The Centrality of the Cross

In the Garden of Eden the first man and the first woman are found clinging to a beautiful tree they thought would bring life. They looked upon a beautiful creature they thought would make them like God. They wanted the fruit they thought would bring them much joy. It is not wrong to have such hopes. We must have hope or we will surely die. The great problem that Adam had and every other human has ever had is that we spend our lives looking to the wrong tree.

Certainly a beautiful tree with its beautiful fruit in a beautiful garden can offer us more than an ugly tree stained with blood in a barren place called skull hill. The first proposed to offer wisdom and knowledge and the answer to life and joy. The second appeared to offer nothing but sorrow and death. But it is just the opposite. The beautiful tree brought death and separation from God, the despised tree brought life and reconciliation.

And so it is that everything else to which we may cling in hope of finding that for which we long for will bring us only sorrow and misery if it is not grounded in the cross. The old tree may seem the most lifeless place on earth. Though others may mock you and laugh at your utter foolishness. Though death seems the only logical outcome. Will you cling to that tree, knowing that your Father will meet you there? The first Adam brought us death in a garden of life. The second Adam brought us life in a garden of death.

There are many ways in which we might consider the centrality of the cross for all the world, but I want to bring it down to this one point and it is a very personal matter ~ It is the centrality of the cross in forgiving those who have sinned against us.

When 5 Amish school children were killed and 5 others injured in October 2006 when a mad gunman entered the Amish schoolhouse where they were studying, the response of the Amish Community resounded loudly in the national media. WE FORGIVE! One of the Amish even said, “Perhaps it is better that this tragedy happened in our community, as opposed to the outside world, because our people are ready to meet God.”

What these gentle people have shown us in their sorrow is that there is a process for healing that is available to all. IT BEGINS WITH FORGIVENESS. Why do we drop out of church? Why do we hold grudges, why do find our lives spiraling down in bitterness and despair? Is it not because of an unforgiving heart.

But if the cross is truly the central reality of our lives we must forgive. AND YET it is not so much a demand ~ as it is the only logical response. THINK ABOUT IT FOR YOUR OWN LIFE. I KNOW IN MY LIFE. There is no one who has offended me more than I have personally offended Jesus. When you come to that reality you realize that unforgiveness in your own heart is the very rule by which you will be judged.

Some may say, "Oh but I have a right Brother Kenneth. You don’t know how others have hurt me. EVEN GOD HAS LET ME DOWN! IF God loved me he wouldn’t allow the things that have happened in my life." We may even feel justified in blaming God for our troubles. Remember man’s first impulse in the garden. Adam blamed the woman then God for giving her to him.

Jesus cried from the cross “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” You may argue, “oh but those who have hurt me knew exactly what they were doing. AND THEY DID IT JUST THE SAME. Therefore I am excused”. NO NO NO. For the flip side is this. IF we fail to forgive we do not know what we are doing. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

If we continue to hold on to unforgiveness in our hearts then we must be forewarned. We have not yet fully understood our greatest need and that is to be forgiven ourselves. We have committed treason against the king of glory. There is none righteous no not one. We all stand guilty before the Supreme Court of Heaven.

At the age of 28 I had finished seminary. I was praying for God to give me greater wisdom. But every time I prayed I felt that my prayers were not going past the ceiling. Every time I prayed a name came to my mind. "David". I knew who David was. I knew what God wanted. I wrestled with God for several weeks. "Oh you must mean the David of scripture." But God’s voice to my spirit spoke louder "DAVID". "Oh but God he doesn’t even know it was me." "DAVID", "But God that was 10 years ago. I am not the same person I was back then." "DAVID". "But God I have a reputation to maintain." "DAVID". "I wouldn’t even know where to find him." "DAVID". "But God that was another town and another time." "DAVID". I looked in the phone book and to my surprise David now lived only 2 short miles from my home. I knew what I had to do. I called David. He recognized my name immediately. I said, "David I need to come see you." He said, "well Ken you will need to come today. My bags are packed I am moving to Florida in the morning."

I got in my car and made the agonizing drive to his home. We chatted briefly and then I went straight to the point. "David do you remember when we were seniors in high school and your car was vandalized one night." He said, "yea I never found out who did that." I said, "David I know who did it. It was me. I am the one who did it. I have come to make things right." Then I pulled out my checkbook preparing to write him a check for the damages. He said, "hold on Ken. You don’t need to do that. I forgive you."

My hands began to tremble and tears began to flow. "But I was wrong. It was me I must make things right." He said, "Ken you just did." I couldn’t speak anymore. I quickly left got in my car and for 20 minutes I just sat there and cried.

The greatest gift I have ever received is forgiveness. Dallas Holmes sang a song 30 years ago. "I’m the one who spat upon the Savior. I’m the one who cursed his Holy name. I’m the one who said with all the rest crucify him. I’m the one. I’m the one to blame."

