A Seriously Funny Story

February 8, 2013

It was a serious story told with a sense of humor. For the serious part, Peter was held in prison about to be executed by Herod Agrippa I. Security was tight. Herod had four squads of four soldiers each to take turns guarding Peter around the clock. Peter was in prison bound with chains sleeping between two guards, when an angel appeared. The chains fell from his hands. The angel instructed him to get dressed, put on his sandals, and follow him.

Peter thought he was seeing a vision. They passed by the first guard, then the second guard, and finally they were to the iron gate leading to the city. The gate opened for them automatically. When the angel left him, Peter realized that he had really been through a most unusual prison break. It was a humorous realization, but a serious situation to be on the run from Herod Agrippa and his soldiers.

Remaining free was also serous business, but the story continues with some humor. Peter went to the house of Mary. The servant girl, Rhoda, was so excited by Peter’s arrival, she left him standing in the street! So much for trying to remain out of the sight of the authorities. The people inside praying for Peter’s release were convinced that Rhoda had it wrong. “It is his angel,” they said. While all of this was going on, Peter continued to knock. When Peter was finally admitted to the prayer gathering, “they saw him and were amazed.”

We read the account and wonder: why didn’t they believe what they had been praying for had come true? They knew the reality of prayer is that we don’t always receive what we pray for. God is not a cosmic vending machine: insert earnest prayer and the requested answer immediately dispensed. The Apostle James had already been executed by Herod Agrippa. No doubt this same group had earnestly prayed for him. God doesn’t always answer prayers in the way we would choose.

Their faith is seen in praying even up to the eleventh hour. (God’s rescue of Peter was just in time delivery.) They did not doubt the importance of prayer even if they had an initial surprise of Peter actually being at the door. They did not doubt the importance of prayer even if previous prayers had not been answered in the way they wished.

We must pray in the same way. God has invited us to ask and to intercede for others. But this is a relationship, not magic. We trust that the heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts. We trust even when the answer is what we don’t want. God will grant the strength to cope. Luke could tell this story with good humor, because he trusted the God who is in ultimate control of history.

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Posted by Russell Holden

The One Talent Servant

February 1, 2013

Hearing the parable of the talents is difficult (see Matthew 25:14-30). We are distanced from the cultural setting of the story. It was a world of masters and slaves. A wealthy master departing on a journey entrusts his possessions to his three slaves. He gives to each according to their ability. The relationship itself says that the possessions are not their own, and they will have to give an account.

The word, talent, is also easily misunderstood. Today, the word, talent, normally means a special ability, and I have heard quite a few sermons about using our talents (i.e., abilities). In the ancient world, the talent had originally been a measurement of weight varying between 57 to 80 pounds and then a unit of coinage. Verse 27 specifically mentions silver, although most English translations just say “money” in this verse, and the NCV inexplicably talks of gold. It’s difficult to translate into dollar amounts, but comparisons help. One talent is about twenty years of wages for a common laborer, so 5 talents, 3 talents, and 1 talent would be 100 years of wages, 60 years of wages, and 20 years of wages. The “poor” one talent man received nearly a million dollars in our currency.
Imagine burying 20 years worth of wages in silver in your field. What were the original hearers thinking as the story was told? Maybe some thought, “If I had that much money, I’d know what to do with it. I wouldn’t just bury it.”

The servants didn’t receive just a few dollars. Even the Message’s $5,000, $3,000, and $1,000 is paltry in comparison with the text. The servants received major investment capital, and economic terms describe their master’s return. He wants to “settle accounts.” The one talent man describes his master as being a “hard man.” The word refers to “being unyielding in behavior or attitude” and in this context, “demanding”. It makes hiding his talent even more difficult to understand, although I suspect we are tempted to do the same. The master calls the one talent man “wicked and slothful” or “worthless and lazy.”

What are we to learn? We have a master – God Himself, the creator of the universe. Everything we have is a matter of stewardship – our money, possessions, time, abilities, and opportunities. We take nothing out of this world except for what we “treasure in heaven.” There are no U-hauls attached to hearses. The greatest treasure we have been given is the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:7). Is not the gospel worth a million dollars to us? Will we bury it or use it to achieve gain for our master?

