Month: March 2021

March 28: Palm Sunday: Cheers to Jeers

Read: Psalm 118:1-2; 19-29; Mark 11:1-11

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. ²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. ²¹ I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. ²² The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ²³ This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. ²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. ²⁵ Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! ²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. ²⁷ The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! ²⁸ You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. ²⁹ Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

After World War I, President Woodrow Wilson made a visit to Europe. The United States had come to the rescue of Europe and he was greeted by large crowds everywhere he went. People viewed him as an icon of hope. He was more popular than even the greatest war heroes.

In a Vienna hospital, a Red Cross worker told the children that there would be no Christmas presents that year because of the war and the hard times. The children didn’t believe her. They said that President Wilson was coming and they knew that everything would be alright. HE would make Christmas as it should be. HE was the new Santa Claus!

A year later, things began to change. Political leaders throughout Europe were interested more in their own agendas than a lasting peace and the people slowly lost hope. On the home front, Wilson met opposition in the Senate, and his idea of a “League of Nations” was never ratified. Under tremendous stress, his health began to fail. In the next election, his party lost. Woodrow Wilson, who almost two years earlier was heralded as a hero, came to his last days as a broken and defeated man.

For Jesus, the time frame was shorter. He entered Jerusalem on a Sunday to cheers and hosannas. By the end of the week the crowd’s cheers became, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

After WW I, people had wrong and exaggerated expectations of President Wilson. They had their own agendas and their own “wants” of who he would be and what he would do and Wilson couldn’t satisfy them all.

The crowds in Jerusalem had wrong and exaggerated expectations of Jesus and of the Messiah. They had their own agendas and their own “wants” of who he would be and what he would do and Jesus wouldn’t satisfy them all – not at the expense of God’s will and God’s timetable.

Have you ever been disappointed with God? Have there been times when you expected God to show up – answer a prayer or bless a situation important to you – but he didn’t?

Perhaps it’s hard to imagine joining a mob yelling “Crucify him!” We wouldn’t have done that, right? Yet when I’m frustrated with God because he isn’t acting as quickly as I want or in the ways I want, I sometimes do my own private rebellion. If God won’t give me what I want, then I’ll….do my own thing…I’ll sin…I’ll show him!

Palm Sunday brings us to the end of Lent. We turn our hearts to the hope that the King has come – not the king we expected or wanted or deserved, but the King we need. He is the King who suffers and dies and saves and serves. He is the King who lays down his perfect life so we can find forgiveness and healing for our broken lives.

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Lent is a time of returning to God. It is a time to confess how we keep looking for joy, peace, and satisfaction in the many people and things surrounding us without really finding what we desire. Only God can give us what we want. So we must be reconciled with God.”

Palm Sunday reminds us that not only does God give us the things we need, he does so in the very best ways. We have to confess that we too often expect Jesus to be “the new Santa Claus” rather than the suffering servant who calls us to take up our cross and follow him. We expect him to be the conquering warrior who removes every obstacle in our way and keeps us free from pain and sorrow. Instead, he suffered and died and calls us to us to follow him knowing that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

May our hosannas this Palm Sunday be for the one who truly is King of kings and Lord of lords. May they be for the King who came first into the world humbly as a baby and later entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey; the King who will come again a second time in a cloud and with power and great glory (Luke 21:27).

Questions for Reflection

What expectations do you have for Jesus? When has he let you down? When has he exceeded what you expected?

How do you look for joy, peace, and satisfaction in things other than Jesus? Have you reconciled with God during this Lenten season?

Have you been “on mission” with your Salem family during Lent? Are there any relationships that you could follow up on this week?

