Dear Worshipers,
Palm Sunday is upon us. I trust that you have been making some preparations to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord as Easter fast approaches, even if only in your heart. I want to take a few moments to encourage in a particular way along that path.
Hosanna, an ancient term having Jewish and Christian liturgical uses, means “Save now, Lord!” Hosanna was a Hebrew expression meaning “Save!” which became an exclamation of praise. We see it in Psalm 118:25, “O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success.” This followed by 118:26, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” One can quickly see that as the people accompanied Jesus into Jerusalem during his triumphal entry, they were looking for a blessed redeemer, someone to save them. Their words are recorded Matthew 21:9b.
I was thinking this morning on what must have been on the minds of those who were shouting their hosannas to Jesus that day, and pondering the corollary to what is on our minds. You will recall that the nation of Israel had been occupied by the powers of Rome for years, and were looking for a deliverer. Of course to the Hebrew mind the best deliverer would be the Messiah. The heart-cry of the Jewish nation was, “O, that Messiah would come and save us!”
How often when we look at the response of the masses on Palm Sunday as contrasted with Good Friday are we amazed at the transformation? I have often thought that we would likely have been swept along by the crowd as were so many casual observers. But even today I realized there is another layer to this.
The Jewish people seemed so aware of the deliverance they needed, they were blind to the one Jesus was determined to accomplish. They wanted freedom from Rome. Jesus wanted to give them FREEDOM. How often do we want freedom from ______ [insert your favorite object of scorn and/or displeasure], when actually what we need is FREEDOM?
Christian, I am not talking about freedom from the curse of sin. You have been granted that through Jesus blood, and your acceptance of that finished work on your behalf. I am speaking of the oft inexperienced freedom that is life IN Christ. This is the life which realizes that taking up a cross is not a chastisement, but a honor. That to be crucified with Christ is not a punishment, but a delight. That there is no real life apart from Christ.
As you shout, “Hosanna” this Sunday, cry out to the One who desires to save you: From wants, as He delivers your needs. From disciplines, as He makes them delights. From yourself, as He gives you Himself.
Hosanna! Save us, Lord!
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Revelation and Response: Lord, Have Mercy
Dear Worshipers,
First of all, to my regular readers, have mercy on me if you will. I had every intention on getting these tunings out a week ago, but the Lord took me into other pursuits last Tuesday and away from them. I like the discipline of writing regularly, and from the comments I have received from a number of you, you enjoy reading them regularly as well. To God be the glory for all the tuning in the past in advance for that which His voice will invite today.
Pastor David in his annual report published in January put the words of this simple prayer before us. A couple of weeks ago he expanded on it a bit in his Thursday thoughts. In our weekly meeting he shared that he will likely develop this into a sermon series. It has been on his heart a lot lately, so it has been on mine too. In the midst of that meeting it occurred to me [the Holy Spirit revealed to me] how this concise prayer gives us both elements of worship that we have been examining lately-revelation and response.
You see, in the very act of calling out to Him, “Lord”, there is the acknowledgement of His position over us. Immediately, we are confessing that we exist to serve Him, His purposes, and His ways. Though some will call Him Lord using it simply as a title (Matthew 7:21-23), we choose to submit to His kingly authority. He has revealed Himself to us as Lord, and we have chosen to recognize that.
That recognition is only the beginning of our response. When we see God rightly for who He is, we can then and only then see ourselves rightly. When we catch a even a glimpse of Him in His sinless perfection, we immediately will be aware of our sinful imperfection. What does one say who realizes he is guilty and deserves punishment: “Have mercy. Do not treat me as my sins necessitate.” When we have a good understanding of God, and ourselves in light of Him, our first response after adoration will be confession. Lord, have mercy on me for…
But these are not the only times we call out for mercy. When facing a very difficult situation the Psalmist cried out for God’s mercy, “Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.” (123:3) When the father of a demon-possessed man came to Jesus asking for healing and deliverance he asked, “Lord have mercy on my son…” (Matthew 17:15) And there are any other number of situations that have probably already occurred to you [the Holy Spirit revealed them to you] as you have been reading. Maybe they are in your life, or the life of someone dear to you. Cry out to the Lord now for mercy. And then keep doing it through the rest of your life as you “tune {your}heart to sing {His} grace.”
