Chronicles of Crank

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32

                On the evening of the Resurrection of Jesus, as the word was beginning to circulate that something had happened to the body of Jesus, two men were walking along a road toward the town of Emmaus when they were joined by a stranger. It was Jesus, but they couldn’t recognize Him.

                They were amazed that this Man seemed to not know the news that Jesus had been crucified, much less that He was reported to have been seen alive again. So Jesus explained to the men all that the Scriptures had to say about Himself “beginning with Moses and the Prophets” (Luke 24:27). Later, after He became known to them, they realized how His discourse had affected them.

                The hearts of these men “burned” within them because they were searching for the Truth, and the Truth was being revealed to them. They didn’t have a flippant, fatalistic attitude that found expression in a phrase like “Oh well, it must not have been God’s will!” They were earnestly trying to make sense of the things that had happened and to see these events within the grander scheme of God’s redemptive plan. They were looking to know Truth. They would find it within the revelation of Scripture, explained by the One who embodied the Truth. What a privilege was theirs that makes many of us envious!

Having known Christ in this culture for the past 35 years, I confess that I am cynical about how many people today are really searching for Truth. Many SAY they are, but the cares and comforts of this life are usually more important. It is unusual – but supremely joyful – these days to find a brother or sister whose greatest concern is simply to know Jesus and His Truth.

                But though I tend to be cynical today, I am confident that this tribe will increase in the next few years (if Jesus tarries). As the prosperity of our Western culture wanes, as people become disillusioned with the emptiness of materialism, there will be a hunger for the Word again in the hearts of men, because, as Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Solomon’s statement in Ecclesiastes that God has placed “eternity in our hearts” implies that the things of this world will never truly satisfy. It may take some time for us to try “everything,” but once we do, the hunger in us for eternal Truth will burn. The junk food spiritual diet many today live on just won’t satisfy.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. Luke 18:1

                One of the most famous speeches that Winston Churchill ever delivered was given, as I understand it, after WWII. Churchill was the Prime Minister of England who stood up to Adolf Hitler, instead of giving in to the “peace in our time” policy of his predecessor. In this famous speech, he came to the podium and simply said, “Never… Never… Never give up.” Then he sat down.

Whether my memory of this speech is exactly accurate or not, it is the same theme that Jesus had in His parable in Luke 18. I admit to you that I don’t understand why prayer often seems to go unanswered, but the reason is not the apathy of the God we serve. Neither is it that He is too busy or that He has forgotten us. As best I can understand, it has something to do with the work He is trying to accomplish in me.

Unlike parents whose job it is to give their children “roots and wings,” maturity in Christ involves an increasing dependence upon Him for every need we have. The more we are conscious of our need, the greater will be the glory He will receive when He answers our prayer. It was not a failure on God’s part that Abraham and Sarah were barren up to her 90^th birthday; it was not an oversight that Moses found himself between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army; it wasn’t because God didn’t care that Jehoshaphat the king found himself threatened by a vast army; and it wasn’t because God had overlooked something that Hezekiah faced impending destruction at the hands of the Assyrian army. Each of these events – and many more – became an occasion for the Sovereign King to show the glory of His power before a watching world. Each of the human characters found himself in an acutely uncomfortable position, but they had surrendered themselves to His purposes and to live for His honor.

This is what Jesus tells us we need to do as well – never give up. We are to recognize that unless He delivers us, we are lost; unless He intervenes, we have no hope. Though this position is exceedingly uncomfortable, our comfort is not His primary concern, and should not be ours either. We are here to glorify God – to demonstrate the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His light. And if we die in the process – either figuratively or literally – our reward will be that much greater.

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.” Luke 22:14-16

Some might dispute my statement that the central celebration in the Jewish calendar was intended to be Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. By this statement I am not trying to diminish God’s many deliverances of the Jewish people that are celebrated throughout their calendar year. But I am suggesting that the Passover is central to them all. Before He suffered and died, Jesus celebrated it with His disciples.

There was a sense among the ancient Jewish and Hebrew commentators that somehow Messiah would deliver the nation on the anniversary of their deliverance from Egypt which happened the day after Passover. This sense was correct for Jesus died the day after the Passover. Messiah did indeed deliver His people on this day.

Christian theology teaches that the inaugural event of heaven will be the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb.” I can’t quite figure out how it can be an inaugural event in a world without time, but I will leave that dilemma to God. But that event would appear to be comparable, if not identical, to the Passover feast on this side of eternity, and Jesus says in the passage above that He will “eat it again.”

Over the years, as our church has celebrated Passover by pointing to its fulfillment in Christ, we have recognized how completely this event melds the Old and New Testaments together into a single unit. The Exodus was central to the deliverance of the nation of Israel from the taskmasters of Egypt; Christ’s death was central to the deliverance of all mankind from the harsher taskmaster of sin. It is wonderful to celebrate not only with music and message, but to see how even the traditional food and ceremony point to the truth of Jesus’ deliverance of men.

