Lake Louise Church of the Nazarene

The Bible declares that “God is Love” (1 John 4.16b). The writer of 1 John also declares that “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (1 John 4.18a). How would we describe this love? Paul describes this kind of love in 1 Corinthians 13. After he describes the futility of gifts and knowledge without love, he tells the readers about love.

1 Corinthians 13.4-8a: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Now, let’s take a moment and consider that if Paul is describing love, could we better understand God through his description? What if, for the sake of this discussion, we replace the word ‘love’ with the word ‘God?’ Do you find a more understandable picture of this love?

Instead of Love being patient and kind, we get a glimpse of God. Now read the same passage, what do you see? God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails.

What an amazing picture of God that emerges. God is love and look how wonderful that love is for each of us, for all of humanity. That is truly good news!

This love is not conditioned by our response to God. Romans 5.8 says that God demonstrated his love for us in this, “that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We had not repented. We had not stopped insulting, beating, berating, mocking, or humiliating Jesus. And yet, Jesus died for all of them and all of us – He died for the world. Imagine how much hatred and bitterness the people felt when Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23.34). They knew what they were doing. They were executing an enemy of Caesar. They were executing a revolutionary. They were executing a person that claimed to not only be equal to God, but to be God. Blasphemy! They believed they were right, not wrong. Jesus forgives them. That is truly amazing love. To love your enemies like that is amazing.

Maybe you are thinking that this is just something Jesus has done, and not something we are supposed to do. That is not what Jesus tells his listeners. Jesus says, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5.44-45). If we are to be ‘sons of our Father in heaven’ we must do good for everyone. Surely not the evil, not the unrighteous! Yes, even them.

I hear some of you protesting. I hear some of you wanting to execute divine wrath and judgment. James and John were rebuked by Jesus for wanting to call fire down from heaven (Luke 9.54-55). Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world (John 3.17). Jesus Christ is our example of love in action. Jesus is our model for how to live in this world. Jesus lived the life we are to embody. Jesus is our example. But, you say, what about wrath, judgment, condemnation? What about hellfire and unrepentant sinners? What about justice and revenge? What about it?

Those are God’s areas of divine right, not ours. Listen to what Paul says in Romans: “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12.19-21). Who is our enemy? Is it a person that abuses children? Is it the homosexual? Is it the pedophile? Is it the adulterer? Is it the prideful? Is our enemy the gossip, glutton, greedy? Who is our enemy? Paul says that we were enemies of God and yet God saved us (Romans 5.10). If we are to follow the example of Christ, if we are to be children of God, we will follow the example of Christ Jesus.

Do I struggle with God’s wrath? Yes, honestly I do. When I see Jesus I have trouble seeing a God that is filled with wrath. But if it comes down to wrath, judgment, condemnation, and hell I will defer to God’s great love for us. I will follow the example of Jesus and follow him. In the end, I have no problem with God being God. What I have a problem with us humans thinking we know who to judge and condemn? I have a problem with us trying to do that work of God the Father when our example is Jesus.

The fruit of the Spirit of God is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). These are qualities we can obtain to live the life of Christ in this world. These are the tools we use to help bring redemption and healing to the lost and suffering. There is no law against these things. However, should we choose to execute divine wrath and judgment against the people God wants to save, there is a consequence. Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7.1-2).

God has come more than half way to help us, to heal us, to love us. God does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. He has demonstrated time and time again that he is in love with us, not angry at us. Come, feel and know true love today.

So here we are. The election is over, the votes counted, and the winner announced. Since I am writing this on the day of the election, I have no idea who won. I am just so smart that I know someone won. With that brilliance in mind, I will share another insight: Some folks are ecstatic while others are devastated. Think about how fortunate you are to have turned to this article in your time of need and realize that I know how you are feeling today. It cannot possibly get any better than this, can it?

If you are upset about the election, the people that are really getting under your skin are the folks celebrating their victory; especially if they think you are as happy as they are. Grrrrr. I was trying to think of some really funny things to write, just to cheer up the grumpy people in our audience. Then, I thought, “Wait. If I were really grumpy, jokes would just tick me off.” So, no jokes.  Of course, it is a week later, so maybe just one: A little girl asked her father, “Daddy? Do all Fairy Tales begin with ‘Once Upon A Time’?”  He replied, “No, there is a whole series of Fairy Tales that begin with ‘If elected I promise’.”