The question is never how much has been entrusted to us. That will in fact vary. The question is whether we are faithful. From our master’s point of view, are we “worthless and lazy” or are we “good and trustworthy”? The bottom line is stewardship.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Dangerous Words

January 26, 2013

It was a decisive moment in my life. I was a teenager. It was Sunday morning, and my Mom had just called me to get up. I lay in the bed and said to myself, “I just don’t feel like it.” I had stayed up too late the night before, and the bed was oh so warm and comfortable. “If I lie here long enough,” I thought, “she would either be late herself or she would leave without me. After all, my Dad was always home on Sunday morning. I could stay with him.”

As I hatched my plan to sleep in, another thought occurred to me. What about next Sunday? Would I really want to get up any more on that Sunday than this? And the honest answer was “no.” I’ve always been a bit groggy in the morning. Then I asked myself one more question, “Do I want to walk away from God?” And the answer was “no.” I suddenly realized that if I gave into this feeling, I could be starting a habit that took me away from God. I got up and went to church.

And so it has gone with my life. I have to admit the things that I have “forced” myself to do have blessed my life. Some decisions shouldn’t be made on emotions alone, but with reason and reflection. Emotions have their place, but sometimes, we have to put emotions in their place and use our will.

Certainly there are areas of life where it is proper to say “I just don’t feel like it.” Some choices in life really don’t matter. But all of us realize that sometimes we have to overcome our feelings. I just can’t say “I don’t feel like it” to taking out the trash, balancing my checkbook, paying the bills, and a long list of other necessary things.

The same is true in the spiritual realm. Satan may use our feelings to weaken our resolve and start us down the wrong path. Emotions go up and down. They vacillate with mood and circumstance, but the important things in life need commitment and constancy. In those weak moments, our emotions need to be overruled by our will. Sometimes “I just don’t feel like it” are dangerous words.

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Posted by Russell Holden

The Boast

January 18, 2013

Paul turned boasting on its head. Paul had learned from the prophet Jeremiah to boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31 quotes Jeremiah 9:24). Paul’s opponents were boasting in circumcision and outward expressions of Judaism. Instead, Paul offered this humble boast:

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14, ESV

Jesus did something for us on the cross. He became the once for all sin offering. His death brings life. His death grants forgiveness of sins to those united to Him. Sin and death are defeated in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. So, Paul boasts… he boasts “in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The humble boast was a scandalous boast. Cicero said that the very mention of the word “cross” should be far from the person of a Roman citizen. The cross was “the most cruel and disgusting penalty.” For the Jew, the scandal was death upon a cross was to be “cursed” (Deuteronomy 21:23).

For the first century world, the cross evoked the emotions that a hangman’s noose would in ours. Clarence Jordan used “lynching” in his Cotton Patch Series for the cross. In explaining his dramatic retelling of the gospel story set against the racial tensions of the South, he wrote:

Our crosses are so shined, so polished, so respectable that to be impaled on one of them would seem to be a blessed experience. We have thus emptied the term ‘crucifixion’ of its original content of terrific emotion, of violence, of indignity and stigma, of defeat.

To the first century world, it was a scandalous boast.

The boast is also transforming. For Paul, the cross is not merely something outside of him. He pictures us all united to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6). The cross becomes a paradigm… a journey… a daily walk. Paul pictures himself as crucified to the world and the world crucified to him. We are to die on our cross to the lusts and desires of a sinful world because of Jesus. The cross has power to transform.

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er his body on the tree;
Then am I dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.
–Isaac Watts, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”, verse 4

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Posted by Russell Holden

Overcoming Evil

January 4, 2013

Evil abounds. The modern world’s 24 hour news cycle covers it live by satellite. We see the victims of evil and violence, and we often hear the sordid tales that perpetrators were once themselves victims. Clearly evil does not overcome evil. It only brings ever widening ripples like a stone dropped in a lake. Evil after evil only keeps the painful cycle unbroken.

