Sermon from November 10

The time is ticking down.  We’ve changed our clocks back an hour, and you’ve probably noticed that it’s getting dark outside a lot earlier.  The cool weather has set in, and Christmas has fully invaded stores already.  We have a mere month and a half left in this year 2013.  And we have even less in the way that the Christian Church keeps track of the calendar.  We’re already in the last month of that unique thing that we call the Christian Church Calendar, a strange thing that typically begins in December with the season of Advent, and concludes in late November with a Sunday called, very creatively, the Last Sunday of the Church Year, or perhaps at times a bit more creatively, Christ the King Sunday.

And during these last few weeks of the Christian Church Calendar year, we start to hear about the time when Jesus will re-appear.  I both love and dread this time of year.  I love it because we’re reminded about the hope that we have in our Christian faith.  Christ Jesus will re-appear and will usher in the eternal kingdom completely.  It won’t just be something that is promised to us through what Jesus did on the cross and the resurrection, which He has given to us by virtue of our baptism, but it will become the reality in which we live.  I love that reminder as we approach that Sunday where we remember His promise to re-appear.

But I also dread this time of year a bit.  I dread it because, as we hear about Jesus re-appearing, I also start to hear all the different “thoughts” that are out there about what the time of Jesus’ re-appearing will be like.  I dread it because there are some really poorly thought out theologies out there, and very few that truly hold to the biblical picture of Jesus’ return.  I dread it because so many want the quick and easy answer to what the Bible teaches about such things, but the truth is, you simply can’t cover some of those topics very quickly or easily, and so they tend to remain misunderstood.  Biblically, it’s a lot more simple than many of the thoughts that are out there, but it still takes time to work through what the Bible says.

But the end of the Christian Church Calendar year is also significant to the topic we’ve been covering this fall.  We’ve been spending some time thinking about the conflicts we have in life, and what God has to say about how we handle our conflicts.  We’ve touched on what the root of these conflicts is, and we’ve repeatedly heard the importance of forgiveness and restoration.  The re-appearing of Jesus is a reminder that there is a time coming when all conflict will truly come to an end.  Even our conflict with sin and death will come to an end.  We will be in the gracious presence of our God, and will stay there forever.  The re-appearing of Jesus is a reminder that conflict is temporary.  It will come to an end.

However, until that actual day arrives when Jesus re-appears in glory and brings His people into their eternal inheritance, we still have to deal with conflict in our lives.  Day by day, conflict will come up, and we will have to find ways of dealing with it.  It still needs to be dealt with as it comes up in life, and how we deal with it actually does say a lot about who we are, especially as people of God in Christ Jesus.  Especially as people who have been given the rich gift of forgiveness, and who have been sent, as Jesus Himself was sent, with forgiveness on our lips, eager to pass it on to every person we encounter in life.

Now, today, we heard a couple of interesting Bible readings already.  The first one is one that is probably a somewhat familiar story to many of you here.  It’s the story of Moses and the burning bush.  Moses was born in Egypt at a time when the Israelite male children were to be killed.  Instead, his mother hid him in a basket and put him in the river, where he was found by Pharoah’s daughter.  He was raised in the royal house until he saw a fellow Israelite being beaten by an Egyptian taskmaster.  After killing the Egyptian, Moses ran away into the wilderness.  For the next forty years, he became a shepherd.  But all that changed the day that he was watching the sheep and encountered the burning bush.

The bush was on fire, but didn’t burn.  Strange enough of an occurrence for Moses to go check it out.  And then, a voice spoke out of the fire.  God was calling Moses to free his people, something Moses had already tried once to less than stellar results.  But this time, God would be with him.  And Moses wanted to know the name of this God.  “What’s your name?  Who shall I say you are to the people?”  And God gives Moses a very memorable name.

I AM who I AM.  The LORD, the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent you.  This is my name, and ya’ll will remember it forever.”  And at the root of God’s name that He gives to Moses, we have a great deal of meaning.  The very name of God is the verb of existence.  It’s like He is telling Moses, I am the God who actually is, who actually exists.  I am the living God.  I am the God who truly does exist and have life.