The only way you and I can properly show our great appreciation for what Christ has done for us is by living a life of forgiveness. And the greatest thing you can ever do for yourself is cling to that old tree and receive the forgiveness that God freely gives to all who call upon his name.

Evidence

When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Acts 11:23

I was in a McDonald’s a few years ago and elderly black man was working the counter. He wasn’t able to move fast and he had gotten one order wrong. A woman returned to the counter chewing him out for his poor performance. He spoke softly and apologized for the mistake as fast as he could he filled the order and said to the lady, “GOD BLESS YOU Ma’am. Have a nice day.”

I am not sure what kind of impact his words had on the young woman, but I know that I was glad and encouraged. I saw in his response the evidence of the grace of God. He had remained true to the Lord with all his heart despite the actions of others.

I remember a preacher’s sermon I heard as a young teen, when he said, “if you were standing trial for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you?” It reminds me that grace in our lives is one of the strongest evidences of Christian character, that God is at work in our hearts.

Grace is a powerful encouraging force that leaves a fingerprint on whatever it touches. Changed lives, restored marriages, reconciled friendships, breaking of harmful addictions are all incontrovertible evidences of the presence of grace. Grace is the DNA of God. It is unmistakable.

Are you carrying any evidence on you today that the grace of God is at work in your life?

Tokens of Divine Presence

"Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. " Exodus 3:12 NKJ

We look for tokens, for signs, for proof of divine guidance that decisions we make are in keeping with the will of God. The token of His presence with us is the desire we have to serve Him. If your heart's desire is to serve the Lord; there is strong evidence that you are moving in unison with the heart of God.

Moses was tending sheep, going through the ordinary routine of the day, when He had an encounter with God. Thus, it often is the case that God engages us with His purposes and His plans at a moment when we weren't looking. Moses wasn't looking for a radical life-transforming encounter. Such encounters are always instigated by the hand of God. It was God who struck the bush and lit it a flame with His presence. It is the certainty that God is with us that causes us to move in directions we had not considered before, doing things that only God could cause to happen.

Certainty in our selves and our own abilities will ultimately lead us to despair. But even if we should choose that path, at the end of our despair is the certainty of God.

Serve God wherever He calls you and all doubts will flee in the overwhelming reality of His presence with you.

Get Ready

"Moses came down the mountain and told the people to get ready for worship." Exodus 19:14 GNT

What are we waiting for? You've asked the question no doubt many times in your life. The little child waiting at the window for daddy to roll in; is the first to announce "Daddy's home!" The spouse waiting for her soldier to step off the plane runs to embrace him. The underdog driving down the field in the last two minutes of the game to win the Super Bowl with 45 seconds to spare.

We all wait for something. The waiting is the getting ready time. Waiting prepares us for that which is to come, be it the celebration, the reunion, the victory or even the dicipline. Many a time I have told my sons, "go to your room. I will be there shortly to deal with this matter."

Maybe you have been waiting a long time for something in your life. Begin now to see the waiting as the "getting ready time." Be bold even to believe that you are getting ready for something grand, for something glorious, for something more wonderful than you have ever known before.

Moses told the people to get ready for worship. To worship God in all of His glory is the grandest thing a human heart can do. A day of worship is coming in my life, a day that I have been waiting for a long time. I call on those who will be there that day to truly worship the living God.

Get ready to hear His voice. Get ready to experience His presence. Don't let a new preacher in the pulpit keep you from worshipping the living God. It is not sermon critique time. It is open our hearts and worship time. The living God wants to speak to you. He is calling you into that holy of holies where nothing else matters, but to be in His presence. D.L. Moody once said:

"The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. I will try my utmost to be that man."

What would the world see if the people of God put aside all our pre-conceived notions and truly worshipped God with a whole heart, overwhelmed by the awesome priviledge of simply being in His presence. Who knows what might happen. Let's GET READY and See!

The Burden Lifted

"This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome," 1 John 5:3

The burden comes because we misunderstand the meaning of works. Doing Christian service to justify God's love for you is a burden to heavy to carry. What work could one ever do to justify the love of God. God loves you not because of what you do, but because of who He is, and the work of His Son on Calvary. You are justified by His actions, not your own. But true faith at work in a life will result in a life lived to the praise of the glory of God.

"Faith alone justifies, but the faith which justifies is not alone"

John Calvin The Principles of Theology

Works then are not for the purpose of earning the love of God, but because I have already experienced the love of God even while I was yet a sinner. Thus, the works that I do are not to free myself from sin, but in a very real sense, our good works are for the purpose of helping others be freed from sin, as the grace of God begins to work in their lives. Not that you free anyone from sin, but you are called to "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16 RSV)

The burden is further lifted by the reality that it is not in my own strength that it is accomplished. Wherever God reveals His glory He provides His strength to reveal it. "I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power." Ephesians 3:7

In all that you have to do today allow the working of God's power in you, that the work He has called you to will be free from burden.

The Power of Jesus Christ Crucified

"For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2

If we don’t believe it we are not going to see it. We’re not going to hear it. Greater understanding of God can not even enter our hearts if we don’t believe that Jesus was crucified because of GOD’s LOVE.

