Devotional

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Tebow Chapter 1

“Have You Considered My Servant Tim Tebow?”

The Tim Tebow story really is amazing … with multiple 4th-quarter and overtime come-from-behind wins that, along with his public expressions of faith, give rise to a consideration of divine blessing and intervention. And still, the football experts (which I am not at all) say this is all a flash in the pan and temporary thing – that his skills do not portend a continuous excellence and success.

Tebow has become an illustration of the polarization of America – between the extremes of those who value an active and daily faith, with those who do, frankly, despise Christianity and faith as a sort of fairy-tale foolishness.

Since this is football and not something serious like baseball or distance running, I thought I’d have some fun with it by writing up a parallel account of the Old Testament Book of Job, chapter one …

In the land of the NFL, there lived a man whose name was Tim Tebow. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had 10 teammates on offense, 52 on his squad, thousands of fans in Denver, and a large number of admirers all across the land. He was the greatest man among all the people of the NFL.

He and his teammates every Sunday feasted on the broken defensive backfield schemes of the NFL. And early each Sunday, he would dedicate his game and his play to the Lord. He would make an offering of prayer throughout the day. This was Tebow’s regular custom.

One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the NFL, going back and forth from division to division.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Tim Tebow? There is no one in the NFL like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil, and drives commentators and all your friends crazy.”

“Does Tim Tebow honor God for nothing?” Satan replied.  “Have you not put a hedge around him and his team and everything he does? You have blessed the play of his game, so that the word of his victories has spread all throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has and afflict him with a terrible loss, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

So, how will the story continue, and how will it end?

I don’t know for sure what even the next week brings. This young man has quite a spotlight on him, but he does seem to have the character to withstand it … yet nobody is perfect, and any misstep will be publicized inordinately.

However, I do suspect that when the time comes that wins fail to materialize and the game goes against him, this chapter will end (as does Job 1) …

And Tebow said, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

In all this, Tebow did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

In the event that you are unfamiliar with Job chapter 1, here it is:

 1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

 4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

 6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”  Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

 13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

 16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

 17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

 18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

 20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

 

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Pray for THAT guy??

Well, it is a new year with the new blog, so, might as well start if off with a bang and with a topic of emotion, if not controversy! This is probably why people who grow up in New Jersey shouldn’t grow up to be pastors!

In church Sunday, an illustration was used of praying for and supporting President Obama. The point of the reference was not to necessarily get this specific application as an action step, but to make an illustration that would cause the listener to stretch emotionally. The speaker presented it in terms of “if Obama claims to be your brother in Christ, then you need to support him in prayer, and so forth …”  Is that really true? How do we evaluate that?

Well, before it was out of his mouth fully, I was already hung up on the “if” portion. I’ll confess that I don’t see the POTUS very much as my brother in Christ, apart from the most general sense of those words. Yes, he has called Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior. And I guess I believe he really does espouse the Christian faith and is not a closet Muslim, though he has done and said enough things to fuel the doubters on that subject. And the Christian connection he had in the years leading up to his public ascendancy is one that we would not find biblically accurate. It was in a culture and vein of thought heavily endowed with a brand of “liberation theology” – which redefines the Gospel away from the spiritual issues of the blood payment of Christ as the atonement for sin, to seeing the work of Christ as an example to follow of liberating oppressed peoples from establishment power systems. (One can easily see how this category of biblical worldview would energize a left-wing activism.)

HOWEVER … the question is not ultimately one of prayer support by determining if he is truly a Christian brother or not. After all, we know that the world is full of people who carry the Christian label who do not really have a life changed by the Gospel. Jesus said there would be many like this – people who don’t really embrace the Gospel in a way of life-giving change.

The reason to pray for President Obama is because the Scriptures say to pray for all people in authority.  (1 Timothy 2:1-3 … “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior.”) And I remind you that Paul wrote those words while under the heavy hand of a persecuting Roman government. The thought here is that our prayers for civil authority may work toward an establishment of peace for the sake of the Gospel and its proclamation … that as a peaceful civil society succeeds, so does the context for the work of the Church and the spread of the Word.

Some years ago, at the height of controversy in the Clinton administration, I referenced this passage and prayed for the President. A person in the church thought this was dreadful and went to the Elders with a complaint on the issue – about the pastor praying for an avowed abortion-rights person, etc., etc.  Of course, it was a simple matter to point out that praying for the President is a clear application of the words to Timothy.

So, we may pray for and support civil leaders in this way, while also NOT supporting their policies and even working for the success of alternative views. We may pray for their ultimate success (as in the terms above) while also accepting the reality that they do not hold to our values – which we may in turn give energy to through our efforts. So, for example, we may pray for the Administration to honor God on the issues of the value of human life, yet understand that they see it differently than the Scriptures, and so our energies are thrown toward what can be done through agencies like the Hagerstown Area Pregnancy Center. When the Romans threw away unwanted babies in the first century, it was the Christian community who went around and took them and gave them life. And they were ultimately respected for this work.

A difference between the Roman Empire and now is that there was no legal and practical means for protest or political action then. However, standing in opposition publically is a cherished right of the system of governance that we have, and I do not believe it is wrong for a Christian to participate appropriately – to call publically for a redress of grievances and speak to the decay of historic values and foundations. As many of you know, I have done this in a very public way.