And we see that same connection to the living God mentioned in our Bible reading from Luke 20.  The Sadducees, a group of theologians in Jesus’ time who claimed that the resurrection was merely a spiritual event, came to Jesus with their puzzle.  The seven brothers all married the same woman, according to their custom.  So in the resurrection, whose wife is she?  And that’s when Jesus reminds them of who God is.  He’s not the God of the dead, but of the living.  He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, who are still alive and still exist.  He is the living God of the living.

Ours is a God who is a living God.  We see that in the Father, who has existed even before time began.  We see that in the Son, who lives even though He was crucified and died with your sins and your conflicts.  You’ve been washed clean through His resurrection, and through your baptism, you have a connection to His new, everlasting life, a gift which is yours by virtue of your baptism.  Your God is the living God, and He is the God of the living, which includes you, as you live your life in this world, and as you take up your eternal life in His eternal kingdom.

And since God is a God of the living, He takes a very personal interest in your living.  He takes an intimate interest in how you live your life.  And that means He takes a very personal interest in how you handle your conflicts, and in how you handle the precious pearl of forgiveness.  Because God in Christ Jesus has seen fit to take away your sins, to bear them in His body on the cross, and to rise again to new life, and to connect you to that new life through your baptism, God has a very great interest in how you go about living your life.

After all, you belong to the living God.  The living God is the God of the living, and He has not only given you life in this world, but already planted the eternal life within you in your baptism.  Every breath you take is a gift of grace from the living God.  Every day that you awaken is a gift of grace from the living God.  And since He is the God of the living, He wants each day and each breath to be one in which you breathe out grace and forgiveness in your life.  And that’s the very thing that the new life in you wants to do, in response to God’s living grace to you.

That’s why we make much about the life we live as Christians.  God is the God of the living.  God is the living God.  When Jesus re-appears, He’s going to usher all who have received their eternal life into the eternal kingdom.  And while we look forward to that hope, we also recognize that our lives in this world actually have a great deal of impact on that eternal world which is yet to be fully realized.

That’s why God’s people live out each day in their baptism, and in their baptismal grace.  That’s why you and I live as people of the living God.  We live as a people who have been forgiven.  We know and believe that Christ Jesus has taken our sin into His very own body, bearing it into death on the cross, and then overcoming it by rising back to life.  Our living Savior has forgiven us, fully and completely.  No sin stands in the way of our relationship with our God, and so we live as a people who are forgiven.

Having been forgiven much, we rejoice in our connection with God.  Since we are a forgiven people, we then connect with our community by living as a people who are a forgiving people.  Since God can overcome our sin and forgive it through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, we can overcome the sin of conflict that crops up among us and between us and others by offering that same forgiveness.  We forgive their sin against us, and we announce the origin of that forgiveness in what God has done for us in Jesus.  We strive to live as forgiving people because we have been richly forgiven.

And we live as people who are living people.  Not only do we have life while we live in this world, but we are also people who have been given the victory.  Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, our great enemies have been defeated.  Satan has been defeated already, and we rejoice that God has done that for us in Jesus.  Death has been defeated, its jaws broken when Jesus came back to life, and we rejoice that God has connected us to that victory in our baptism.  Our sin has been defeated when Jesus died with it, and we rejoice that God has taken our sin away from us.  And so we live as a people who have the victory.  Our sin, our enemy the devil, and even death don’t win.  Our God has already won the victory, and so we live as people who already have the victory.  We don’t hang our heads in defeat, but know that we are in Christ Jesus, and so we have the victory.

And since we have the assurance of that victory, we also live as gracious people.  We don’t think poorly or badly of others because we see how highly our living God has thought of us.  He sees us of value enough to be our living God, and to make us His living, forgiven people.  And so we look at every person we meet with new eyes, with gracious eyes.  We don’t think poorly of them, but think graciously of them.  We don’t treat them with contempt, or even necessarily give them what they deserve, but we treat them graciously, just as our living God has treated us graciously.

That’s what it means to have a living God, who is God of the living.  And with that new birth in us because of our baptism, we pray that God grows us in grace, in victory, and in forgiveness every day, until the day when Jesus re-appears and ushers in the eternal kingdom.  And till that day, our cry remains, “Amen! Come Lord Jesus!  Amen.”