Readings for this week:

March 29:                   Isaiah 42:1-9; Hebrews 9:11-15

March 30:                   Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

March 31:                   Isaiah 50:4-9a; John 13:21-32

April 1:                       Exodus 12:1-14; John 13:1-17; 31-35

April 2:                       Isaiah 52:13-53:12; John 18:1-19:42

April 3:                       Job 14:1-14; Matthew 27:57-66

April 4:                       Isaiah 25:6-9; John 20:1-18

March 21: I Shouldn’t Have Done All That

Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 12:12-33

³¹ “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

In her book Amazing Grace, Kathleen Norris tells the story of working as an artist-in-residence at a parochial school. She taught children how to write poetry using the Psalms as a model. One little boy wrote a poem entitled, “The Monster Who Was Sorry.” He began by admitting that he hates when his father yells at him. His response (in the poem) was to throw his sister down the stairs, and then to wreck his room, and finally to wreck the whole town. The poem concludes, “Then I sit in my messy house and say to myself, ‘I shouldn’t have done all that.’”

“My messy house” says it all, Norris observes, “With more honesty than most adults could have mustered, the boy made a metaphor for himself that admitted the depth of his rage and gave him a way out… he was well on his way toward repentance, not a monster after all, but only human. If the house is messy, why not clean it up? Why not make it into a place where God might wish to dwell?” (from Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter)

Jeremiah ministered to the people of Judah during a time leading up to and just after they’d been taken into exile. As you may remember from our preaching series on the Minor Prophets, God had called his people again and again to repent and obey; to put off false gods and idols and to seek him with their whole hearts. He had warned them of impending exile if they refused.

Amid the doom and gloom and warnings, God often gave glimmers of hope. Sometimes it was the hope of what would happen if they turned back to Yahweh in the immediate future and sometimes it was a promise of what God would do in the farther future when he sent Messiah to the earth.

God promised judgment upon Israel and Judah because, like the little boy, they had made a mess of everything. But instead of cleaning it up, they chose to sit in their messy lives and continue in their disobedience. Instead, they kept at it until they were exiled.

Any time, but especially during Lent, we are invited to purse God in prayer, self-examination, and repentance. It is a time when we sit in our messy houses/lives and honestly speak to God about our mess recognizing the blood of Jesus washes us clean and His Holy Spirit can keep it that way.

God told Jeremiah about his people: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Through his Spirit, we have God’s Law on our hearts. It’s part of how we begin to see the disarray of our lives. We don’t like admitting our house/life is a mess. We find ways to work with and around the mess of our sins and destructive patterns. We may have a vague sense something isn’t quite right, but we need the Holy Spirit to help us stop rationalizing it and to stop defending it.

Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:16, ¹⁶ that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. It is God’s Spirit who can clean up our mess and guide us in how to live so our hearts become a place in which Jesus feels at home.

It all starts with taking time to look into our hearts and to examine our lives and to be willing to admit, “I shouldn’t have done all that.” This is the beginning of repentance and the Spirit’s cleaning up our mess!

Questions for Reflection

Set aside some time this week to ask God to show you places you have made a mess. Look at the different components of your life: family, work, church, friendships, faith. Are there places you need to confess, “I shouldn’t have done all that?” Take time to confess to God your sin and messiness.

Remember the words of 1 John 1:9, ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank God for his forgiveness.

Sometimes our sin affects other people. If your mess has hurt someone else, ask God to give you the courage and the grace to go to them to ask forgiveness and make things right.

Readings for this week:

March 22:                   Isaiah 43:8-13; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

March 23:                   Isaiah 44:1-8; Acts 2:14-24

March 24:                   Haggai 2:1-9; 20-23; John 12:34-50

March 25:                   Deuteronomy 16:1-8; Philippians 2:1-11

March 26:                   Jeremiah 33:1-9; Philippians 2:12-18

March 27:                   Jeremiah 33:10-16; Mark 10:32-34; 46-52

March 28:                   Psalm 118:1-2; 19-29; Mark 11:1-11

March 14: One Simple Thing

Read: Numbers 21:4-9; Ephesians 2:1-10

⁴ From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” ⁶ Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷ And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

When I taught high school Bible, I had a student who did not finish a test during class. She asked if she could come after school to complete it and we made arrangements for her to do that. I was frustrated that she never came as she had agreed and, in fact, had gone to an afterschool club instead. I graded her test as it was and put the grade into the computer. I planned, if she would come to me and explain what had happened, to let her finish the test. She never did.

