St. Patrick

Today is St. Patrick's Day, so I am reposting what I wrote last year about one of my favorite evangelical saints.

St. Patrick

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

St. Patrick's Day this year is a little extra fun for me because in August I got to go to Dublin.  Dublin was a neat town with neat sites to see like castles and pubs on nearly every square inch, 751 of them to be exact, with live music and lamb stew.  But I'll tell you the thing I enjoyed most about Ireland was its friendly people.

On St. Patrick's Day we remember a man who did more to affect the people of Ireland than anyone else in history.

In the late 4th century (the 300's for those who don't think in century numbers) Patrick was a 16 year old son of a wealthy Welshman, or more properly Briton at that time.  When Patrick was 16 Irish raiders kidnapped him and brought him back to Ireland as a slave.  Patrick was in Ireland for six years as a slave shepherd.  It was during this time as a boy left all alone with the sheep that he built a relationship with Jesus.  In his solace he found the Good Shepherd.  Then one day he, lead by a vision, walked to the coast and boarded a ship of escape back home.

After several years Patrick got another message from God telling him to return to Ireland as a missionary.  So Patrick spent eighteen years in preparation, which made him an old man for his time by completion of training, and became a priest.  

Patrick returned then to Ireland, to the place of his kidnappers and enslavers, not with a sword but with good news.  

The nation of Ireland was soon filled with churches planted by Patrick but the Church in Rome wasn't completely happy.  See, Patrick was the type of man that read the book of Galatians so when he went to Ireland he didn't go to make them like the Catholics in Rome.  Patrick went to make them Christian and not any less Irish.  Patrick dressed like an Irishman and let them do the same.  Patrick became so much like an Irishman that when billions around the world think of the island they think of Patrick.

St. Patrick died on March 17 in roughly 461 A.D.  He is remembered today very poorly but he should be remembered well.  He should be remembered as a man that loved his enemies, as a man that loved God's design for different cultures and peoples, as a man that was bold and effective in proclaiming Jesus, and as a man that affects the people of Ireland nearly 1,600 years later.

I'll leave you with a prayer attributed to St. Patrick (though the authorship isn't clear) that is known as St. Patrick's Morning Prayer.  Pray this prayer as a way to celebrate this holiday today.

"I arise today

Through the strength of 

Heaven;

Light of the sun,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of the wind,

Depth of the sea,

Stability of the earth,

Firmness of the rock.

I arise today

Through God's strength to 

pilot me;

God's might to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak to me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's host to save me

Afar and anear,

Alone or in a multitude.

Christ shield me today

Against wounding

Christ with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me, Christ in me,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of

everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of 

everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through the mighty strength

Of the Lord of creation."

Undoing Babel

In Genesis chapter 11 you find the story of the Tower of Babel.  In this story the people of the earth all spoke one language and they all came together for one purpose: to "make a great name for themselves" (Genesis 11:4).  The people had great unity but a missed purpose; they wanted to be unified in order to make a name for themselves.

When God saw this he said:

"'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.' So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.  That is why it is called Babel (or Babylon)... because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world.  From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:6-9

Before we get into why the LORD would do this, we must look at what the ramifications of this are.  What sorts of things would you expect to come out of this confusion and scattering?  One would expect: Misunderstanding, frustration, isolation, anger, suspicion of the "other", racism, nationalism, war and the like.  And isn't this what we see?  Don't we see fear of those not like us?  Don't we see cultures and nations waring?  Don't we see throughout history domination and subjection of the "others"? 

Any good reader of the Bible will wonder at Genesis chapter 11 a couple of things:  First, why did God do this and how can this be undone?

"When the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from Heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under Heaven.  When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language." Acts 2:1-6

"Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off... for all whom the Lord our God will call." Acts 2:38-39

Pentecost is the answer to how to undo Babel.  Pentecost was the beginning of God bringing all the scattered together again.  From that day on the mission of God for us is to bring together what was scattered.  To undo under the banner of Christ the mess of nationalism, racism, division, isolation and the like. 

Our mission is not simply to unify for the sake of unity as was the case in Babel.  No, our mission is to call people from every nation, race, tribe and tongue (Revelation 7:9) to pursue proclaiming the great name of God, not the exulting of man's name.  When this great multitude is assembled this is what they will say:

"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!" Revelation 7:12

At Babel the great division of the world's peoples began and that division has brought calamity and suffering.  At Pentecost the great gathering of the peoples of the world began and we Christians must proclaim the world peace that this offers.  All the peoples were together at Babel for a Hell-bent cause and one day all the peoples will be at the New Jerusalem enjoying the Heaven purchased for them by the great name of Jesus. 

Share the good news.  Let people know that Christ has won this victory already.  Go and share this good news to "every nation, tribe, people and language" today.