Sermon from November 17

Recently I’ve been reading a book that Carrie managed to get for free for me on my Kindle.  One of the authors that I’ve taken to over the past decade or so is a man by the name of Philip Yancey.  Way back in 1977, he started investigating a question that continually resurfaces in his life, as well as in the lives of pretty much every person who walks the face of this earth.  His book from 1977 is called “Where is God When It Hurts?”  That began a long journey for Yancey as he started taking a look at this thing called pain in the world, wondering why it happens, and what can possibly be done about it.

In that first book of his, Yancey looked at pain.  As he researched, he saw the good of pain.  Pain indicates that something is wrong, and encourages us to find a way to work to resolve the situation.  If you touch a hot stove or match, the pain encourages you to let go before more hurt comes along.  He came to see pain as something good from God, though difficult for us human beings to deal with.  And in the last year or so, he has come full circle.  He’s taken a look at things like the Jesus he never knew growing up, he’s explored his disappointment with God, he’s wondered what good God is, and with many recent events, he’s come full circle to the book that I’ve just finished reading, The Question that Never Goes Away.

Pain and suffering never seem to go away from this world.  And I’ll tell you a little bit about what Philip Yancey sees as part of God’s reason for it in a few minutes.  But one of the realities of life in this world is the presence of pain and suffering.  The question never goes away because we continually see pain and suffering in the world around us.  It hits, and sometimes it hits us hard, and makes us ask some really good, really hard questions about God, about pain, about suffering, and about what God is trying to do with this world.

From the beginning, though, let me start off by making one thing clear.  God’s desire for us in this world is not necessarily for us to avoid pain and suffering.  That’s a shocking statement for us to hear.  God knows that this is a world of pain and suffering, and even though it really shouldn’t surprise us, when we think about it, God’s intent is not for us to live a life with no pain and suffering involved.  Sure, in the perfect world of His creation, prior to sin, pain and suffering would have been foreign to that world.  But the world we live in, a world infected by sin, is a world where pain and suffering are going to be there.  And because we live in that world, God’s intent for us is not to avoid pain and suffering.

We see that in the longer Gospel reading that I just read to you from Luke 21 a few minutes ago.  In fact, I bet that it was so subtle that most of us probably missed it there.  We start off our reading for today with Jesus and the disciples walking through the temple area, looking at the magnificent building and all the majestic trappings that came with it.  They marveled at the architecture and how grand God’s house was.  And then, Jesus really let the air out of their balloon.  Not even a stone will be left on top of another.  And that’s when they asked the question that shows us that the disciples were thinking differently than what you and I tend to think.

“Teacher, when will these things be?”  Not, can’t God do something to make it where that doesn’t happen.  Not, what does God think about the pain and suffering of all those who will suffer because of that.  It’s almost as though they accept that it’s a given that pain and suffering will come.  The things Jesus says will come true.  It’s not a question of avoiding it, or even asking why God permits such things to happen.  They almost take it matter of factly that God permits pain and suffering, and so they merely ask when it will happen.

It seems to me, in our day and age, we’re not content to think about God permitting pain and suffering.  We get caught up in asking the why question.  Why doesn’t God do something about pain and suffering?  Why do we have to go through pain and suffering?  Why would God allow something like that?  As Philip Yancey’s most current book notices by its very title, the question never goes away.  We move from one scene of pain and suffering in our lives, and then another one seems to pop up before too long.  It’s almost like a bicycle wheel, it spins, and once we move past that pain and suffering part, it’s only a matter of time before the wheel spins back around to the pain and suffering part once again.

And so we get caught up in the why questions.  They pop up among God’s people so often.  Why does a husband and father suffer and die at too young of an age?  Why does a young, healthy man have suicidal thoughts and battle depression?  Why do things like typhoons and hurricanes and tsunamis even exist, much less cause the extensive damage that they do?  Why do so many choose to deal with the issues of their lives by loading up weapons and unleashing them at those who don’t deserve it?  Why, and why, and why, and why?

