Faith, the Cubs and Opening Day

This is a post I wrote three years ago that I have enjoyed too much not to use every year.  Besides the fact that the Pirates are actually a good team the truth of the post is still intact.  And this post means more to me this year because of the emphasis on hope that I've had since November as we've prepared to do our Easter passion production "The Great Saga" which is coming up on the 13th and 16th of April. 

I hope you enjoy this recycled post.

Faith, the Cubs and Opening Day

I love Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season.  Opening Day means hope.  Every team, except the Pirates, comes in today feeling that they will be the World Series champions come November. 

This year my Cubbies are winning it all.  I've put my hope in it.  This year is The Year.  I know I've said it before, but this is it.  Hey Chicago What Do You Say?  The Cubs Are Gonna Win Today!

I put my hopes in the Cubs every opening day and every year come November I find that my hope has been misplaced, but not this year.

I am very glad that my hope in the Northsiders isn't the same as my hope in Jesus.  The Cubs have never come through for me, in fact every time I go to Wrigley they lose.  Conversely, Jesus has never let me down.

My hope in Christ is completely different than my hope in the Cubs... THANK GOD!

Paul writes this to the church in Corinth:

"We are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  We live by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord."  2 Corinthians 5:6-8

Paul was so confident in his hope in Christ that he was excited to and willing to die.  I've never had enough confidence in the Cubs to risk my life on a bet that they would win it all; but I have enough confidence in Christ to risk my life on a safe bet that He will win it all.  Christ is a sure bet.  He is not only the place to put our hope, He is the source of it.  Every day is Opening Day with the hope I have in Jesus.

So cheer for the Cubs, maybe even hope they win it all this year; enjoy Opening Day, but remember that our hope is in the Lord today.

The Power of the Cross

As many of you know, I've been blogging every day during Lent.  I do this because I want to add a discipline in my life that encourages spiritual growth in me.  I hope that you get encouragement from this Lenten challenge of mine.  I hope that you're finding Lent as a great time of growth as well.

On Sundays I get the chance to be fed by teaching and worship with my local church.  This morning I was most fed by a song we sang during worship.  Pay attention to the powerful and truthful words of this song .

What from your worship service excited you today?

Ambassadors

This is the final post I have from 2 Corinthians chapter 5.  Please read this short chapter so you have a context for what the following verses are about.

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them.  And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."  2 Corinthians 5:18-21

We are reconciled to God.  This means we were at odds with God and we are now no longer at odds with Him.  We were enemies of God, but now we are not His enemy.  Who initiated reconciliation?  God did.  We would have continued to be His enemy if He had not initiated reconciliation.  We are reconciled to Him by Him.

We who were reconciled to God have now been made ministers of reconciliation.  As one commentator put it, "The reconciled is now the reconciler."  This is amazing!  Be sure to read this correctly.  We do not reconcile people to God; rather we announce that God has reached out the olive branch of reconciliation to the people of the world.  We announce the Good News that Jesus has made reconciliation with God possible if the hearers of the Good News would just accept the olive branch extended by God Himself.  What a great privilege!

We are ministers of reconciliation because we are ambassadors of Christ.  We speak the words of God, not our own words.  Charles Rivkin is the United States ambassador to France.  Does he speak his own message to the French government?  Absolutely not.  Rivkin appeals to the French as if the U.S. government was doing it itself.  This is how we are to be as Christ's ambassadors to the world.  We speak His words "as though God were making His appeal through us."

Ambassadors of Christ, here is our appeal straight from God that we are to make to all the people of the world: "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."  Our message is the Gospel... it is Christ and Christ crucified.

Ambassadors of Christ, we are to be like the town cryer.  We are to proclaim the Good News of the Jesus.  "Hear ye, hear ye, one and all, God made Christ to be sin for us, so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God!"

Those of you reading, Christ died for you.  He took your sins upon Himself and died the death you deserved.  He was buried and rose again conquering sin and death.  He has offered you life where you deserved death, heaven where you deserved Hell.  He will give you an inheritance beyond anything you can dream of.  He will give you His righteousness.  This is Good News and as an ambassador of my King I want you to hear this Good News.  Accept what Christ has done for you.  Be reconciled to God through Christ today.

A New Creation

I'm going to continue in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 today.

"... we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so on longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"  2 Corinthians 5:14-17

If you have been baptized you may remember this type of language.  In many churches when believers are baptized this is said: "Crucified with Christ (as the person is lowered), buried with Christ (as the person is immersed in the water) and raised to walk in new life (as the person is raised out of the water)."  I love this language as people are baptized because it helps demonstrate what happened when the Holy Spirit entered them at conversion.

We believe that Christ died for all for all of us, therefore we are all dead to our old selves.  We believe that Christ was raised from the dead as the first of many that are raised from the dead.  Jesus was raised from the grave and so we are now alive as our new selves at the point of salvation, whenever that is.

