What Now?

Last week we finished our Reading the Bible in 90 days program, so it seemed quite natural to ask the question, "What now?" I suppose it is obvious that reading through the Bible shouldn't be an end in itself. This thought led me to Psalm 1 -- The Blessed Man:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984

This Psalm tells of the blessed man. How does one become a blessed man or woman. First this psalm tells us some things not to do:

• Don't walk in the counsel of the wicked. In other words, don't live like the wicked
• Don't stand in the way of sinners. Don't stand for what they stand for. Don't support ungodly positions
• Don't sit in the seat of mockers. Don't hang around with those who mock God

Then the Psalm goes on to tell us some things to do:

• Delight in God's word. Spend time in reading it. Make reading a priority.
• Meditate on it day and night. The word used for meditate has the same root as that of ruminate. Picture a cow placidly chewing it's cud. Bring God's word up again and again. Think on it often

Well, what does it mean to be blessed by God. First of all, it isn't a good feeling, although one who is blessed generally does feel good. A blessing is really God's good will and favor toward the one who is blessed. Picture a tree -- sturdy -- firm -- planted by water. This is a tree that will stand in good times and bad. It is a tree that yields fruit and it doesn't wither even in time of drought. This is a metaphor of someone who is blessed of the Lord. The psalm goes on to say that this person prospers in everything. In the Old Testament, prospering doesn't necessarily mean riches. It just means that things generally go well. Things happen as they should. This happens because the way of the righteous is watched over by the Lord.

Well, what does it mean to not be blessed by the Lord. Wicked people (people who don't live for God) are like chaff. Picture the left overs as the wheat has been winnowed. The left over is chaff. It just blows away. The Psalmist further states that when judgement comes, the wicked wont make it through, at least with a not guilty verdict. They wont be counted along with the righteous. In fact, ultimately they will perish.

By this time, most of us -- at least of we believe the Bible to be true -- decide that it is better to be blessed than to perish. What is the difference. First there is the sin question which is dealt with in the death and resurrection of Jesus. But, in this Old Testament passage, the difference between blessing and no blessing is how we treat God's word -- The Bible. For our congregation which just finished reading through the Bible I presented some, "What nows":

• Continue to read the Bible daily
• This time don't just read, study. Obtain a study Bible or commentary. Read smaller portions.
• Meditate on these passages.
• Memorize verses or passages that inspire you
• "Sit under the authority of the Word." Always as the question, "So what?" If this is God's word, what is being said to me. Should I do something to follow through on what I read?

I can truthfully say that my life has changed over the years. A large part of the change is due to a continual reading of God's word. I recommend it.

A Vision for the Future

This post is a summary of my last sermon in the series covering Reading the Bible in 90 days. The scripture is Revelation 21:1-5:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

This passage is about vision. It provides a glimpse of a heavenly future awaiting those for whom it has been prepared. It is God's vision for the future. The scripture states that there is to be a new Heaven and a new Earth. Of course for there to be a new heaven and earth, the old one must pass away. A vision is like that; for the future to come, we must leave the past behind. I don't fully know what it means that there will be a new heaven and earth. I don't know what it will look like, but this scripture passage does give us some insight of what will be there.

First, and this is important, there will be no sea. Now I am an old sailor; I like the sea. But, for the ancient Israelite, the sea is not a good place. The Israelites were not sailors. The sea was a place of chaos. There were evil entities and monsters there. It was not a friendly place. None of this evil, this chaos will be present in this new heaven and earth.

Second, this passage tells of a new Jerusalem coming down adorned like a bride. What is the significance of this? Of course, Jerusalem was the city of God. The temple was there which signified God's presence. The church is called the new Jerusalem. The church is also called the bride of Christ and it is called the temple of the Holy Spirit. This new heaven and new earth will be a place where God dwells. Of course, the passage goes on to say just that.

Third, God's presence makes everything good. There is not going to be any death, mourning, crying or pain. This is good. Heaven is a place of everlasting joy in the presence of God.

Fourth, the passage reiterates that everything is now new. Things will be entirely different.

The good news about this passage is that this is a future that we will participate in. As the church, this future is designed with us in mind. One of the things that I like about this future is actually found in the next chapter of Revelation and it concerns the tree of life. When God created the Garden of Eden, there were two trees found in the center of the Garden. The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man chose to eat of the forbidden fruit; of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Man was put out of the Garden to keep him from eating from the Tree of Life (See Genesis 3). In Revelation 22, in our future, the Tree of Life is there with fruit for the picking. Our future is a place of eternal life.

Vision is important. The Bible says that without a vision, the people perish. Without a vision, we wander aimlessly. It is important to see the vision and work toward preparing to live out that vision. Certainly this is true for the vision described above. We must learn to live with and for God in this life as a preparation for dwelling with Him for eternity. I went on to discuss a vision for our church. A vision is of utmost importance, but if we don't work to make this vision a reality, it is after all only a pipe dream.