We wonder why it hurts so much.  Why does pain rack our bodies?  Why did God even create us with the capability to feel pain?  And knowing that it actually is intended to help us doesn’t really help us when we are in the midst of the pain.  Sure, it’s here to tell me something’s wrong, but what’s wrong just can’t be fixed.  And so we wonder why it hurts so much, and why God seems to stand idly by, as though He’s helpless, or, even worse, as though He just doesn’t care.

We wonder why it happens in the first place.  If God is truly in control of everything that happens in this world, and nothing happens without His direction and guidance and control, then why the tornado that devastates a whole town?  If God is truly in control, why a typhoon that kills thousands, and why strike a land in which many likely don’t get to receive the eternal inheritance through faith in Jesus?  Or, when it hits a place where we know that Jesus has disciples, why does it happen to those that God has declared His undying love for?  Why, and why, and why.  The question just simply doesn’t go away.

And that’s where the disciples’ discernment and Jesus’ answer convey a great deal to us.  Those things which bring pain and suffering are going to come.  As sinful people who live in a world that has been devastated by sin, the devastating effects are going to come our way.  It’s not a question of avoiding it, but when they happen.  That’s what the disciples discerned as Jesus answered the question of when.  They knew God enough to know that He didn’t necessarily turn aside disaster and pain.  Their nation had been conquered and exiled into foreign lands, only to return.  God hadn’t spared them before, and so they had no reason to suspect that the things Jesus said would be any different.  It’s not a question of avoiding pain and suffering, but of when it will come.

And God’s answer is significant.  I say that because the reality is, God’s answer is really a non-answer.  God never answers the question of why.  One of the reasons why you and I sit here today wondering why things like these happen is because God doesn’t answer the question.  Jesus doesn’t say why these things happen here.  Throughout the history of the people of God, God rarely answers the question of why.  It is significant that the times He usually does answer is when His people have brought it upon themselves.  But when the cause isn’t brought on by them, God simply doesn’t answer the question.

And so there must be something to pain and suffering that we fail to see.  The question never goes away because God hasn’t answered it, at least not in a way that we are willing to hear.  Our life and experience tends to point to the fact that God permits pain and suffering to come in.  He doesn’t tend to turn it aside, but permits it to come a’knocking.

So I can’t stand here in front of you all today and tell you the answer to the question why.  But what I can tell you is something that is of great significance for us.  God doesn’t tend to turn aside pain and suffering, so when He does, that is all the more reason to give thanks and praise to God.  But what God does do is redeem pain and suffering.  God takes that which strikes often in our lives, as it rolls upon us again and again, as the question never goes away, and God redeems our pain and suffering.

That’s why the cross of Jesus is at the heart and soul of our faith.  That is where we see God redeeming the pain and suffering of this world.  That is where we see God causing something good to come through pain and suffering.  As Jesus bore the entire weight of the pain and suffering of this world in His own physical human body on the cross, God took the pain and suffering of this world and brought something redeeming out of it.  God brought about the death of pain and suffering, and the entrance into a new, redeemed life, in which no pain and suffering will ever enter.  And we see that entrance into that new life through the victorious resurrection of Jesus.

God redeems pain and suffering.  Jesus suffered pain and suffering such as you and I simply cannot fathom, and God redeemed that pain and suffering to be the entry way into the new, everlasting kingdom that we await, through the victory of our Lord Jesus.  God connects us to that new everlasting kingdom through His gift in the waters of baptism.  God connects us to that new everlasting kingdom as we are daily killed in our sin and pain and suffering, and as God daily brings forth a new creation that lives for that new, everlasting kingdom.  

God redeems pain and suffering.  God doesn’t turn it aside from us, nor does He always bring about the end of pain and suffering in our life.  But God gives us the promise that even pain and suffering are things that can be redeemed.  Good can still come out of them, even though our way of thinking would rather avoid them or turn them aside, or do away with them completely.  God, however, redeems that which we would rather avoid, even though we continually do find that the question doesn’t go away.

Now, I mentioned earlier that I would let you know what Philip Yancey said is part of the reason for the continued existence of pain and suffering in this world, and why it’s actually a redeemable thing in our lives when we face it.  Yancey has been to many places which have seen some of the worst pain and suffering of our world.  He’s been to Newtown, and Japan, and places like Rwanda.  He’s been to Aurora, Colorado, and Littleton, Colorado.  He’s been to Sarajevo, and seen the devastation of ethnic cleansing.  He’s been to Virginia Tech, and in all these places he’s been, he has talked to people who have suffered loss, sometimes unimaginable loss.