I am writing this and thinking about the week that has passed. While a great deal may have changed, there are a lot of things that are the same. Your friends and neighbors are still your friends and neighbors. You can count on slow traffic on M-15. The Detroit Lions…well, there is always next year. And, my fantasy football team stinks.

I am sure you all realized that I am writing this with a great deal of faith. I have no idea what will happen in the future. Our new president may indeed be the anti-christ. The world may end before this article is printed. Or, Jesus will come back (so look busy). The future is not known, and we cannot predict the future from things that have happened in the past. If the saying “The past performance of a fund, stock, or even stock market as a whole is no indication of the future return” for investments, why should we have a lower standard for our world’s future? Just because I have had a lot of sunrises and sunsets in my life, there is no guarantee that I will have a tomorrow.  

For some reason, we use our incredible imagination and create some kind of horrible future that will cause gas prices to climb to $7 a gallon, and all sorts of other things. Most of us let our fears predict the future. But that is our future. It is something we create. The question we need to ask is what kind of future can God create? What kind of future could we create if we put some serious effort into following God? Again, I don’t know the future. But, the future is less scary when I know that God is walking point on the journey.

Maybe creating a better future and getting less freaked out starts with believing that God can do more than we imagine. You may think that we can’t do anything. You wouldn’t be too far off. On our own we can’t, but God can. If we can imagine incredibly great things, God can do even more.  Paul writes, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us” Ephesians 3:20 (The Message).

We have a new president. They come and go every four to eight years. God is from everlasting to everlasting. That is where I am putting my hope. How about you?

Dave is a registered voter. He is also a bit cynical about politics and politicians. He is, however, not cynical about God. You can reach him at 248-236-5141.

Man do I hate politics. Some would say they are a necessary evil, needed to help quell the chaos that is rampant in this world. I can give you that. But seriously, I hate politics. There is nothing but division in politics. Each person says they have the answer, the know the solution to the puzzle.

I was on Facebook and there was a post about James Dobson’s letter to the America of 2012. Then there was a post from Jim Wallis. Wallis’ letter is here http://www.sojo.net/blog/godspolitics/?p=3283 and there is a link within that page to Dobson’s letter. Honestly, I read some of each and was overcome with some sort of malaise. I got depressed. That is saying something for me.

On my walk today I was thinking about all of this and I started to think that our politics are showing a side of us Christians we might not realize. I know when anyone says something like that they are proclaiming that they have the answers and insights others don’t. And yet, at the risk of sounding like a self-righteous know it all, I will proceed.

Does it bother anyone besides me that we are seeking power and authority through government? Didn’t Paul talk about God’s strength being made perfect in our weakness? I know, I know, all of you exegetes out there will tell me that I am taking this verse our of context, but the Scriptures seem full of weakness, humility, service, submission, being last rather than first. Weren’t the Herodians aligned politically with the Herods? Didn’t Jesus come to challenge all of that?

But I digress. Government isn’t really the problem. The poor are not the governments problem, but mine. Hunger is not the government’s problem, it is mine. The homeless is not the government’s problem. These and many more problems are my problems. In the last days, when Jesus separates the sheep and goats, he will not ask what government did, but what I did. Did I visit, feed, clothe, shelter, or care for those in my life? I will not be able to say, “But Lord, Obama/McCain said they would do all of that so I wouldn’t have to.” Man will I feel cheated when I realize all of my tax dollars that were promised to solve all of these problems did not get me in good with Jesus.

It is not the government that drops bombs, I push the button. It is not the government that kills on the battle field, I pull the trigger. The government is not the answer, not the solution, I am. Jesus never said, “well, don’t tell me your problems, go to Caesar. I heard they have a childcare program that will educate and feed your children.”

I encourage you to vote on Nov. 4th. Just remember that you are the one to do what needs to be done.

Sometimes I wonder where I left my sense of humor. Seriously, I like to laugh, have fun, tell a joke (funny or not), but when I start writing I get all serious. I used to write and find humor in all sorts of things. People said that it reflected who they knew me to be. Now I’m like a grumpy old man sitting on a porch yelling at people to slow down. Where did my sense of humor go?

