PASTOR’S PONDERINGS

In searching for ideas in writing these columns each month, one of the resources I sometimes consult is Wikipedia.  I simply “Google” the name of the month, and then click on the Wikipedia article that comes up.  Included in each of those articles is a calendar, and clicking on any of the days in any month brings up a list of events that occurred on that day in history, a second list of those who were born on that date, and a final list comprised of those who died on that date.
It is the second of those lists that brings Psalm 87.3-6 to mind.

Glorious things are said of you, O city of God:
“I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who
acknowledge me — Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush — and will say, `This one was born in Zion.’“
Indeed, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one
were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.”
The LORD will write in the register of the peoples:
“This one was born in Zion.”

The Psalmist speaks of God’s list of people born, not on a specific date but in a specific place: the city of Zion.   And what is more amazing is that those listed as born in Zion are not just the Covenant people, they are not just Jews.  They are people usually considered the enemies of God’s people: the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the North Africans, and the Philistines.  These, along with those from Tyre, a city and people group judged by God, are to be people included by God on His list of people born in Zion.  How can that be?  Is God speaking of bringing those people groups to Jerusalem and having their offspring born in captivity in His city?
In a way the answer is both yes and no.  It is no, in that God is not speaking of literal birth, so He is not speaking of bringing any family or people group to the city of Jerusalem for the birth of their children—not even Jews, the Covenant people.  But it is yes, in that He is speaking figuratively, both of Zion and of those who are born there.  He is speaking of the Heavenly Zion, the City of God, the Spiritual City, and the spiritual birth of those born of the Holy Spirit, those born from above—those who know Him.
God’s plan has always been to include people from the whole world in His salvation—it is not just a New Testament idea.  But, more importantly, God wants us to know what’s really important, and what should move us to joy: that our names are on His list.  Jesus said it this way: “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven,” (Luke 10.20.)  Trust in Christ—make certain that your name is indeed written in Heaven.  And then choose to rejoice in that, it’s what really important.   Jesus said so.
– Pastor Jim

PASTOR’S PONDERINGS

February.  It’s here.  And on the second Punxsutawney Phil may see his shadow and then we’ll have six more weeks of February weather.   Ever wonder where that piece of “wisdom” came from?  According to Wikipedia, there are conflicting stories, but there are roughly six weeks from February 2nd until either the Vernal Equinox, (the first day of Spring), or the day when the light first begins to take over the darkness, and people thought that was the first day of Spring—take your pick.  Either way, someone came up with the idea of a story about a groundhog—apparently groundhogs are very timid—and tied it to the idea of six more weeks of winter and the possibility of an early Spring.
And that brings three things to mind.  The first is that man is always inventing stories about the mundane of life.  Man is incredibly creative—and I really love seeing that in all of you and in others.  It’s part of what God had in mind when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness,” (Gen. 1.26.)   The imagination of man is almost limitless.  The problem is that man, in his stories, almost always leaves God out.  When we fell from righteousness in the Garden of Eden, we became rebels against our Creator, and we no longer include Him in our stories.
And that brings me to the second thought: the greatest story-teller ever was Jesus.  His stories were called parables.  He almost always included one line with His stories: “He who has ears, let him hear.” The clear implication is that some could not hear; that is, some could not and would not understand – and that was intentional. In Matthew 13.10-16, Jesus said that He spoke in parables so some people would not understand, otherwise they would turn, or repent, and He would heal, or forgive, them.  God’s plan for man in his rebellion against his Creator included stories, stories for some to understand and for some not to understand—for some to be cured of their rebellion and for some to continue and to perish in their rebellion.
And that brings me to my final thought.  Most of you who read this are those who understand the parables of Jesus.  Praise God!  Know also that with that comprehension God has given comes the privilege and awesome responsibility of passing on the stories of Jesus to this and the next generation or two, to seeing others come to understand those same parables and to trust in the Savior of Whom they speak and to know the forgiveness of which they promise.  But sometimes the stories we delight to tell are the “creative” stories of men rather than the stories of the best story-teller: Jesus.  Sometimes we find it more amusing to pass on the fables of the generations rather than the truth of the ages.
There is nothing wrong with the fairy tales of men, as long as those we tell know the truth, and know that what we are telling them about Punxsutawney Phil is just creative malarkey.  Stories can be fun, as long as they don’t steal from the truth about Jesus.  You think about that.

– Pastor Jim

PASTOR’S PONDERINGS

January. The thought of January always brings the new year to mind, which always reminds me of the end of the Christmas vacation and season. Somehow, at least in some cases, January, perhaps mostly its early days, just gets caught up and overlooked in the Christmas rush.
That’s how it was for my father. His birthday is January 5th. He told me that growing up his birthday was overlooked because it always came so close to Christmas. He never even got a birthday present – it was just assumed that one of his Christmas presents doubled as a birthday present.
For some of us, that’s a very sad and pitiful thought. For others it’s a terrible reminder that they, too, felt overlooked for one reason or another while growing up. But there’s something about being overlooked at Christmastime that suggests something else to me. For all of us it should be a reminder of John the Baptist, who was at least tempted to feel overlooked when Jesus arrived on the scene – not at Christmas, but at the start of His ministry.
We read about that in John 3. John’s disciples—there’s a lesson here about the temptations that come to us from those closest to us, but that’s for another time—came to him and suggested that there was something amiss in the fact that everyone was leaving John for Jesus. Jesus was becoming more popular than John. In short, John was being overlooked because of Jesus. John’s response was classic, inspired, and grace-enabled, and should be ours: “He must become greater; I must become less.”
Wow! I should be willing to be overlooked for Jesus’s sake?! Yes! And I should be willing to be overlooked for the sake of those Jesus wants to raise up for His glory, as well. By God’s grace, yes!
When I was growing up, we tried to make up for Dad’s childhood by making efforts to make his birthday special, and we make certain that he always has a birthday present every year from us—on his birthday, not under the tree at Christmas. He will not be overlooked in our family.
But I believe he would gladly be overlooked every Christmastime, every January, for the sake of the One Whose birth Christmas celebrates. And I believe he would gladly be overlooked every day for His sake as well. It might be a stretch, but I believe that Dad has even learned over the years to accept being overlooked for the sake of those Jesus has chosen to raise up for His glory, and that have caused Dad perhaps to be overlooked.
What about you? Been overlooked lately? Got your nose bent out of shape over it? Or have you, like John, and perhaps my Dad and January, learned to say, “He must become greater; I must become less.” You think about that.
– Pastor Jim