How do we overcome evil? We must first accept the cure for our own lives provided by the death of Christ. He died to set us free from sin and death. Having died to sin we must live for God – we must live a transformed life. Paul provides some specifics.

  • Bless instead of curse. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14, ESV). We do not pay back hurtful words, with hurtful words. Don’t let evil grow.
  • Don’t repay evil for evil. “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” (Romans 12:17, ESV). Someone’s sin against us does not give us permission to sin against them.
  • Seek peace. “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18, ESV). Jesus calls peacemakers blessed (Matthew 5:9). Not everyone wants peace, but we should have the attitude that seeks peace.
  • Leave vengeance to God. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19, ESV). God is better qualified for vengeance. God is without sin. God is completely just, yet merciful.
  • Do good to all people. “To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head’” (Romans 12:20, ESV). Paul is quoting Proverbs 25:21-22. “Heap burning coals” should be seen as good deeds pricking the conscience of the enemy and bringing them to repentance.
  • Overcome evil with good. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21, ESV). How does Satan do battle? His lies and deception lead to evil. How will Satan win battles (for he cannot win the war)? By getting us to stoop to his level, to play his game by his rules, by tricking us to do evil.

Overcoming evil with good is not always easy. The inclinations of the flesh must be put to death with the Spirit’s help. But in Christ there is healing for the brokenness inside. In Christ the cycle of evil can be broken. Only goodness overcomes, for Christ has won the victory.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Not By Bread Alone

December 14, 2012

I’m a regular Bible reader. The guide I use has daily readings for the whole year, and I should be able to finish it without problems. I’ve done so for years now. But I confess that I miss days at times. I try to read ahead when I can, and I play catch up when necessary. Bible reading has become a regular part of my life. But I avoid the term “daily” because I suspect that all of us who develop the habit of Bible reading slip up. I don’t want to set perfection as the standard for the person who has not yet developed the habit.

The beginning of the year is important to me as the time to set my goal for Bible reading in the next year. Starting the habit of Bible reading doesn’t require the beginning of a new year. The habit can be started at any time. But I have found that a new year has been a helpful time to start. The new year can provide motivation to form a new habit.

I have failed in my reading goals in the past, although I currently have years of consistency behind me. I suspect most people who successfully form the habit of being a regular Bible reader have had some failures along the way. Forming habits is not always easy. Life has many distractions. Research indicates that it takes a couple of months to form a habit. But we have to be careful to be consistent or we can unlearn a habit. Don’t let past failures stop you from trying. This habit is worth it.

For me forming the habit of regular Bible reading did not start with a daily Bible reading guide. I started smaller. I started with smaller goals with the commitment to try to read daily. (Note the word “try.” I tried for consistency not perfection. Forgiveness allows us to keep trying.) For example, I started first with the commitment to read the gospels. After I reached that goal, I made the commitment to read the rest of the New Testament. It is good to read through the historical portions of the Old Testament (Genesis through Esther). A simple reading log can track your progress.

The Bible reading guides that I have liked the most through the years have provided some variety in reading. I’ve done better with reading guides that gave at least an Old Testament and a New Testament reading each day. The guide that I have used the most through the years is the M’Cheyenne guide. It gives four different readings each day. Variety is helpful. It’s tough to plod through Leviticus or the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles. Having other passages to read really helps, because it ensures some spiritual nourishment in your reading. (Not that there are not lessons in Leviticus and the genealogies of 1 Chronicles. They just may be harder to recognize for the beginning reader.)

Bible reading is not just about reading. It is good to write down questions of things you don’t understand. In time, your reading may help you answer those questions. I’ve just had one answered that I have pondered for about forty years. Most questions probably won’t take that long to be answered. The most important things in scripture will be clear. Yet there is always something to be pondered. A quotation that goes back at least fourteen centuries suggests that the Bible is like a river “shallow enough for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough for the elephant to swim.”

A few simples tools can help. A Bible dictionary is helpful for looking up words that you don’t know the meaning of, and a map is helpful for locating places. These simple tools can enrich your reading experience.