How is that kind of pain redeemable?  It almost brought a chuckle of joy to me when I was reading his conclusion.  Of all the places in this world that he could have searched for an answer, he eventually turned to a fairly well known Lutheran theologian by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  And in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Yancey found how God brings about some degree of redemption in pain and suffering.

Pain and suffering leave holes in us, especially when it comes to loss of loved ones.  And it’s like that we’ve heard that we’re supposed to let God fill those holes.  But Bonhoeffer opens the door to a very different picture.  He says that God doesn’t fill those holes.  God permits those holes to remain inside of us.  Not because He’s a cruel God, but because those holes point us to the community that those lost ones were part of in relation to us.  If God filled those holes, we wouldn’t miss our community connection with them.  But since God created us to be in community with one another, we continue to remember that community connection in their loss by those empty places in our lives.

God redeems our pain and suffering, especially in loss, by reminding us that He has redeemed us as part of a community.  That community finds its common connection in the pain and suffering of Jesus on the cross, and finds its redemption in His resurrection.  Even loss in our life demonstrates that God has created us to be part of a community, and shows us that God’s community stretches over time and place, even beyond life and death.  

That’s why the disciples didn’t ask why, but when.  And yes, most of what Jesus said there happened either in their lifetimes, or shortly after.  In a mere 40 years or less, all those things except for the Son of Man coming in glory happened.  Jerusalem destroyed.  The temple gone.  The people fleeing.  God’s people scattered throughout the nations.  All so that God’s redemption of this painful, suffering world could be extended throughout the world. 

While we would love to have an answer to the question of why, having that answer probably wouldn’t help things out any.  But knowing that God chooses to redeem our pain and suffering gives us hope, even in the worst pain and suffering.  And in the midst of that pain and suffering, we’re reminded that God gives us a community to connect with to help us in our times of pain and suffering.  That’s why we, as God’s people, connect community and Christ.  That’s where God redeems our pain and suffering, and gives us a message that connects to a community where our answer may speak much more than any explanation ever would.  Thanks be to God for that, in Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

A Few Friday Thoughts

Didn't really feel like putting together a well-composed blog entry today (too little sleep this week seems to finally be catching up a bit), so today you get a few thoughts on some things that have either been brewing in the world, or are little items that have come to grab my attention recently.

• On being a good steward: We tend to hear the word "Stewardship" in the Christian Church as a bad thing.  Its focus is way too often on money only.  When God created mankind, God didn't tell the man to only take good care of his money (which didn't even exist at the time).  Instead, God put him in charge of the care of the entire world.  That means that our stewardship involves our care for this world (including things like recycling, or understanding our "green footprint" and other such matters), our time, our money, and our relationships with others.  All of these are areas that are included in the term stewardship.
• On Jesus and His re-appearing: Jesus has promised that He will "come again".  Over the years, I've read lots of material about what that return appearance will be like, and most of it is actually pretty poor theology.  Getting into why it's poor theology would take a book or two, so I won't do that in a bullet point.  Here's what we need to know, though.  Jesus will reappear.  Everyone will see it happen.  The dead will be raised.  The faithful will receive their eternal inheritance, and the rest sent off to eternal condemnation.  Nothing will ever separate the faithful from God and the Lamb again.  Pretty simple.
• Simplicity isn't easy: We live in a world that has a tendency toward complexity.  Simplicity appeals greatly to us.  Simplicity actually has a power of its own.  Sadly, we all too often fail to keep things simple, even when it comes to church and ministry.  We spread ourselves thin rather than keeping our ministry focus simple.  We create confusion as to what we expect of God's people, rather than giving them a simple expectation.  We come up with confusing theologies rather than holding to the simple truth of the Bible.
• Community Matters: This morning I'm planning on visiting someone who is suffering through cancer treatments.  Such visits remind me of the importance of community.  I also frequently deal with people who feel isolated or disconnected, even within the household of God.  I'm reminded of the importance of community.  Perhaps even more importantly, I'm reminded that community doesn't just happen, but that it needs to be intentionally nurtured and maintained.  Leading God's people in developing greater community is a lot of work, but a very worthwhile work.