It is even more thrilling to know that what we do each year is just a rehearsal for heaven where Jesus Himself will be physically present!

Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words. Luke 19:47-48

                Things certainly are different in our day! Today we ignore, rather than “hang on to,” His words. The difference between the response in the time of Jesus and our own is not a matter of the delivery because the Holy Spirit has breathed life into the words of Scripture just as the breath of Jesus carried them through His lips. It is also not because men are innately different today than in that day. I would suggest that the reason we don’t hang on Jesus’ words because we don’t have the motivation that they had in the time of Jesus.

                The people of Jesus’ day were looking for a Messiah, a deliverer. They were oppressed by an authoritarian political regime that didn’t care about their Jewish laws and practices. Rather than being the head, they were the tail (see Deut. 28:13-14) because they had not paid attention to the Lord’s commands. His judgment upon them had led to their subservient position.

                People in America today – even Christians – are not looking for a Messiah, at least not a Messiah like Jesus. We are too comfortable in our position on top of the world. When our bank accounts run dry, when our health gives out, when our families decide to blow us off, then we’ll hang on Jesus’ words. But probably not before, unless we have been trained well (and sometimes, not even then!).

                I’m glad that the Church can be there when life happens for people in our world, but the truth is that the fix is not an easy one. It’s always simpler to get into trouble than to get out of it, because the source of that trouble is always sin. Sometimes it’s the original sin that plagues all mankind on this side of heaven, sometimes it is a specific sin that has led to our circumstances. But either way, the remedy is Jesus – His death for us or His words to us.

                I am very thankful for the easy life God has blessed us with in America with our many freedoms and creature comforts and I recognize their Source, but I fear that unless we wake up and hang on his words again like our Founding Fathers did, we’ll repeat the cycle that plagued the Jewish people.

“Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”  (Luke 17:7-10)

                My son recently joined the US Air Force. Right now he is in Basic Training learning his rightful place. Although we as parents didn’t succumb to the prevalent societal opinion that his “self-esteem” was fragile and needed to be constantly propped up, he did know the security of a family that loved him and cared for him, and, I believe, he would express that if he were asked.

But there is something good about learning that we are on the bottom of the ladder; there is something good about understanding that we are the servants rather than the masters. We in the American Church have fallen into the vile condition where we expect God to do our bidding rather than the other way around. We want to be the General, not the Private. Hardship is unknown to us, or, if we do experience it, we expect some fantastic reward at the end. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that our “chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”Note the order of this. “Enjoy” follows “glorify.” We don’t glorify God IF He lets us enjoy life; we glorify Him and the result will be that He will give us joy, though there is no promise that the joy will be immediate.

All of the saints of Scripture understood this principle. A cursory reading of the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 will reveal that hardship was their lot, and they didn’t complain about it. Paul told Timothy to “suffer hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 2:3). While we tend to see these great saints as exemplary – and they are – they probably would not have considered themselves to be exemplary, just servants.

Hardship refines us, burning away impurities in our lives, especially the impure thought that we deserve more. It is especially important that we see this when we are young. Jeremiah wrote, “It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.” When we bear this hardship and still can see God as loving and merciful toward us, our lives will be characterized with joy in the end (consider Psalm 90:14).

Military service often changes our young men and women. We often hear that “it makes a man out of him” or matures him. It is interesting how being immersed in a strict authoritarian structure makes us mature. I’m anxious to see how it affects my son; I’m praying that it will impact his spiritual life in a similar way.

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:27-31)

The text here comes from the story about the rich man and Lazarus. (Traditionally, the rich man’s name has been “Divies” because it is the term used in the Vulgate, the Latin Bible, for the rich man, but the name is not in Scripture.) Lazarus was a poor beggar who often would sit at the gate of the rich man’s home and beg. But he believed (apparently) and was rewarded with heaven while the rich man suffered in Hades. Jewish legend suggested that when a believer died he would go to Abraham’s bosom, so Jesus was using this idea to make His point, not necessarily condoning any truth to the legend.

The rich man, while in agony, called upon Father Abraham to soothe his agony by sending Lazarus and when that was not possible, he asked him to send Lazarus back to his family that was still living so that they could be warned. Abraham explained that they had the Scriptures, but the rich man thought that someone coming back to life would more clearly convince them. But Jesus put the main point of His story in the words of Abraham, “If they don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they won’t be convinced if someone rises from the dead.”