It is also important to reflect on how this applies to me. Bible reading is about a transformational relationship with God. It has changed me as a person. It is not just about the head but the whole inner person. “… man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3, NIV).

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Posted by Russell Holden

The Upward Call

November 24, 2012

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12–14, ESV).

I find Paul’s statement encouraging. I’m glad that Paul admits to not being perfect. He is on a journey and has yet to arrive (at the time he writes this). By the way, we do not pull ourselves up by pulling Paul (or anyone else) down. Paul would want our comparisons made with Christ, which is where we recognize our lack as well as find our help.

Paul’s admission, however, reminds us that everyone needs grace. Everyone needs to grow and mature in Christ. Everyone needs sanctification — the process of becoming more holy and Christlike. It is easy to have a Sunday morning facade if we are not careful. Paul’s honesty encourages our own.

I find Paul’s statement challenging. I want you to notice the phrases that communicate effort and purpose: “I press on,” “But one thing I do,” “straining forward,” and “I press on.” Paul does not approach the Christian faith in a lackadaisical manner. By Paul’s own admission “Christ had made me his own.” The person who belongs to Christ has no higher commitment. God and Christ come first.

I can’t earn or merit my salvation, but we can’t read Paul and say that eliminates any effort in Christian living. Paul will admit that he’s not relying on just his own strength later in the letter: “For all things I have strength, in Christ’s strengthening me” (Philippians 4:13, Young’s Literal). But the need for strength means there are things that challenge and tax our strength. Paul was a tireless worker for Christ who challenges me to be about the Lord’s business.

I find Paul’s statement inviting. Paul has a destination to his life. The perfect that he has not yet attained lies ahead. I’m reminded of Paul’s own blessing, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely” (1 Thessalonians 5:23a, ESV). I long for that.

Look again at Paul’s terms: “what lies ahead,” goal, prize, and the upward call. God’s upward call is to be in his presence for eternity, and the only way we can have a hope of such a thing is in Christ. He has paid the price. Paul is inviting us to live a Christian life of purpose, because life in Christ has a goal, a wondrous destination — the upward call.

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Posted by Russell Holden

What Makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving?

November 16, 2012

Last year for Thanksgiving Day I was in New Zealand. I’ve had a number of New Zealand Thanksgivings through the years. I remember searching the grocery store for canned cranberry sauce last year ‑ my contribution to the Thanksgiving feast. I finally had to break down and ask where it was, but I was thankful that they had some.

The reason is that Thanksgiving in New Zealand is a different experience. Obviously, the fourth Thursday of November in New Zealand is a normal work day. The Americans gather on a Saturday to have our Thanksgiving. Not everything we may be accustomed to is easily found. For example, turkey is too expensive, so it is usually chicken.

One year David and Mary Nelson searched the stores for Karo syrup for pecan pies to no avail. Mary decided to use Blackstrap molasses as a substitute. I won’t say that the pie was bad, but through the years that pie has been better as an amusing anecdote than it was to eat. That was followed by my tip to New Zealand when I carried Karo syrup in my checked luggage. It was interesting explaining to New Zealand customs what Karo syrup is. I think my suitcase also had some French fried onions for the green bean casserole too.

David always has a video of a Dallas Cowboys football game sent from the states by his brother-in-law. Watching it may include comments from New Zealanders like, “American football sure is slow — not like rugby.”

What makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving? A few ingredients seem to be essential. First, we gather with family and friends even when we “adopt” family on foreign soil. Our table has often included those who are not our biological family, but are family none the less.

Second, we make wonderful memories. I suspect our traditional foods are one of those ways. Listen to people planning a Thanksgiving meal as they try to decide what are the non-negotiable items — the things you must prepare. It usually has to do with our memories of the past. It has to do with our traditions that link us with family. You may have other ways of making memories for that day — festive table cloths and candles on the table to football games in the afternoon.

Third, and most important of all, we thank God for our blessings. I have no patience for definitions of Thanksgiving Day that only say it is a day for celebrating the harvest. For me, it is a day “to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God” as in the words of George Washington from 1789.