Yet in it all, we need to remember that our primary mission in life personally, and in life together as a church, is to be God’s ambassadors as reconciling agents of the Kingdom to a lost world (2 Corinthians 5). Some may have a calling by God to serve in the systems of this world, but we are primarily citizens of another, eternal Kingdom and warriors in that cosmic conflict. I can honestly say that I have, in this season of my life, that calling to serve for a time in a political capacity. It found me; I did not seek it. I will tell you that honestly, I don’t really like it that much and am disappointed that even in the Conservative movement, there are too many who do not live exemplary lives and walk by the values they publically espouse. This is very sad.

So, I will pray for the President and all those in authority – which of course include many with whom I have much in agreement. My goal – our goal – is to see this country thrive … yet we know that there are historic values that have made this place exceptional in history. That exceptionalism is not because we are better as a people, but because there has never been another culture with the same “stew” of freedom and opportunity – for advances on all fronts, including the spread of the Gospel – as has been facilitated by the God-blessed ideals of those founders some 200+ years ago.

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Plans for Reading the Bible in the New Year

Every year, Christians make plans to read through the Bible. It is a worthy goal, but like so many worthy things, the disciplined execution of such is the problem!

Let me direct your attention to an incredible new tool to assist and facilitate your Bible reading resolution for the New Year. It is on the following web site:

http://www.youversion.com/about/reading-plans

There are literally hundreds of reading plans from which you may choose, and then load to whatever device you have … in whatever way you’d like to receive it.

Let me give you just two examples of reading plans:

Example 1 – The Essential 100 » 100 days

The Essential 100 Challenge (E100) helps you get an overview of the Bible… without getting bogged down. The Plan guides you through 50 Old Testament passages and 50 New Testament passages — The Essential 100 — so you can see the big picture of God’s Word, and form a daily Bible reading habit in the process. E100 is an achievable way to have a “through the Bible” experience; it’s the Bible reading plan people love to complete.

Example 2 – Historical » 1 Year

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to read the Old Testament in ancient Israel? Or, the New Testament as the books were written? In this plan, the order of the Old Testament readings is very similar to Israel’s Hebrew Bible, progressing from Law to Prophets to Writings. The New Testament ordering is based upon research regarding the order in which the books were authored. Although this research is not conclusive, it may offer helpful insights to your Bible reading.

There are many other incredible features on this web page … so check it out. Actually, Eric is using some of the technological elements in his Wednesday night discipleship work with the teens.

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Christmas Greeting to Church Family and Friends

I was with Vicki Crowe in her home later in the evening after Larry died of a heart attack some years ago. After a while, one of the family arrived – Larry’s brother Randy, who is a pastor in WV – and the first thing he said was, “Oh Vicki, we’re getting to have more people over there than we have here!” (His daughter had recently been killed in a car crash.) And as we know, not long after, Vicki went “over there” as well. That occurred during this season just six years ago, and oh how I miss that precious friend!

If you live long enough, the statement is true – you have more family in heaven than you have on the earth. A number of us this year on the ministry staff will be missing some folks around the celebrations of family gatherings. I’m not sure when I’ve seen a holiday season where there is so much pain in so many families. Just days ago, a family from my former church in New Jersey had a healthy college senior daughter contract some sort of strange pneumonia, and within 48 hours, she had died! How can this be?

But ultimately we are not undone! Our faith in not shaken, but rather reaffirmed. We can still access joy in this season (even if we cannot dredge up the “happiness” feeling), for the incarnation of Christ – and His subsequent Work on the cross – brings us the greatest gift … the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. He is Emmanuel – God with us. And through the Holy Spirit that imbues the Church, Jesus lives not only with us, but IN us! And beyond that, the Spirit is the “earnest” of our salvation – a down-payment as it were – that we shall inherit that life that will never end. This is good stuff!

And this good stuff all had its beginning in the physical world through the coming of Christ in that Bethlehem manger.

And so I extend to all of you – dear friends, family, and co-servants of Christ – the most wonder-filled and blessed of celebrations, be it through joyful uproarious hilarity and celebration, or perhaps rather even in the quiet of solitude and contemplation.

 

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Aging Through Christmas Story

A couple years ago for one of our Christmas shows, I played the part of Simeon. Lori Boutieller asked me to do it, and I always do what she asks!

Anyhow, I was thinking – this is what everything has now come to!  I’m now typecast as the old man in the Christmas story! Well, I guess I do look the part! You know – dignified, and all that!

But consider this: here is how it progresses if you are a male, and a life-long church attender. When you are a baby, you play the part of Jesus (even though you can’t remember doing it). Then, as a child, you get to be an angel, or a shepherd (and be creeped-out by wearing your bathrobe on the stage). As a young adult, Joseph is your role. When you get to be a bit older adult, you become a wise man. Next, as a more seasoned gentleman, you are given the fun part of playing the innkeeper. And finally, when you are about to die, someone like Lori comes along and says, “Could you dress up and be Simeon this year?” Sure, I’ll do it! Why … it is the pinnacle moment of a lifetime of Christmas thespianism! The next stop is heaven. It has to be; there are no more parts!

It says in Luke 2:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”