unlovable" ... just difficult to love. Jesus said, "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies ..." (Luke 6:27). The ideal response we all long for from everyone is a loving one; when it is not, we know exactly how to respond in like kind. Nothing raises the dander than someone who - without cause - acts selfish, unkind and disrespectful toward us. But Jesus said, "love your enemies" and consider what Jesus did: "But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). While you and I were still sinners - yes, enemies of Jesus - He loved us ... that is, He went to the cross for us. We do not get away with just "saying" we love our enemies, we are called to prove the depth of that love by acting contrary to how the sinful nature cares to respond. Jesus said it then He did it ... love your enemies.

Because He Lives

Have you ever predicted something to happen, anticipated it, not surprised by it yet when it actually happened, you found yourself stunned by it? In Matthew 17, Jesus said to His closest friends, "The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him" (V.22a). Jesus said these words with all confidence, absolute authority and unquestionable predictability! Not only was He the Son of God, He knew it was His about to complete His mission by willingly handing Himself over for crucifixion. It was The Father's will - it was The Son's obedience to The Father. We must not miss the rest of what Jesus said: "and He will be raised on the third day" (V.22b). The next verse tells us His disciples were distressed by such an announcement, and later distressed as they scattered after Jesus' death. Surely the words He spoke mere hours before resounded in their minds. As we enter [what is referred to as] Good Friday, we might wonder what was "good" about it. The cruelty of the cross is almost overwhelming; like Jesus' disciples, our minds halted by the God Man taken by evil men and means then put to death. Oh, but those last nine words of Jesus unleashe deliverance and hope to our sinking souls! "An empty tomb is there to prove our Savior lives" - indeed, it is because He Lives we get past the horrors of Friday, the foreboding sadness of Saturday. He may have predicted the terror of Friday but He promised the victory of Sunday ... Because He Lives!

The Wonder of Worship

When you say the word “worship,” myriads of ideas and imaginations come to mind. God through the psalmist directs us in genuine worship: “Exalt the Lord our God; worship at His footstool! Holy is He!” (Psalm 99:5). Imagine [then] how frustrated and infuriated Jesus became at seeing the buyers and sellers front-and-center at the temple! “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, 'It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.'” (Matthew 21:12-13).  Jesus’ actions left no wonder of what should not have been present in the temple.  What He looked for was missing: Exalt the Lord our God!  Worship at His footstool!  Holy is He!  Believers are now God’s temple – where Christ dwells: what does Jesus find in His temple today? Do we wonder how to rightly worship? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8).  Purity – Truth – Righteousness – Surrender – Humility – these bring us into His Presence.  Jesus, the Risen Lamb and Reigning King is ... the Wonder of Worship.

The Day of No More!

“None” isn’t always what we want to hear: no more vacation days, no more milk, no more money – no, good things “gone” isn’t always fine with us. As religious leaders plotted to kill Him, Jesus spent His last few days teaching and preparing His followers of things-to-come. Speaking of the final judgment and the eternal sentencing for those who rejected The Messiah, Jesus’ words empowered His disciples: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46).  The end would come – inevitably.  Jesus was going away but only temporarily: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command …” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). What might that “command” be? In his book, The Final Week of Jesus, Max Lucado speculates: “The angels will stand and the Father will speak, ‘No more’ … Every person who lives and who ever lived will turn toward the sky and hear God announce, ‘No more.’ No more loneliness. No more tears. No more death. No more sadness. No more crying. No more pain.” The end [of life here as we know it] will come along with the end to sin’s reign and rule among nations and men.  O glorious day ... the day of no more!

Love Him Back

What's the first thing you look for when you enter a town? Most likely, it's a gas station or a restaurant or a particular store. My Dad's eyes always went to the skyline because he was looking for a church steeple. After Jesus' exciting entrance into Jerusalem, Scripture tells us the first place He went was to the temple. As worship leader, I often find myself alone in the church sanctuary - what a peaceful place, a particularly reverent spot to listen to The Lord. Jesus did not find this to be the case as He entered the temple grounds; instead He found money changers and merchants. Jesus rebuked the chaos, "It is written in Scripture, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer' but you are making it a robbers' den'" (Matthew 21:13, Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11). Why was Jesus so drawn to the temple? Within mere days Jesus would face the most difficult part of His mission to earth - the arrest, the mock trials, the beatings, the betrayals and rejections, the pain and suffering, the loneliness, the cruel agony of the cross ... death. Ephesians 5:25 tells us "Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." It was His people that drew Him to the temple in those final hours; it was His people that led Him to the cross! The idea that we can love Jesus and not love His Church doesn't line-up with the deep love Jesus has for His people. Dad loved people but especially Church people! Oh, if we could but understand God's love toward those for whom Jesus died, I feel sure we would ... love Him back.