But for you, what makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving?

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Posted by Russell Holden

Marks of a Saved Person

November 10, 2012

The Apostle John states the purpose in writing 1 John: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13, ESV). So how do I know? What are the marks of a saved person? John’s letter provides answers.

What direction am I headed? Am I walking in the light? Read 1 John 1:5-10. It’s not that I bounce from the saved category to the lost category to the saved category with each sin and confession of sin, and I just hope that I die in the saved category. God is looking at my lifestyle–the general trend and direction of my life. This does not deny the possibility of going the wrong direction and being lost. Rather, it keeps us from going to the opposite extreme and losing any sense of Christian security.

Do I acknowledge sin in my life? Read 1 John 1:9. John is talking about a lifestyle that is willing to own up to sin–a lifestyle that listens to the correction given it by the Word.

Can I honestly characterize my life as obedient? Read 1 John 2:1-6, 2:29. We won’t be perfectly obedient, but there still ought to be a reality to our claim of obedience.

Do I love my brothers and sisters? Read 1 John 2:7-11, 3:16-24, 4:7-21. Certainly one important example of our obedience is loving our brothers and sisters.

Where are my priorities? Read 1 John 15-17. Does God come first or the world?

Do I acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, God’s incarnate Son in all I say and do? Read 1 John 2:18-24, 4:1-6, 5:1-12. The false teachers of John’s day were denying that the Son of God became flesh, dwelt among us, died on the cross, and was raised from the dead.

Do I abide in the apostolic teaching? Read 1 John 4:1-6. The “us” of this verse is the apostles. The false teachers of John’s day were not abiding by apostolic teaching. Note also the “we” of 1:1-4 and the “us” of 1:3.

Am I practicing sin or am I practicing righteousness? Read 1 John 3:1-12.

Is the Holy Spirit at work in my life? Read 1 John 2:25-29, 3:24, 4:1-6. Is the fruit of the Spirit being produced in my life (see Galatians 5:16-26)?

Note: the above questions come from a series of lessons by Mike Moss. See also his book: C. Michael Moss, Lord, Sometimes I Don’t Feel Saved! (21st Century Christian). He has recently started a blog. Dr. Mike is a dean and professor at Ohio Valley University.

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Posted by Russell Holden

He Knows Our Needs

October 12, 2012

Our daughter, Becky, was sick with a cold. She was only five years old at the time. Her coughs had made for a couple of difficult nights, so it wasn’t surprising when she came to her Mom and asked, “Can I have my medicine?”

She was promptly given a good dose of cough syrup. She played for several hours, but came back with the same request, “Can I have my medicine?” Out came the cough syrup, and the dose was repeated.

Later in the day, with the kind of thoughtful reflection that only children can make, she said to her Mom, “Mom, I really wanted those animal-shaped pills.” Becky had spent the day trying to get an animal-shaped vitamin, but was receiving cough syrup instead.

Jesus used the experiences between children and parents to illustrate our requests to God in prayer.

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9-11, NIV).

Parents try to give what is good, how much more does God give good gifts. But as Becky learned, sometimes human parents have difficulty understanding our requests. We need not have that fear with God. We have some great assurances that God knows our true needs.

When Jesus taught on prayer, arguing against the empty babbling of the pagans, he assures us “for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). That is not to argue against praying frequently and fervently, on the contrary! It is to give us confidence that God truly understands.

Paul’s teaching on the Spirit should also give us the same confidence:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. (Romans 8:26-27, NIV)

The “helps” is suggestive. This Greek word means “to help by joining in an activity or effort.” The same word occurs in Luke 5:7 where Simon’s fishing partners come “help” with the miraculous catch of fish in the other boat. For example, picture someone helping you carry furniture. The Spirit doesn’t pray for me. That would be like the helper carrying the furniture by himself. He intercedes with me. I may not always know what to pray for, or how to express myself. Some of the things I may ask for might even harm me, if given. But my Heavenly Father knows my true needs. May we pray without ceasing.

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Posted by Russell Holden

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