I'd love to hear any thoughts or comments on these, or even on other matters that you'd like for me to blog about in the future.  

Keeping Things Simple

I have discovered in life that I really appreciate it when things are simple.  The thing is, I find that there is much of life that just isn't all that simple.  I also find that we do lots of things as humans that mix things up and fail to keep them simple.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to read a series of books on simplicity.  One of my favorites from it is called "Simple Church."  It talks about how churches have lots of things going on, but so often are missing a simple, unifying "thing" that gives guidance and direction to the activities and ministries of the church.  Churches often get lots of good ideas, and then put them into practice, but they start to lead to more confusion and less unity within the church.

I find that same principle at work in my life.  I like to keep things simple.  I don't like to have lots of choices for things because lots of choices means things aren't that simple.  I don't like to have to deal with confusing situations, which is why I really try not to dig too deeply into my health insurance "stuff" (it gives me a headache even thinking about it!).  I like to keep things as simple as possible, because it allows a much greater focus and commitment when it's simple.

In some ways, I can see how this same thought can apply to us when it comes to our Christian faith.  When we think about it, the Christian faith is actually a very simple thing to understand.  We are a fallen, sinful creation that God wanted to restore to Himself, so Jesus did the work necessary to restore us.  Now, in response, God gives us new life that seeks to live as God's will and design calls for.  The message really is that simple.  But for some reason, we Christians tend to want to complicate it.  And then, when we introduce it to people who don't know much about Christianity, they tend to want to complicate it even more.

However, keeping things simple requires a lot of work.  Keeping the Gospel message at the heart and soul of all we do in a congregation requires saying yes to few things and no to a lot more good things.  Trying to apply the simple message of hope and forgiveness to messy human lives leads to a tendency to want to complicate things, or come up with why this situation is unique.  We try to complicate, and all the while, God tries to keep it simple.

It takes work to keep things simple.  I've noticed that in my life and in my ministry.  But it's work that is worthwhile, because the more we keep things simple, the greater the message impacts those whom we touch, and the greater the benefit to those to whom we minister.

Amidst Much Fanfare

It's an historic day.  Today marks my 500th blog post on here.  At times it has seemed like a lot more, and at other times, it doesn't seem like I could have maintained a blog long enough to get to 500 posts.  But anyway, here's hoping that the next 500 go even better than the first 500.

While we're talking about numbers, this is actually a good time of the year to remember that numbers often have significance in the Bible.  And yet, numbers are so very often misunderstood in the Bible.  When you throw in different times, different places, and different cultures, it's really a wonder that we truly understand as much of the symbolic aspect of some of the Biblical numbers as we do. 

The reason that this is a good time of year to think about numbers is because we are entering the final weeks of the "Christian Church Calendar Year."  The days following All Saints Day begin to count us down to the Last Sunday of the Church Year, often also known as the Sunday of the Fulfillment or Christ the King Sunday.  These holy days mark the end of the Church Calendar Year, which begins with the season of Advent (typically late in November or early in December, hence the reason that November marks the end of the year).

Part of the reason numbers come into play is because there are often misunderstandings about some of the numbers spoken of in conjunction with Christ's return.  For example, in the Revelation given to St. John, it speaks of Christ reigning for 1,000 years.  Many take that in a very literal sense, as in, either Jesus will reign for 1,000 years before He returns in glory, or that He returns in glory, and then reigns for 1,000 years in perfect peace.  In some ways, it makes sense.  After all, 1,000 is 1,000, right?

Though we also understand that there are certain numbers that tend to have much more symbolic status throughout the Bible.  Take, for instance, the verse from Psalm 50:10, where the psalmist writes that the beasts of the forest belong to the LORD, as do the cattle on 1,000 hills.  Now, if we take this literally, where are those 1,000 hills?  I want to know because I want my cattle on hill #1,001, which means that they belong to me, not to the LORD.  However, in this instance, we understand 1,000 to mean the full scope of creation.  In other words, it's not a literal 1,000 hills, but that every herd of cattle on every hill belongs to the LORD, as does all creation.