There is a specific and a general application to this. The specific application is that the skeptical religious leaders would not be convinced when Jesus Himself rose from the dead. This is, at least in part, because to believe in Him would likely doom their careers within the Jewish Sanhedrin. These positions were acquired at great cost of time and effort. We might compare them to political careers in our day. Very few men are willing to risk their careers to believe in Jesus – then or now. Truth just isn’t that important to most men in our day.

The general application is that no matter how many or how stupendous the miracles, they will not convince the skeptic, unless they are convinced by the Scriptures. If a person will believe it will be because he chooses to listen to “Moses and the Prophets” (aka, the Scripture).

This principle is really a major factor in the decline of the Church in our day. People have things backward – they want the miracles rather than the Scripture. It’s too hard and time-consuming for many to dig into the Scripture; we’d rather just have a quick, easy miracle, or some other “feel-good” entertainment. And there are always churches that will try to accommodate them. But Dr. A.B. Simpson had it right when he penned the verse, “Once it was the blessing, Now it is the Lord; Once it was the feeling, Now it is His Word; Once the gift I wanted, Now the Giver own; Once I sought for healing, Now Himself alone.”

Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”  Luke 13:20-21

                This is one of the few times in Scripture where yeast is not compared to sin. Most often it is used to speak of the way sin changes the state of a person’s heart. But in this case, that change is a positive one. The Gospel (the kingdom of God) actually alters the very nature of human development.

                I came to know Christ in college. To many around me, the changes that took place in my life were probably considered changes that came with maturity and human development, but I knew different. There was a significant difference between the “BC” person and who I became.

                Though my life as sheltered and stable, I grew up with no real sense of personal value. Before I came to Christ, I had no understanding of why I existed. I was scared to try new things because I feared ridicule or that I would fail and people would think poorly of me. I’m sure it was not intentionally communicated, but I believed my personal worth was a function of some unique contribution that I knew was not in me. Had I embraced an Eastern mystical religion in those days, it would have fit my don’t-rock-the-boat demeanor. I wasn’t passionate about anything so that I would avoid being criticized.

                But Christ changed that. His presence in my life began to permeate everything I was and did. That “small” decision to trust Him with my life suddenly impacted the whole of my life, just like the yeast did to the dough in Jesus’ illustration. I recognized the Bible as the source of Truth; I saw Jesus as the Ruler over the universe; I may not have had clear vocational direction, but I knew it was somehow connected to my relationship with Him. All the pieces of my life that had previously seemed so fragmented, now were brought into order by His presence, like a magnet does to iron filings.

                But it makes me wonder about some of the people near me. Has their internal orientation changed because of their decision to trust Christ? (Has the Gospel yeast permeated their lives?) Rather, have they viewed Christianity as “fire insurance,” simply to keep them from hell? When small children (even my own) trust Christ, does the Gospel yeast so alter their lives that they will be true to it in the turbulent adolescent years and beyond? Certainly, I can never peer into the hearts of these near me, but He does expect me to inspect the “fruit” or see if “the dough has risen.”

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Prov 31:10

                My blog normally is a meditation on the Scripture, and I want this one to follow that pattern, although as you read it, it may seem more personal, perhaps even self-serving.

This evening I spoke with a friend that I and many others have been praying for. He left his wife and children for another woman, but in His mercy God has heard our prayers and has prompted this man to repent and return. I am profoundly grateful because this repentant spirit seems to be a rare thing in our day.

Our conversation led to his statement that many of the couples around us are struggling in their marriages. I know that this society is far more promiscuous than my parents’ generation, but he suggested to me that stable marriages seem to be the exception rather than the rule – even within the evangelical church. As I have reflected upon our conversation this evening, I am in awe at the provision that God has made for me in my wife of 31 years.

I came to know Christ while in college, and, while my conversion changed me from an insecure, socially inept kid, I still struggled. I began a lifelong study of Scripture in those days, so I was comfortable in a Christian setting, but not so much socially. In my loneliness, I recall praying that God would provide me with a wife. I was attending at that time a church in which I was the only single person between 16 and 66, but the thought never occurred to me to go to another church where there might be some single Christian women. My purpose was not marriage; it was a deepening walk with Jesus, and He would provide if He chose to, though I wasn’t expecting Him to. Despite my naiveté (or maybe because of it) God brought Mary to me. I recall that we laughed hilariously on our first date to a local play (most of the hilarity was the ineptitude of the local actors rather than the play itself), and we have been able to laugh together ever since.

But the secret to our 31 years was not laughter, although that is important; it has been commitment, personal devotion to Christ and humility. I don’t deserve her and I know it. Though she deserves far better than me, somehow God has made her believe that she doesn’t deserve me. This humility is largely what prompts us to serve each other and set the other first. It gets its fuel because each of us is into the Scripture each day where we both realize that we are indebted to the grace of God both for eternal life and for temporal existence. We are imperfect people and we fail each other more often than we like to admit, but that humility and grace has led us to take seriously the vows we made on our wedding day that we would set the other ahead of ourselves until death. When I think back to how naïve I was on that day, I am amazed! But we made these vows before the God to whom we will give an account, and “divorce” has never been in our vocabulary.