A Master or a Judge

We live in an extremely political world.

I don't remember it always being this way.  I mean, I've always had an interest in politics and the Ray side of my family has always enjoyed a good political debate, but it seems politics is ubiquitous these days.  As someone who nearly spent his working days teaching history and government classes I do believe an informed citizenry is very important.  But our political climate isn't so much one of information but of using tidbits of information to arm ourselves for the next argument against the other side.

Politics is a team sport and the season is year round.  Every day is spent looking for the ammunition that helps win the next verbal battle against the other team.  It's spent looking for the next killer meme to share to show the other side who's boss.

As Christians we can and likely should be engaged in politics in an effort to make our home a safe, flourishing place that benefits the most people in the most ways.  However, we as Christians must have a first devotion to King Jesus.

There is much ambiguity as to exactly how Christians should want to be governed by the State.  Jesus would most certainly be upset by things in both parties and would perhaps be pleased by some things in each party; but let's be clear, Jesus is not going to come back to set up a Republican or Democratic government.

However, despite the fact the Bible doesn't tell us everything about how we should vote or necessarily clearly in a socially moral way in a democratic republic, it should be chief in shaping the principles that guide us in the voting booth and in the next political discussion.

C.S. Lewis in his classic book Mere Christianity wrote about social morality.  He wrote that a Biblical idea of Christian behavior and morality may push us to the Left in some economic matters and to the Right in some social matters.  Regardless as to how his commentary on Left and Right translates from England to the U.S. and from 1943 to 2019, he has one quote in particular that is stinging to both sides of the aisle of both government and the pews:

"Most of us are not really approaching the subject in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party.  We are looking for an ally where we are offered either a Master or a Judge." 

- C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity p. 82

When we approach our faith to inform us on our politics we must approach it as subjects.  We must place ourselves under the Word.

So, be interested in politics.  Avoid being consumed by politics because it is a poor god.  And always place yourself and your ideas under the Word. 

Above all, worship King Jesus today.

Reverence and Exuberance

How does God want us to approach Him in worship?  Is it with all due seriousness?  Is it with extreme jubilance?  I think 2 Samuel chapter 6 provides some of the answers to those questions.

This passage of Scripture includes two stories that are seemingly opposite in their approach to the Ark of the Covenant and therefore to worship.  Let's look at each.

In verses 1-8 we get the strangest of the two stories.  In this passage the newly crowned King David decided to make Jerusalem the political and religious capital of the nation of Israel.  In the few verses prior King David built his palace, the political center, and in this passage he begins to bring the Ark of the God, the religious center.

So, David puts the Ark on a new cart and wheels it along with great pomp and circumstance.  As the Ark went along it began to tip when the oxen pulling it stumbled.  Uzzah reached out to take hold of it to keep it from falling and:

"the LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the Ark of God." (2 Samuel 6:7)

Now, why did God get so mad at Uzzah?  Why did the LORD kill a man trying to keep the Ark from falling over?

Well, in Numbers 4:5-15 God detailed a very specific way that the Ark was to be moved.  Poles were to be put on it so it would be carried by men, not pulled by oxen, and the sons of Aaron were to move it and no one was to touch it.

God desires to be approached and worship with all due respect.  God is to be feared.  He is to be revered.  Uzzah died because of an irreverent act that David's poor leadership set him up for.

After this situation David ditches the Ark because he's afraid of God's wrath.  Later King David finds that the place where the Ark was kept was abundantly blessed, so he went back to get it.  This time around King David had the men carry it with the poles.  King David ensured that the men feel the full weight of the glory rather than pulling it on a cart.  In fact, after six steps King David had them set it down and sacrificed a bull and fattened calf.

King David then led this parade into Jerusalem.  David came in dancing with all his might while dressed in less than a normal kingly fashion.  David had an exuberant reaction to the presence of God entering his community.

Then King David's wife Michal scolded him for acting less than kingly in her opinion.  She gave him a piece of her mind and David replied:

"I will celebrate before the LORD.  I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." 2 Samuel 6:21b-22a

Then God caused Michal to be barren her entire life.  If you know anything about the culture of the Old Testament times, you know that this is an extreme punishment. Barrenness was seen as a great curse and many of the miracles in the Bible involve overcoming barrenness, not causing it.

So, in this chapter God was harsh with two people: Uzzah and Michal.  God was extremely hard on Uzzah because proper reverence toward Him wasn't being exercised.  The LORD was hard on Michal because she was trying to remove David's proper exuberance from the worship of Him.

God desires holy reverence and holy exuberance.  

Worship of God mustn't be devoid of fearful reverence and obedience but it also can't be emotionless and He most certainly won't stand for people pouring water on the flames of the holy exuberance of others when done in the proper fashion.  God deserves both and we must give both to Him.  Do we do do both equally and simultaneously every time?  I don't think so, but we must worship Him with both.

