Hurricane Harvey: Church's credibility is on the line

Psalm 34:10 reads, "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing."

Frederick Lewis Donaldson in a sermon given on March 20, 1925 in Westminster Abbey with profound insight declared that:

“The Seven Social Sins are:

Wealth without work.

Pleasure without conscience.

Knowledge without character.

Commerce without morality.

Science without humanity.

Worship without sacrifice.

Politics without principle."

Interestingly, no statement could be more timely, then or now. The sober fact is, however, that one need not necessarily have to commit all to be guilty of one or a combination thereof of these sins.

One fellow I heard about spent 10 million dollars on a breakfast to celebrate getting inducted into the Football Hall of Fame.  That, my friend, is morally reprehensible, as far as I am concerned. Wonder what the poor victims of Hurricane Harvey think about such self-indulgence? I am sure that the breakfast can be rationalized by some; however, I don’t think I could with clear conscious lavish such extravagance on myself while others are so needy.

Don’t get me wrong, the is nothing wrong with wealth. There is, however, a great deal wrong with how some spend it. The scripture declares that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof (1 Corinthians 10:26; Psalms 24:1),” so what any of us has is not ours anyway. We must be good stewards, however; or otherwise, He will judge those that are not (Malachi 3:9-10).

Sad, isn’t it?

Well, money aside, here are 10 prayer suggestions that we can bless the victims with:

1.    Please pray for divine intervention on the environment. Specifically pray for a high-pressure system to dissipate. This is not a silly request, either; for we know that God "Whether [it is] for correction, or for His world, Or for lovingkindness, [God] causes it to happen (Job 37:12-13).”
  2.    Ask for strength and wisdom for those responsible for the dams and levees that they not add to the catastrophic flooding.
 3.    Pray for supernatural wisdom for the pastors of the affected areas, many have never faced such devastating problems.
 4.    Ask God to minister peace to the weary shell-shocked refugees who of have lost everything.
 5.    Pray for those who are actively rescuing those in distressed. Pray for their safety.
 6.    Ask God to cover and protect those still in need of rescue.
 7.    Pray for all the churches nationwide to measure up to the task presented to all of us, that we will be strong in the Lord and complete the task set before us.
 8.    Pray for the waters to wash away racism and socioeconomic prejudices, as people are working together to survive.
 9.    Pray for the waters to quickly recede so that constructive recovery may begin.
 10.  Ask God to shine in His mercy over all South Texas, and the affected areas beyond.
 

Through it all, however, we must remind ourselves that the work of the Church Universal still goes on, and that we must not neglect, also.

 Again, be bless; better yet, bless others!

JimR_/-

The Weak Strong Man

"At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done." — The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Ch. 3

One of the great disadvantages, I think, of striving to become a scholar is that one loses out on the more important simple truths of life. Thomas à Kempis, one of the great Christian mystics, once wrote:

“We ought to read devout and simple books as willingly as those that are high and profound [and] let the love of simple truth lead thee to read [not] who may have said a thing, but rather consider what is said.” (Imitations of Christ, Book 1, Ch. 5)

There is something refreshing about this approach. Unfortunately, not everyone who has something to say can or is willing to expose the simple truth. Preachers are no exception, either. Once, as I remember so well, we sat under the ministry of well-educated preacher who, as the saying goes, “Dan to Beersheba and everything in between” in his weekly sermon, but no one of my acquaintance had the foggiest notion whatsoever what he was talking about. In contrast, however, his children sermons were excellent. ‘My,’ I often thought, ‘if he would only preach to us like he talked to the children, it would be great!’

It is simply not necessary to dissect all the nuances of a text on love to in anyway improve on the act of love of a Savior who touched a leper, or healed the blind, or carried the heavy load of a criminal’s cross to save us. Such love is pretty straight forward, and needs no embellishments. The same goes for all the self-help feel good sermons floating across the airwaves and from our pulpits these days, too.

Truth is, nothing will make a sinner feel better than forgiveness of sin, or no self-help advice can substitute for “casting all of our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7)” for indeed, He does really are for us! Paul acknowledged that when he wrote,

Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Paul knew where his strength lay, and we are best off to recognize this simple truth, also.

Again, with brotherly affection,

JimR_/

The Eucharist: Getting the cart before the horse?

Jesus said to them,

"Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53).”

Then on the night that He was betrayed, scripture says,

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you (Luke 22:14-20).

Centuries have passed since this great event, and the efficacy still remains. So, when people ask me what Communion is, I simply point to what the Bible has to say on the subject. Without equivocation, the Bible says in summary,

This is my body given (present participle) for you; do this in remembrance of me; and in the same manner he took the cup, saying, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is (not was—rather, is) poured out for you. (Luke 22:14-20)

This act alone convinces me that His sacrifice is an on-going sacrifice. It did not stop at Calvary, nor was it exhausted there, either. This is not to say that Christ is crucified each time we partake in the Lord’s Supper; it is, however, to say that it is as efficacious now as it was then. Why the “is” then? Why not, say it shall be my body? And, in looking back, why not say it was His body? Paul doesn’t, that’s for sure. He writes:

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Now, in reply to all of these “whys?” asked above, the answer is that in actual fact, Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth (Revelation 13:8). The event, therefore, was never an afterthought—simply, just a remembrance of things pasts, but rather a forethought, first and foremost, with ongoing consequences.

To deny that it is an ongoing efficacious sacrifice, is to fail to understand the history of salvation. Moses depended on it, as did all the Old Testament saints, including the New Testament ones and beyond. Truly, when He said, “This is my body,” He spoke in language that only eternity understands in its fulness. Therefore, I need not fuss and fume over the nature of the bread or wine—or the epiclesis for when it starts, for in any case that act was once and for all permanent and everlasting, arching the very span of time.

This, incidentally is Orthodox doctrine. For the Orthodox (but not the Roman Catholic), the epiclesis during the eucharistic celebration is at the very moment the word “remembrance” is mention in the liturgy—that is, as if the very nature of the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ is already available as an eternal sacrifice born in the heart of God, the Father, at the very beginning of time itself. So, it is at that very moment that the efficacy of that sacrifice is appropriated.

In other words, the Eucharist—as an ongoing “remembrance” is built into the very fabric of creation that awaits the day when He shall be fully revealed in and through us (Romans 8:19)—thus, we are in a constant state and process of redemption in the sustained efficacy of that sacrifice, as is the whole creation (Romans 8:22).

The only sacrifice that covers all sin in that sense is found in Jesus Christ who went to the cross, where he shed his blood that our sins might be blotted out (Matthew 26:28; John 3:16; Acts 3:18-19; Revelation 7:14); and it is by that efficacious sacrifice that we are redeemed.

Another way of looking at it is that the sacrifice is eternal by nature, born in the heart of God, and appropriated in continuity with time. The sacrifice is thus retroactive, present, and progressive, and therefore appropriated for time and eternity (Revelation 7:14; Romans 8:22).

Now, if you have been following me carefully in this discussion, it explains (at least for me) how Christ was able to lift the bread (the host) and the chalice (the wine) and pronounce, “This is my body, this is my blood,” without contradicting what obviously had not in history taken place. He was to die later that day; that is, be sacrificed.

Thus, it is not heresy to say that communion is a bloodless sacrifice, in the sense that it is a commemorative act that points to one that was, both retroactive and progressively so; in other words, it is efficacious throughout all time.

JimR_/-