December. Shiwasu. That’s the old Japanese name for the month. It means “priests run.” It is so named because at the end of the year the priests of the pagan religion(s) are busy making prayers and blessings. It conjures up mental pictures of men in flowing robes running to grab written prayers from people, running to place them, perhaps with incense, before pagan gods, quickly chanting a few words of memorized prayers, then running back to the people who gave them the prayers and giving them some sort of memorized and mechanical blessing, and then running to yet another person and grabbing yet another prayer wish. It all strikes me as desperate, hopeless, and sad—a people who, at the end of a year, want some meaning for the past year, some hope for the coming year, some redemption for what took place last year, some power for the next.
There is a contrast in my mind at the same time. I see two old people in a Temple, patiently praying—no hurry, no worry, just faith. There is desperation, to be sure, but the desperation is for the will of God, not for their circumstances, perhaps for the people around them, certainly not for themselves. One of them prays with absolute assurance, the other with absolute abandon: the one with the assurance that he will see the answer to his prayers before he dies, the other with the abandon of earth’s cares and concerns—fasting, denying herself until she sees God’s will fulfilled.
And then one day their prayers are answered. The patience is rewarded. And the scene changes. For the one, patience becomes absolute peace. He prays to depart in peace, ready to die, for his eyes have seen the fulfillment of all his prayers. For the other, patience becomes excitement, and here running occurs, but the running is not the running of the Japanese priests. This is not desperation. This is genuine, “in God” enthusiasm. She has to tell everybody that she has seen the answer to her prayers, she wants everybody to know, to experience her unbounded joy.
By now you know I am talking about Simeon and Anna. You can read of them in Luke 2.25-38. But what I am really talking about is the sadness of the world around us at this time of year compared to what ought to be the joy of us who are in Christ. What I am really talking about is the running about that the world does looking for fulfillment compared to the peace and patience we ought to exhibit. What I am talking about is the desperation that the world knows without God compared to the desperation we ought to have for God and for the people of this world. What I am talking about is the mechanical blessings they receive, at best, from their “priests” who run around spouting their religious (un)truths and the truth they ought to receive from us who ought to run around telling them about the Messiah/Christ Who has come. What I am talking about is the wishing they do and the praying we ought to do—praying with absolute assurance and abandon.
Got the picture?

– Pastor Jim

November.  The eleventh month.  Deuteronomy 1.3 tells us the eleventh month was the month that Moses proclaimed the Law to the Israelites the second time as they stood on the border of the Promised Land after wandering in the wilderness for forty years.  1 Chronicles 27.14 says it was the month that the Ephraimites were to provide the standing army for Israel near the end of the reign of King David.  And Zechariah 1.7 begins the record of Zechariah’s vision of the “fours:” horsemen, horns, and craftsmen, and the measuring line, about God’s restoring and protecting His people after the Babylonian exile.  Doesn’t look like they have much in common, does it?  Oh, but they do… (you knew they would.)
In the first God graciously reminded the people how they were to live if they wanted to retain the privilege of living in the land He had given them, the land denied their parents because of their grumbling and disobedience against the Lord.  God reminded them of His deliverance from slavery to Egypt and from their enemies, His provision and protection during their wanderings, and His leading them to the very place they stood, clearly telling them He would continue to provide, protect, and lead, if they would continue to trust Him and to obey His laws.  While His grace is always unconditional, their, and our, appropriation of it is conditional: faith that results in obedience.
In the 1 Chronicles passage, God moved His servant David to establish a regular rotation of soldiers for the protection of His people: the means by which He would continue to do so.  By this point in their history, God had granted them peace from their enemies all around.  There is no way that an army of 24,000 would have withstood an attack from the armies of the countries around Jerusalem at the time.  These forces probably spent the month in training, staying ready for the call to arms if needed, and kept everything in readiness: when the armies of Israel were called up, all would be ready for them to go to battle.  As always, what David and the army of Israel were did was trust God to be their protection, and evidence that trust with the obedience of preparation.
Finally, Zechariah’s vision was one God interpreted as His protection of His people, His returning them to the land He had promised and given them.  But this time, His city, Jerusalem, would be protected without walls, because God Himself would be a wall of fire around the city, (2.4.)  Talk about trusting God!  He would even see to the rebuilding of the destroyed Temple—and all of this, “not by might, not by power, but by (His) Spirit,” (4.6.)  Their obedience, which would evidence their faith, would be to build that Temple.
The point is this: God protected His people then, and He will protect His people now.  We need to trust Him and to evidence that trust with obedience.  The people on the banks of the Jordan, ready to enter the Promised Land, faced giants and fearful enemies.  David and his people faced numerous and strong warrior enemies.  Zechariah’s people faced many enemies from many nations fighting for world dominion.  Yet they trusted God.  We face terrorists, a bad economy, uncertain election results, ridicule and possibly persecution for our faith.  But, like them, we are called to faith and to evidence it with obedience to God’s Word… in this eleventh month, and every month.  Don’t just think about that… do it!
– Pastor Jim