That’s the whole point of John 3:16 "for GOD SO LOVED…." It is because He first loved us that we love Him. It is because of the cross that we can love others. Those who have been forgiven can forgive. The cross was not something that happened to Jesus alone. It was something that happened to ME.

How can I possibly love my enemy? How can I possibly keep from despising those who have hurt me? How can I possibly forgive a spouse or a friend who has wronged me? It is very possible that you can’t, you won’t, it’s not in you, in and of yourself. But the great mystery is this, that through the power of the crucified Lord things begin to happen in my life that were never possible before.

Because of God’s love for me HE REVEALS MYSTERIES. I begin to see things with my spiritual eyes that I have never seen with my physical eyes before. I am able to hear things spoken to my heart that I have never heard with my ears. It is possible to love my enemy. It is possible to forgive those who have hurt me. I begin to understand that all things are possible with GOD. That’s the power of the overwhelming all consuming love of God.

Does Jesus want to speak to our daily lives? YES! Can the church address how to be successful in life? ABSOLUTELY! BUT we must get the foundation right or everything else is faulty. YES We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. YES I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But before victory and strength becomes a reality in my daily living I must come to the reality of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the mystery the world can not accept and so it continues to spiral into oblivion.

I must also understand that his crucifixion is because of me, because of my sin, because of what I have done. Dallas Holmes sings a song. “ I’m the one who spat upon the Savior, I’m the one who cursed his Holy name, I’m the one who said with all the rest “CRUCIFY HIM” Yes I’m the one. I’m the one to blame.” The next time you sing the words of IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL may you be able to do so with all your heart because you have come to the reality of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

"My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

This is the crux of the matter. GOD LOVES ME. HE LOVE YOU. The crucified Lord is the the proof of His love. He who knew know sin, became sin for me and for you. My sin, your sin was nailed to the cross in Jesus Christ. He died for me. He died for you. Who else could love me like that?

It is God’s love revealed in a crucified Lord that gives the church it’s power. That is the message that transforms lives. This is why I want to walk with integrity in my business and personal life. This is why I can praise the Lord. This is why my family is more important to me than money. Not because Jesus helps me climb the corporate ladder, not because Jesus makes me a better pro athlete, not because my name can be plastered on the new wing of the Christian hospital, but because he died for me a sinner.

Understanding this reality – this truth does not put me to shame. ON the contrary it releases me from shame, from guilt from hopelessness and despair. IT is not a negative on which I should not dwell, but it is the power of God in my life. I am redeemed!! I am set free. The chains have been broken and I am FREE. Even death cannot conquer me now, because of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

In a world that titters on the brink of spiritual and emotional bankruptcy do you have a living faith like that? Have you experienced the Love of God in such a way. Until you come to Jesus Christ and Him crucified you will continue to flounder through life on the outskirts of the peace of God. You will never know true joy and happiness until you settle this matter. Until you make this trade ~ His blood for my sin. His death for my life. Until we come to the point we can never fully know just how much God loves us.

Prayer at Big Dawg Gym

I headed off to the gym this morning to try out a new routine. It's supposedly a program that cuts your workout time in half while providing the same or better benefits. I'm all for that. Now days the less time I can spend in the gym the better.

One of the guys struck up a conversation with me. We had seen each other in the gym before, but never carried on a conversation beyond "watz up". As the conversation continued I discovered that he attended a church I had been to a few times. His name is Jerry. He rides a Harley and does prison ministry. As we concluded our conversation I asked him to pray for a missionary friend who has left his family and it would appear the Christian faith.

I did a couple of more sets and Jerry came back over and said let me pray for him now. So right there in the Big Dawg Gym we had prayer meeting. Now let me tell you what didn't happen. There was no criticizing the poor missionary for not knowing better. There was no theological debate on whether the man was saved or not saved. There was no name calling like some might do. There was simply a humble powerful prayer offered in Jesus name that our brother would come back home, that his eyes would be open and that the attack of the enemy would be made of no effect, because of a great and mighty God who knows exactly where our brother is.

It was what I call a GRACE FILLED PRAYER. If there is anything our wayward brother needs right now it is grace. What is going on right now in this missionary's life sheds a whole new light for me on Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God". Could it possibly that the "not of yourselves" part means more than what I thought? Is is possible that the "gift of God" part is actually the faith of others on behalf of one who has fallen away.

I think of the faith of a mom who prayed for her son that God would open his eyes to the grace of God. I think of a campus minister who prayed for a rebellious military cadet and God broke that rebellion. I know because I was that man. Their prayers for me and the faith that they had became to me the "gift of God".

At the throne room of grace there is no place reserved for judgemental spirits. I am so thankful that us Big Dawgs have a Big God who humbles our hearts in the most unlikely places and causes us to understand what it truly means to be mighty men.

Well the workout wasn't any shorter today, but the impact was out of this world...

"For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come" 1 Timothy 4:8