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
First of all, to my regular readers, have mercy on me if you will. I had every intention on getting these tunings out a week ago, but the Lord took me into other pursuits last Tuesday and away from them. I like the discipline of writing regularly, and from the comments I have received from a number of you, you enjoy reading them regularly as well. To God be the glory for all the tuning in the past in advance for that which His voice will invite today.
Pastor David in his annual report published in January put the words of this simple prayer before us. A couple of weeks ago he expanded on it a bit in his Thursday thoughts. In our weekly meeting he shared that he will likely develop this into a sermon series. It has been on his heart a lot lately, so it has been on mine too. In the midst of that meeting it occurred to me [the Holy Spirit revealed to me] how this concise prayer gives us both elements of worship that we have been examining lately-revelation and response.
You see, in the very act of calling out to Him, “Lord”, there is the acknowledgement of His position over us. Immediately, we are confessing that we exist to serve Him, His purposes, and His ways. Though some will call Him Lord using it simply as a title (Matthew 7:21-23), we choose to submit to His kingly authority. He has revealed Himself to us as Lord, and we have chosen to recognize that.
That recognition is only the beginning of our response. When we see God rightly for who He is, we can then and only then see ourselves rightly. When we catch a even a glimpse of Him in His sinless perfection, we immediately will be aware of our sinful imperfection. What does one say who realizes he is guilty and deserves punishment: “Have mercy. Do not treat me as my sins necessitate.” When we have a good understanding of God, and ourselves in light of Him, our first response after adoration will be confession. Lord, have mercy on me for…
But these are not the only times we call out for mercy. When facing a very difficult situation the Psalmist cried out for God’s mercy, “Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.” (123:3) When the father of a demon-possessed man came to Jesus asking for healing and deliverance he asked, “Lord have mercy on my son…” (Matthew 17:15) And there are any other number of situations that have probably already occurred to you [the Holy Spirit revealed them to you] as you have been reading. Maybe they are in your life, or the life of someone dear to you. Cry out to the Lord now for mercy. And then keep doing it through the rest of your life as you “tune {your}heart to sing {His} grace.”
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Revelation and Response: NT Example
Dear Worshipers,
Last week I gave you an example of revelation and response from the Old Testament. God revealed Himself to the prophet Isaiah, and Isaiah responded from Isaiah 6. This week I want to give you an example from the New Testament that will hopefully be a helpful illustration of this summation of worship. Let us walk a while down the road to Emmaus where the Master revealed Himself to a couple of His servants.
You remember this amazing account of Jesus walking along with two of His followers after His resurrection. (Luke 24:13-31) It is almost humorous to read this account knowing this is Jesus, but these disciples did not realize that for the longest time because “God kept them from recognizing him.” (24:16) Now there is an interesting truth. God began to slowly reveal who Jesus was to these two who thought they knew Him. How often have we experienced a greater revealing of Jesus as we spent time with Him?
It is noteworthy that Jesus used the Scriptures to reveal Himself to these two. “Jesus quoted passages from the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining what the Scriptures said about Himself.” (24:27) And He is still doing that today. As we come to the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit reveals who Jesus is.
The disciples response, before the revelation was completed, is worth considering. They invited Jesus to spend even more time with them. This is how we feel too when we have had a sweet time of relating to our Lord, coming to know Him better. We want to spend more time. Our quiet time often feels too short because we just want to linger there with Jesus. That must have been how Cleophas and his friend must have felt. Certainly, it was the hospitable thing to do in their culture, but I am confident there was more behind that as we see evidenced later.
Do you see it already? Jesus revealed Himself, even though slowly, and the disciples responded. Just this much is a clear exampling of this pattern, but in the remaining verses there is much more.