Take that understanding of the symbolic meaning of 1,000, now, and apply it to the 1,000 year reign of Jesus, and what do you get?  That Jesus will reign forever.  Now there you have a Biblical fact that is found, not just in the Revelation, but throughout the Bible.  Everywhere we find Jesus/God having all authority over everything in heaven and on earth.  We hear often of the kingdom of God, which will be an eternal reign.  In other words, the symbolic meaning of 1,000 fits the Biblical picture much better than some 1,000 year literal reign.

I could keep going on, but I've probably already bored you enough.  But maybe it's worth thinking about the significance of the numbers we come across in the Bible. 

We Brought It On Ourselves

"Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations."  1 Samuel 8:5

With my position in life, I often get to hear a lot about the hardships that other people face.  Some of this comes from my position, and some comes from being a listening ear.  Some also comes because, in all humility, I often can give a little bit of insight that could possibly help their situation (that insight often having come either through personal experience or what I have seen in others in their struggles). 

There is one thing that tends to crop up remarkably often when I find myself in one of these situations.  The people who find themselves there are feeling true pain, and there are truly real life issues that they are having to deal with.  There is a story that leads up to where they happen to be.  And as I listen to their stories, one thing typically comes through pretty loud and clear.  They are where they are because of things that they did or that they failed to do in life.  They chose to go down paths that were perhaps less than wise, or they chose not to do things that may have been challenging at the time, but that would have saved a lot of heartache and headache if they had been addressed when they were smaller.

In other words, one thing that I find is true of many circumstances is that we brought it on ourselves.  The people of Israel wanted a king, like everyone else, and then had bad kings that led them astray, and eventually to being conquered and exiled.  The thing is, they brought it on themselves.  They didn't want to do things God's way, but the popular way, and eventually they reaped the consequences for it. 

It's often that way for families in financial situations, or health situations.  Now, I won't say that it's always the case.  There are events that come up unexpectedly that we simply cannot avoid.  However, in general, many of the challenges and difficulties we face in life come because we made choices along the way that led to them.  In other words, we brought it upon ourselves.

But here's the thing.  God can and does still bring good out of those.  Perhaps He is working to teach us that it's a good and wise thing to see what others think before we do the things we do.  Perhaps He's teaching us to think about how we make use of our resources, or to count the cost of what we are planning on doing.  Perhaps He's guiding us to be better stewards of what He has given to us. 

The good news is that we can always be sure that God will wash away our poor and sinful choices through the blood of Jesus.  He may still teach us the lesson we need, but that's because He cares for us and wants to see us learn and grow from the situation.  So may our ears always be open to hearing where God may be leading and guiding, even when we find those tough times that we may have brought upon ourselves.

Being Appreciative

I don't know how well-known it is, but typically each year, October is chosen to be a month for God's people to show their appreciation to their pastor for serving God and His people in the office of the public ministry.  It gives God's people a chance to recognize the work that goes on in bringing the Gospel message to people, and also simply gives people a chance to love their pastors.  And yes, I can say that pastors truly do appreciate the love that God's people show toward them.

I recognize that, in writing this, it in some ways seems a bit self-serving.  If I draw attention to pastor appreciation month, am I just trying to get people to appreciate me?  Not really.  I will admit to a certain amount of joy that comes with being appreciated, but if that were the reason I currently do what I do, well, I should probably re-examine my life.

However, I do need to say that it's always humbling and touching when God's people demonstrate their appreciation.  And this year, I can honestly say that I have been moved by the amount of appreciation that has been shown to me.  So many wonderful cards, and so many touching and generous gifts have truly let me know that God's people appreciate my humble, meager efforts to bring the Gospel message to bear.  While I will be sure to say thank you to the various individuals who did such things, I also want to let everyone know that I also appreciate them.

It is a great honor when people believe that you are serving God and His people well.  It's very easy for a pastor to recognize his faults and flaws, and to dwell on them.  That uplifting that takes place when God's people demonstrate appreciation can truly make a big difference in the life and ministry of a pastor.  And that is why, when all is said and done, all I can say is "Thank you, and all praise be to God the Father, Son, and Spirit."  Amen!