At the risk of sounding too simplistic, the plethora of marital problems in our day is the result, I believe, of the tendency among this generation to ignore the Scripture. We are a generation of Christians that says we believe the Bible, but we don’t read it, we don’t memorize it and we certainly don’t meditate upon it. Everything is quick and external to us in the 21^st century Church. Worship is entertainment with hardly any reference to the Scripture; real Bible study is rejected in favor of a light devotional thought or platitude. Our children know virtually nothing of the Scriptures (because their parents don’t), and Sunday School has given way to fun activities. But David wrote, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee” (Ps 119:11).

Thankfully, my repentant friend indicated that for the first time in his married life, he is regularly reading the Scripture. That’s what will keep his marriage together, just as it has my own. Recalling our conversation, I am astounded by God’s grace to provide my wife for me, because I don’t deserve a stable marriage any more than my friend does. I concur with the writer of this Proverb, “She is worth far more than rubies.” And, yes, after we returned home this evening, I told her how grateful I am for her.

As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning (Luke 9:29). Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” (Luke 9:18). He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field (Luke 10:2).

                It would appear that God is trying to speak. As I have been reading through the Gospel of Luke recently, I have begun to notice the number of times Jesus is either praying or encouraging others to pray. Although I have read this Gospel many times, some of the references have startled me this time.

                For example, Luke is the only one of the Gospel writers to describe the Transfiguration with the words “As He was praying…” (9:29). Luke is also the only Gospel writer to introduce the story of Peter’s Confession with the phrase, “When Jesus was praying…” (9:18). The second verse of the next chapter includes Jesus’ command to pray that “the Lord of the Harvest [would] send out workers into His harvest field.” And the chapter closes with Jesus’ praise of Mary’s devotional heart over Martha’s constant activity.

                I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t understand prayer. I cannot explain why the omniscient Father needs for me to ask Him to do what He wants to do. But for some reason He does.

               It probably is wrapped up in the idea of relationship. We often compare the communication between God and His people with the communication between a couple who are dating. This communication goes beyond words in that as their love develops and matures, they begin to understand what makes the other “tick” – what  his/her values are, what makes them angry, how he/she responds in times of stress and struggle. This illustration breaks down in that neither of the dating couple has infinite knowledge and wisdom, but the illustration still describes what a combination of prayer and the Scripture will do for us. We’ll get to know His character, especially the infinite nature of His love for men made in His image.

                      Far more than our service, God our Father wants us. He desires the fellowship of His worshipping people, and in the process of that fellowship, He longs for us to acquire the heart He has for a rebellious world of His image-bearers. We may never fully understand why He longs for His people to pray; we may never fully understand why Jesus’ example of prayer is so pervasive in Luke’s Gospel; but we can understand that it is this process of communication – back and forth, prayer and Scripture – that infuses His values into our hearts. Perhaps I should say, “It is ONLY this process…”

Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

                With the possible exception of evangelism, few topics elicit guilt in Christians like the call to pray. We all know we should and we have a plethora of examples showing why it is important, but still we don’t. My purpose is not to make us feel more guilty, but simply to observe the occasion of Jesus’ prayer – He prayed all night while deciding who would be His Twelve closest followers.

                Now, it wasn’t like these were established positions. There was no Bylaw that said He had to have twelve. He could have chosen 10 or even 15. Certainly twelve was a Biblical number, but  He wasn’t filling a quota; He was looking for men whose hearts were right deep down, because they would carry on His ministry after He had gone to heaven. They would be called upon to suffer hardship and trial, eventually even martyrdom, and if their hearts were compromised, they wouldn’t last.

                We don’t know what transpired between Father and Son that night, but somehow, He heard from the Father about which of the multitude He should call to “be with Him.” Those hours of prayer helped Him peer into the hearts of these men and understand who would last and who wouldn’t. I suspect that as the night wore on, Jesus saw how they would respond to His message and His purpose for their lives. I suspect also that there was some wrestling over the appointment of Judas Iscariot!

                This passage doesn’t give us great insight into how prayer works or what methodology we should use to find the answers to our questions and struggles. But it does point out the importance that Jesus placed upon prayer prior to major decisions, and it is an example of how we also should approach decisions in our own lives. If prayer was necessary for Jesus before decisions, how much more is it necessary for us.

                I don’t believe there as anything “magical” about spending all night in prayer, any more than any other discipline. But the main point of this brief statement in Luke’s Gospel is that we need to pray – even if it’s just a brief cry for help. It doesn’t matter how long or how big the decision, when it comes to prayer, just do it.