Several weeks later, at a conference with her parents, I told her that despite her low grade in my class, if she would come and talk with me, we could work out a way for her to bring it up. She never did. She only needed to do one simple thing, and she could have improved her grade. Instead she just stayed mad at me.

Reading the passage in Numbers 21 this morning, I was reminded of that girl. The Israelites had escaped Egypt and were in the wilderness. As they moved on from Mt. Hor after the death of Aaron, they become impatient and grumbled (again!) against Moses and God. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”

God, who provided everything the people needed; who lovingly responded to them when they called upon him in faith, did not respond so well to their ungrateful complaints. He sent fiery serpents into their camp. Anyone who was bit by a serpent would die unless he looked at the bronze snake God instructed Moses to set on a pole.

You might wonder how this would remind me of that girl. I gave her one easy way to avoid failure: Come talk to me. And yet she didn’t, and her grade reflected that. God gave the people one instruction for how to survive that snake bite – one simple thing they had to do – look at the bronze serpent and live.

We don’t know how many people refused to look at the bronze snake. We don’t know how many people perished that day. Maybe some thought they would finish what they were working on the then look. Maybe some thought they were tired and would do it after a rest. There were probably some who didn’t think the bronze serpent could save them. They may have gone to a doctor or sought out a priest to pray for them. Or perhaps they just didn’t believe God would kill them.

When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, Jesus told him what was needed to be born again; to eternal life. He said, ^14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus tells Nicodemus, eternal life is found only by believing in the one who is lifted up. It comes by faith in Jesus who would be lifted up on a pole, a cross, for the sins of the world.

There are those who hear the message of Jesus; his perfect life; his undeserved death; his resurrection; the need for us to believe in him to be forgiven and have eternal life; and they say, “One day, just not right now. I don’t want to change.” Others say, “let me get my life right first. Jesus couldn’t accept me.” Others don’t think they’re that bad. And others just refuse to believe.

Paul makes it clear in the passage from Ephesians 2 that we all are by nature objects of God wrath. We willingly sin and deserve God’s punishment. There is only one way to experience God’s hope and forgiveness and eternal life. Look at the one lifted up. Look to Jesus. Believe. As Paul writes, ⁸ “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” 

Sometimes I think of my student and her unwillingness to simply come talk to me. I pray that she hasn’t taken that stubborn attitude with Jesus, refusing to come to him on his terms.

This week, as we are on mission together, there are several suggestions for ways to connect with a person who is not yet a follower of Jesus. Pray for open hearts; for God’s Spirit to move even before you talk to the person. Pray for a willingness for whoever you might share Jesus with to willingly surrender and look to the only one who can bring what our hearts desire most deeply.

Questions for Reflection

Are there any clear teachings in God’s Word you struggle to obey? Any areas you prefer to do it your own way or find yourself putting off until later?

Who is someone in your life you have been witnessing to or have a desire to share Jesus with? Have they heard the gospel already? What might be holding them back from believing? Talk to God about it!

Pray for opportunities to be “on mission” this week!

Readings for this week:

March 15:                   Exodus 15:22-27; Hebrews 3:1-6

March 16:                   Numbers 20:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:6-13

March 17:                   Isaiah 60:15-22; John 8:12-20

March 18:                   Isaiah 30:15-18; Hebrews 4:1-13

March 19:                   Exodus 30:1-10; Hebrews 4:14-5:4

March 20:                   Habakkuk 3:2-13; John 12:1-11

March 21:                   Jeremiah 31:31-34; John 12:12-33

March 7: The Paradox of the Cross

Read: Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 18-25

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” ²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Many of you have heard me tell the story of our failure at planting a church while we were in Jordan. We had gathered three couples. They had believed and been baptized. We had Bible study with them for a long time and we were ready to begin handing off the leadership to them. Within weeks of discussing this possibility with them, the group had fallen apart. They were no longer meeting with us and we were left dazed and confused and wondering why God would let us fail so miserably.