Because of that we need to look at ourselves and others as new creations.  We will not someday be new creations, we are new creations today.  So, we need to look at other believers in that light.  Rather than seeing all their faults, we must look at them from a heavenly point of view and find the evidences of God's new creation in them.  We must also do the same for ourselves.  I know too many Christians who beat themselves up and pick themselves apart.  Stop that!  You are a new creation.  To unfairly criticize God's new creation is not right; you have no right to criticize what God has made.  You have no right to bash God's new creation whether that creation is you or someone else; for that matter you also have no right to hate anything of the old order, but the new order is even more off limits.

"The old has gone, the new has come!"

The sentence above is not just talking about individual people.  That verse could read, "the old order has gone, the new order has come."  Paul was not just making a proclamation about believers having new life, he was proclaiming a new order of life on earth.  When Jesus said, "It is finished" on the cross, He was announcing that what was needed for the entire Gospel message to come true was finished and the entire Gospel message is that creation will be redeemed and made new.

The new has come means everything to believers.  We believe that Christ was the first of a new creation.  When Jesus burst out of the tomb the whole Kingdom of Heaven began to burst out with Him.  We are evidence that the Kingdom of Heaven is here.  Is it completely here now?  No, but it is here in part.  We are part of the new order bursting into earth.  We, the new creations, will do things that are like our homeland, we will act in accordance with the rest of God's new creation.

If Christ is in you you are a new creation.  Remember that and view yourself as a new creation.  Remember to view others as a new creation and treat them accordingly, recognize the potential that lies in them because of what they are.  Announce that the old has gone, the new has come!  As God's new creation we are charged with being a part of the new order coming to earth.  Will it come completely before Christ returns?  No, but we can be a part of its triumphal entry onto the earth that is groaning for it to come.

Live as the first fruits of the new creation today.

Compelling Fear and Love

Today's post will continue in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Since, then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.  What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.  We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than what is in the heart.  If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.  For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again."  2 Corinthians 5:10-15

In the passage above there are two things that should compel us to evangelism: fear and love.  Let's look at each.

1) Fear compels evangelism.

Paul says that we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ.  This should inspire fear in us.  I used to think that Christians were spared from the judgment seat of Christ, but I was wrong.  We will all stand before the Lord and have our deeds judged, whether good or bad.  Only if you are a Christian can you withstand this judgement.  But even as a Christian this strikes fear into me.  I do not want to stand before God and have Him tell me all the bad I did or all the good I didn't do.  I don't want Him to show me all the people I didn't share the Gospel with when I had a chance.

When I stand before God in judgment I want Him to say, "Well done good and faithful servant."  I desperately want that, but it won't happen if I don't get off my butt and do something.

"Since, then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men."  Because I know that all men are to be judged I want to persuade people to claim Jesus' righteousness as their own.  I fear the judgment with the righteousness of Christ, I can't imagine the judgment for someone who has not accepted the mercy of God.

Fear of the Lord should compel evangelism; it should not paralyze it should motivate.

2) Christ's love compels evangelism.

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And He died for all, that those who should live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again."

Christ died for me so I want to live for Him and not myself.  If my neighbor died for me I would be so grateful.  My neighbor would never mow his yard again or shovel his driveway.  I would work for my neighbor because the love he showed me.

Christ died for me so I live for Him.  And Christ died for everyone so I want to share the love of Christ with everyone. If I knew a way that everyone could get tickets to see the latest blockbuster movie I would tell a lot of people.  A ticket to the latest blockbuster movie is nice, but the Good News that Jesus loves everyone is infinitely better.  Jesus loves everyone and everyone needs to know that.

Don't covet the love of Christ.  Share it.  Don't be ungrateful for Christ's love, be inspired to action by it.

Fear of the Lord and Christ's love compel us to evangelize.  I want you to know that there are many reasons to fear the Almighty God, so you should desire reconciliation with Him.  I also want you to know that the Almighty God loves you.  He doesn't just want to reconcile with you, He wants to love you like a son or daughter today.

Practicing for Heaven

"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  We live by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it."  2 Corinthians 5:6-9

As I continue in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 we come to this famous passage.  I want to say just a few things about it.

First, because we know that when we die we will be with the Lord, our engagement period will be done, we do not fear death.  We know that death is gain.  In fact, Paul says we would prefer to be dead and in heaven with the Lord.

Death should not scare Christians.  Yes, I'm afraid of the process of dying, but not of death.  I hate the idea of leaving my loved ones behind, but that will all pale in comparison, yes it will not even be a memory when I see Jesus face to face.  Death does not scare me because I have a great thing to look forward to at death.  Death for me and all believers will be sweet.

That being said, Paul shocks us a bit in verse 9 of this chapter.