Liberalism, Socialism and the Church

There is a lot going on. We have fires, health care debate, war -- and in the middle of it all, the great liberal lion of the senate, Teddy Kennedy died. I was not a fan of Senator Kennedy's politics. Yet, I was impressed with the funeral. I also disagree with Jim Wallis a lot, but I like the following quote from his blog on God's Politics:

But it was the funeral on Saturday morning that most moved me. I don’t know what I was expecting -- likely more speeches -- but not a traditional Catholic funeral liturgy, complete with the Holy Eucharist. Of course, what else should I have expected from such a Boston Catholic family? Here was the divine irony. At the funeral of the nation’s most liberal political leader of the last half-century, a watching nation was treated to a full Catholic Mass. And even more, the readings are what most struck me. When was the last time the whole country got to hear the 25th chapter of Matthew, with Jesus imploring us, “I was hungry ... I was thirsty ... I was a stranger ... I was naked ... I was sick ... I was in prison ... and you came to me.” And then the song of Mary: "He will put down the mighty from their thrones, exalt those of low degree, fill the hungry with good things, and send the rich empty away.” Ted and Vicki Kennedy carefully chose those readings for this solemn and special occasion, and the whole nation listened to them.

Then I watched the greatest collection of national political leaders in decades from both political parties -- 60 senators, countless congressional members, and four presidents -- hug each other in the passing of the peace. Then they came forward to receive the body and blood of Christ, as cellist Yo-Yo Ma accompanied Placido Domingo in Cesar Franck’s "Panis Angelicus." I started changing the channels then, just to see who was watching. CNN, MSNBC, FOX!, NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX again! were all tuned in to the Mass. Who could have brought about such a thing -- a man with serious personal flaws who had experienced great pain in his life, who had been the greatest political lightning rod of his time, and who had, nonetheless, been the most successful senator both in forging a list of accomplishments like no other, and in bringing people together from both sides of the political aisle.

I was impressed that God can even use politics and politicians to show forth his glory. Any man who is the best grandpa in the whole world can't be all bad (we all know that there are exceptions.)

Are You Ready to be a Disciple?

In July, I had the opportunity to hear J.P. Moreland speak at the Holy Spirit Conference held at Green Lake Wisconsin. He actually talked on the issue raised in his book, "The Lost Virtue of Happiness. He states, "We Americans are obsessed with being happy. But we are also terribly confused about what happiness is. As a result we seldom find a happiness that lasts. But because the pursuit of happiness' is promised to us as a right in the founding documents of our nation, the Declaration of Independence, we carry a sense of entitlement. We think we deserve happiness." Of course, he goes on to say that even though we pursue happiness, we rarely really find it. Have you ever noticed the tired, haggard faces of people dragging through Disneyland (the Happiest Place of Earth) trying to be happy. It makes me tired just to think of it.

Moreland says that the problem is the definition of happiness. The current definition which is related to feelings was not the definition understood by the Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence. On page 16, Moreland writes this:

A recent dictionary definition of happiness is "a sense of pleasurable satisfaction." Notice that happiness is identified with a feeling and, more specifically, a feeling very close to pleasure. Today the good life is a life of good feeling, and that is the goal of most people for themselves and their children. A major talk-radio host has interviewed hundreds of people over the past few years by asking the question "What did your parents want most for you -- success, wealth, to be a good person, or happiness?" Eighty-five percent said happiness.

On page 25 he goes on by writing:

Here we must examine the classical understanding of happiness proclaimed by Moses, Solomon, Jesus, Aristotle, Plato, the church fathers and medieval theologians, and many more -- the understand that has recently be replaced by "pleasurable satisfaction." According to the ancients, happiness is a life well lived, a life of virtue and character, a life that manifests wisdom, kindness, and goodness. For them, the life of happiness -- the life to dream and fantasize about, to hunger and seek after, to imitate and practice -- is a life of virtue and character. At its core, such a life includes a very deep sense of well-being. But this sense should not be confused with pleasurable satisfaction.

Jesus said this in Mark 8:33-38:

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Moreland writes that the only way to be truly happy is to live for something more important than one's self. Moreland points to the passage above as how Jesus tells us to live. To be a disciple is to learn to follow the master. Jesus exemplified this passage and he tells us that to be a disciple, these are principles that we should follow.

What are the things that he tells us?

• Think like God -- See things from his perspective. We must learn his word (the Bible) and believe it. We should enter into relationship with Him. We must allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds.
• Deny yourself -- No, we are not door mats, but rather than insisting just on our own rights, we seek to protect the rights of others. We work for the success of others, not only for our own success.
• Lose yourself -- We lose ourselves by immersing ourselves into something bigger than us; we live for Christ and the fulfillment of his purposes. Our ambitions should coincide with God's ambition for us.
• Don't lose your soul -- Don't just live for self. Don't compromise your values in order to get ahead. In fact, make character development more important than getting ahead.
• Don't be ashamed of Jesus -- Don't hide your Christianity. Avoid having a "secret life." Live life openly. (I am not saying we don't have private lives -- I am just saying that our private life and our public life are congruent.)

Do you want to be happy? Live for Jesus. Make his purpose your purpose. Become a disciple of Jesus.