The next section is of particular interest as Jesus takes the loaf of bread, asks Gods blessing on it, broke it and gave it to them. “Suddenly, their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” (24:31a) Then interestingly, Jesus disappeared. Even so, this did not deter the immediate response of these two. Within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem through the dark of night to tell the others. It could not wait. Revelation and Response.
But it does not even end there. As the Scripture records, even as they were telling the disciples about their encounter, Jesus appeared to all of them gathered. Their response to this revelation, “the whole group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost.” (24:37) Jesus quickly reassured them he was no ghost, encouraging them to touch Him.
And Jesus wants to a similar thing in our lives today. He wants to reveal Himself to us and He wants us to respond. He wants to be with us as we walk down the road with another friend. He wants to be with us as we entertain guests, and share meals together. He wants wants to be with us as we gather with others to consider the truth of who He is. He wants to calm our fears with His presence. He wants to erase our doubt. Revelation and Response. Do you see it? If you do, how will you respond.
Jesus wants to reveal Himself to you today. He wants you to respond to Him in faith. But Jesus also wants to reveal Himself through you. May the Spirit of God open your eyes to see Him at work around you, for then you will be better prepared to enter into the process of revelation and response.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Last week I gave you an example of revelation and response from the Old Testament. God revealed Himself to the prophet Isaiah, and Isaiah responded from Isaiah 6. This week I want to give you an example from the New Testament that will hopefully be a helpful illustration of this summation of worship. Let us walk a while down the road to Emmaus where the Master revealed Himself to a couple of His servants.
You remember this amazing account of Jesus walking along with two of His followers after His resurrection. (Luke 24:13-31) It is almost humorous to read this account knowing this is Jesus, but these disciples did not realize that for the longest time because “God kept them from recognizing him.” (24:16) Now there is an interesting truth. God began to slowly reveal who Jesus was to these two who thought they knew Him. How often have we experienced a greater revealing of Jesus as we spent time with Him?
It is noteworthy that Jesus used the Scriptures to reveal Himself to these two. “Jesus quoted passages from the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining what the Scriptures said about Himself.” (24:27) And He is still doing that today. As we come to the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit reveals who Jesus is.
The disciples response, before the revelation was completed, is worth considering. They invited Jesus to spend even more time with them. This is how we feel too when we have had a sweet time of relating to our Lord, coming to know Him better. We want to spend more time. Our quiet time often feels too short because we just want to linger there with Jesus. That must have been how Cleophas and his friend must have felt. Certainly, it was the hospitable thing to do in their culture, but I am confident there was more behind that as we see evidenced later.
Do you see it already? Jesus revealed Himself, even though slowly, and the disciples responded. Just this much is a clear exampling of this pattern, but in the remaining verses there is much more.
The next section is of particular interest as Jesus takes the loaf of bread, asks Gods blessing on it, broke it and gave it to them. “Suddenly, their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” (24:31a) Then interestingly, Jesus disappeared. Even so, this did not deter the immediate response of these two. Within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem through the dark of night to tell the others. It could not wait. Revelation and Response.
But it does not even end there. As the Scripture records, even as they were telling the disciples about their encounter, Jesus appeared to all of them gathered. Their response to this revelation, “the whole group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost.” (24:37) Jesus quickly reassured them he was no ghost, encouraging them to touch Him.
And Jesus wants to a similar thing in our lives today. He wants to reveal Himself to us and He wants us to respond. He wants to be with us as we walk down the road with another friend. He wants to be with us as we entertain guests, and share meals together. He wants wants to be with us as we gather with others to consider the truth of who He is. He wants to calm our fears with His presence. He wants to erase our doubt. Revelation and Response. Do you see it? If you do, how will you respond.
Jesus wants to reveal Himself to you today. He wants you to respond to Him in faith. But Jesus also wants to reveal Himself through you. May the Spirit of God open your eyes to see Him at work around you, for then you will be better prepared to enter into the process of revelation and response.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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