"So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it."

I expected Paul to say, "So I can't wait to die.  In fact, I'm sitting here counting down the days until I go home with the Lord."  But he didn't write that.  Instead he wrote that because death is going to be sweet we try to please the Lord now.

Imagine if I told a baseball crazy 9-year-old boy that I was going to take him to a Major League Baseball game sometime on Saturday, but I didn't tell him when.  This boy would be ecstatic.  He would be so excited to go watch the pros play baseball in the big stadium.

You know what this boy would do from the moment he woke up on Saturday?  I'll tell you from some experience.  This boy would get dressed in his favorite team's shirt.  He would put on his cap and glove and be ready to go to the game.  But I can tell you what he won't do.  He won't sit in his room waiting, unless it's to look at every baseball card he has.  No, this boy will be outside in the yard.  He'll be tossing a ball up to himself and making diving catches.  He'll be hitting the ball, then pretending he was a pitcher he'll throw the ball as hard as he can while imagining he's striking out the other team's best player.

When you tell a baseball crazy young boy that he's going to the game, he'll want to go outside and play baseball until you tell him to get in the car and drive to the game with you.  He'll be imagining the moment of the big game until he's at the big game.  He'll be practicing for the big game out of his inability to sit still because of his excitement.

This is what Paul is talking about.  Paul can't wait to be at home with the Lord, so he wants to practice for heaven.  Are you so antsy to go to heaven when you die that you want to live heaven here now?  That is what we're called to.  In heaven we will please God perfectly, so today we make it our goal to please God.

When Christians die they go to be with the Lord, they see Jesus face to face.  While we Christians live we are practicing for eternity.  We are little boys who can't wait to go the the big game so we play in the front yard.  Does your desire to be with Jesus inspire you to serve Him today?  If not, I think you may want to go to heaven to be comfortable, not to be with Jesus because being with Jesus in His fulness will be serving Him.

Desire to be with Jesus.  Practice for heaven today.

Longing to be Married

This time last year I was engaged to my now wife, Christine.  Engagement was a beautiful, exciting and frustrating time.  My wife and I got engaged from January 17th of last year and then were married on August 17th.  The period between January 17th and August 17th is one I will never forget, and one I never want to do again.

When you're engaged you in a weird place.  You're committed fully to a person, but that commitment has not reached fruition.  You're committed but aren't yet married.  You're close but not completely intimate.

It got even harder for the brief sixteen days that Christine lived in our house and I didn't.  I would go and visit her and sometimes fall asleep on the couch or at least start to fall asleep.  I would then have to wake myself up to leave my future home to go to the house I was living in at the time.  It was torture.  I just wanted to be married.  I just wanted to say goodnight to Christine instead of goodbye and I longed for the day when I could say goodnight and sleep next to her.  I longed for the day when we would actually be each other's spouse.

"Now it is God who made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."  2 Corinthians 5:5

The above verse follows what I wrote about yesterday.  God has made us to long for our heavenly dwelling; groan to be perfected in body, mind and spirit.  In verse 5 Paul wrote that we have "the Spirit (Holy Spirit) as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

Here's an analogy to help explain this verse:

The Holy Spirit, in this verse, is like an engagement ring.  When I gave Christine her engagement ring I was promising to marry her, but I was not married to her on January 17th.  But the fact that we would be married was a done deal, I gave her a deposit, guaranteeing the wedding and marriage to come.

When Christine got her engagement ring she couldn't stop looking at it and admiring its beauty.  She felt loved, secure and wanted.  The engagement ring changed her life, and mine, for the better, but she and I longed for more.  The engagement wasn't the wedding, it was the promise of a wedding to come.

The Holy Spirit is like this.  The Holy Spirit allows us to have a relationship with God.  One of the three parts of God is with us at all time, but we long to know God in His fulness and that isn't how we know Him now.  We long for the wedding feast of the Lamb.  We, the Church, the bride of Christ, long to live with Jesus.  We long to have what we know, without a doubt, we will have.  Right now we have experiences, like dates, where we feel very close to God, but we long for the day when we live in His house.

My life as an engaged man was good, but my life as a married man is better.  I've learned more about my wife and have experienced so much more of her love as her husband than I did as her fiance.  I get to say goodnight and not goodbye to her every single day.

I can't wait to have that with God.  Please don't inject some sexual connotation, but I can't wait to live in God's house.  I can't wait to stop having mountaintop experiences with Him and instead just experience Him all the time.

I long to be married.  We as the bride of Christ, the Church, need to long to be married.  Our engagement period can be a time of immense growth as we prepare for the wedding day, but we should groan for the day when our engagement is over.  Christine and I knew the date of our wedding, the Church does not.  That being said, the Church knows the wedding is coming.  So, let's thank God for His deposit that guarantees what is to come, but let's long for what is to come as well today.