Our God is holy, holy, holy and He is the fountain of everlasting joy.  Feel the weight of His glory and the excitement of His splendorous love toward us today.

Gladness, His, Baa

"Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

Serve the LORD with gladness!

Come into His presence with singing!

Know that the LORD, He is God!

It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture." Psalm 100:1-3

Since the beginning of the year my church has been memorizing passages of Scripture together through a program called Fighter Verses.  This week's passage is Psalm 100:1-3 so my wife and I have been reciting this around the house trying to commit it to memory because we're a bit behind when we normally have a passage memorized.

Today we've said this passage a lot and Joshua (our 22 month old son) has been listening.  In fact, he has a knack for picking out a few words when someone talks.  This Sunday during the sermon he picked his three key words: "look", "God" and "hope".  Those words were a pretty decent summation of Pastor Jonathan's forty minute sermon.

Joshua's words he spoke aloud from Psalm 100:1-3 were: "gladness", "His" and, before you think he's a theological prodigy, "baa".  The first two words he likes to repeat are worth diving into.

Gladness

This word is a major theme of this short passage.  We are to "serve the LORD with gladness!"  We "make a joyful noise to the LORD" out of the gladness overflowing in our hearts at the thought of Him.  We are to "come into His presence with singing!"  We are to be people that delight in God and are full of gladness.  We are not to be singing robots.  We aren't to be serving out of a feeling of duty.  NO, we are to be full of gladness.  Christians are to be people full of happiness at the thought, the presence, the sight of the LORD.

His

What makes us glad?  I would argue that the whole earth can make a joyful noise at the thought of God simply because of who He is.  Simply the fact that "the LORD, He is God!" gives the world reason to rejoice.  Diving into the attributes of God should ignite our hearts to praise, but I don't think that is the ultimate source of gladness in this passage.  The reason why we sing and make noise and serve with gladness is that we are His.

We are His.  First, He created us.  He has creative ownership over our lives.  But there is something more than that.  We are His because "we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture."  God has adopted Christians into His fold, into His pasture, or to mix analogies, into His family.

Look at our Fighter Verses from a couple of weeks ago:

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand.  I and the Father are one." John 10:27-30

We are overflowing with gladness and rejoice because we are His sheep.  The knowledge that the LORD (read Yahweh when you see all caps), the God of the universe, the personal, living God, the triune God has us as His.  This is what causes us to be glad.  If we are not His the thought of His existence and coming to us inspires screaming rather than a joyful noise.  But we are His and we can be glad because of it.

If you searching for joy.  If you are fighting the Winter blahs and feel as though you have no reason to be glad, remember what my God and my son say.  If you are an adopted child of God the Father through the death and resurrection of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, then be glad.

Ponder this and be filled with overflowing gladness that you are His today.

Happy Birthday, Christine

Today is my beautiful wife Christine's 28th birthday.

What can I say that hasn't already been said on previous birthdays?  My wife is sweet, compassionate, smart and gorgeous.  She is an excellent mother to the three children in our home.  She is the wife I don't deserve.  She's my best friend, co-worker and lover. 

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing 

and obtains favor from the LORD." Proverbs 18:22

My wife blesses me in so many ways and I know she blesses many others.  I mean, who else goes to a foster care training class on their birthday?

Help me celebrate Christine by telling her happy birthday today.

Living Hope for Anna

Today we dedicated our dear, sweet, little girl Anna to the Lord alongside four other babies at church.  In our church tradition we don't baptize babies, but we do dedicate them to God.  We promise to raise them in the faith and give them wholly to Him.  Dedication does not save a baby, but the raising up of a child in the faith is a very common means Christ uses to call His lost sheep to Him.

During the dedication we made five promises:
1) To recognize our children as gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for God's blessing.

2) To dedicate our children to the Lord who gave them to us, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to Jesus Christ.

3) With God's fatherly help, to bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives.

4) To provide, through God's blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of our children, looking to our own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them.

5) Relying on God's help to make it our regular prayer that by God's grace our children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all His promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey His teachings.

My prayer for my kids is that they have "boring" testimonies.  I pray that they spend very little time not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  I pray that God uses Christine and I to lead them to Jesus.  I pray that I get to baptize my children one day.

When Joshua was dedicated I requested that the song "Because He Lives" be sung during the service.  With Anna the song "Living Hope" was sung and I'm so glad it was because that's how any of this happens.  I can only hope these things for my kids because my God lives, because He is my Forever Leader.  Jesus is my living hope for me and my children and he's the living hope for my step-dad Larry, who has a brain tumor, who sat next to me this morning.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in Heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith... more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire... may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:3-8

Thank God that He is a living hope for me, for my little Anna, for Larry and for you today.