Eventually we would form a new church planting team and with lessons we had learned from the first experience and a few more along the way, the new team saw God move in incredible ways and not only start one house church, but hundreds!

What we thought had been a failure turned out to be a blessing. It was an opportunity to learn and to grow. It was a practical example of how seemingly two opposite things can be true at the same time. An event can be both a tragedy and a blessing, a failure and an opportunity. As Joseph realized with his brothers, an event that was intended for evil can be allowed by God to accomplish his purposes (see Genesis 50:20).

Today’s two texts seem to be opposites. On the one hand there is Exodus 20 which lists the Ten Commandments. It is the heart of the Old Testament Law. It can be summarized, Jesus tells us, in two great commands: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. It’s a list of do’s and don’ts. It’s Law.

On the other hand, Paul writes to the Corinthians about grace and about how God, in his infinite wisdom, used the foolishness of the cross to shame the wisdom of the world. We couldn’t keep the Law’s requirements, so God sent Jesus who did it for us. Our sin deserved punishment, so God sent Jesus to the cross to die in our place.

We can’t love God the way we’re supposed to. We constantly put other gods before him. We may not commit adultery or kill literally, but our minds are filled with hate and anger and lust. Our inability to keep the Ten Commandments is part of why Jesus came and went to the cross. As Paul wrote in his second letter to the church at Corinth, ^21” For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).” That’s grace.

The cross is the place where Law and grace collide. The Law is fulfilled. The Law sets a perfect standard we cannot reach. Jesus lived a sinless life that is credited to us by faith. Our sinful lives deserve punishment, eternal separation from God. Jesus died in our place, taking our punishment upon himself.

But there are people who struggle with the paradox of Law and grace. They struggle with the cross as the way God solves the dilemma. They cannot conceive of something so horrendous; so evil; producing something so good. They cannot understand how powerless they are apart from the cross.

The word of the cross always produces one of two reactions. First, the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. It seems like nonsense to them. In our society that rewards self-sufficiency, the cross is folly. People want just enough Jesus to bless what they’re doing, but not so much they actually have to change. They can take care of themselves, thank you very much! To come and tell such a person that all his/her efforts and all his/her achievements are worth nothing in God’s sight, will immediately bring us to the offense of the cross.

The second reaction to the cross understands its powerlessness. It accepts its own inability to do what is needed. It sees that the word of the cross is power. It is the power of God to everyone who is being saved. To them, the cross is the center of history and life. It is the key to experiencing whatever blessing and goodness God has for us in life. It brings healing to our hearts, deliverance from the bondage of sin, and the entry into peace with God and abiding joy. The cross is God’s wisdom in meeting our deepest needs in a way only he could.

The device designed for execution of criminals became the example of unconditional, redeeming love. It became the place where lives are saved and captives set free. As people walked by and mocked Jesus as he hung on the cross, they had no idea the beauty and glory of that act. They couldn’t see the opportunity in what they called a failure.

Questions for Reflection

Has the cross been a stumbling block in your life? Why or why not?

Have you ever had a situation in your life that seemed hopeless or so bad you couldn’t imagine anything good coming from it? How did God meet you in that place? Has he brought good from those difficult circumstances?

Who is someone around you going through a difficult time? How might you encourage them to see the potential blessing in the midst of hardship?

Readings for this week:

March 8:                     1 Kings 6:1-4; 21-22; 1 Corinthians 3:10-23

March 9:                     2 Chronicles 29:1-11; Hebrews 9:23-28

March 10:                   Ezra 6:1-16; Mark 11:15-19

March 11:                   Genesis 9:8-17; Ephesians 1:3-6

March 12:                   Daniel 12:5-13; Ephesians 1:7-14

March 13:                   Numbers 20:22-29; John 3:1-13

March 14:                   Numbers 21:4-9; Ephesians 2:1-10