Maybe it was in my Masters degree. My first paper was filled with witty insights, social commentary, and a healthy dose of sarcasm. Then I realized that Masters Degree students have no sense of humor. This is serious work. These are serious times. There are governments to reclaim, religious ideas to refute, Bible translations to defend, and denominations to promote. We are not in a ‘fun and games’ time of our lives. These are serious times and they require serious people. Maybe I lost my sense of humor somewhere between deconstructionist theology and the theoretical foundations of human nature. See, nothing about that sentence was fun or funny.

Maybe I lost my sense of humor because I just found out that the world is supposed to end in December of 2012. Yep, people got tired of Christians predicting when Jesus would show up so they have jumped ship to the Mayan calendar for a dose of world ending terror. The difference is that the Mayan story lacks an airlift rescue before it all goes bad. All of that makes me wish Y2K was true because all that crisis predicted was a total economic and societal collapse, but there would still be sunsets. On the bright side, we still get one more Summer Olympics to watch and at least one more Fall color tour. We will, evidently miss Christmas. Maybe this 2012 idea will build up steam in the Christian community and we’ll give a rebuttal that the actual time of Jesus’ arrival is later. Then we could sell a few more books and stuff. After all, if you add the digits in 2013 they equal six and you can’t go wrong predicting the end of the world when the numbers add up to six, right?

Maybe I lost my sense of humor because of the political climate of our time. If Carbon Dioxide is one of the culprits of global warming, the temperature is going to climb over the next couple of weeks and months because of the political conventions. We have politicians yapping about all sorts of things. Each party is staking their claim to God and their right to rule. And we Christians on both sides are poking holes in their lives and policies trying to prove that our candidate is actually the ‘chosen’ candidate. I almost expect to hear the voice of James Earl Jones say at the end each political ad, “I’m God and I approve this message.”

Maybe I lost my sense of humor because I lost sight that God has never been too concerned about who was king, emperor, Caesar, or president. Maybe I lost my sense of humor because I forgot that Jesus has already been crowned King. Maybe I lost my sense of humor because I forgot to love the things that God loves. Maybe if I realized that nothing can come between me and God I would get my sense of humor back. If Justin Timberlake can bring sexy back, maybe God can bring funny back. What do you think?

The Christian life does not happen in a vacuum. It is a shared experience. It is life lived with and among people as we follow Christ. The challenge is that we often forget the communal, life-lived-together aspect of the faith. When that happens, sermons take on an extreme amount of importance. The words the preacher speaks begin to take on an importance of epic proportions. A preacher needs to say all of the right things all of the time. Why? Because we are excluding the key component of living lives for others to observe and emulate.

We forget that our lives are to be examples. We are supposed to help people learn about Jesus by the way we live our lives. We help them when we apologize when we are wrong. We help them when we give sacrificially. We help them when we love our enemies. We help them when we live in such a way that Jesus Christ shines through. The faith is easier to understand when it is observed than described.

 My wife, Ruth, was taking part in a management class. The communication exercise was not easy. The instructor gave each person a shape. There were straight lines, triangles, circles, and squares. These shapes and lines were put together into a shape. Each person had to give detailed instructions on how to draw the shape. There was a catch, however. They could not use the words of the shapes to describe them. A triangle now becomes a geometric shape in which the sum of the angles equals 180 degrees. There are only three sides to this shape. That is a lot of words to describe a triangle.

Well, Ruth is brilliant and thought the best way to describe this shape would be to show it to them. She cut the design out, pasted it to a piece of paper and wrote, “Draw this shape.” The instructor said that was not the intent of the exercise. I thought it a great way to get it done.

Imagine the life of Christ; there have been countless volumes written about the life Jesus lived and the example he gave. Without an example to follow there is a void and we will fill the void with something. That something is words.

I am not against words. I am a preacher. But if no one is living the Christ life in my congregation, I need to use more words than I know. Let me put it this way: People will learn more quickly how to forgive when they have seen it, experienced it in their lives. People will learn to pray when they have seen it.

I was fixing my motorcycle when I learned this lesson. The bike was idling roughly and there were some problems with it at highway speeds. My friend and I started to look through the manual for some trouble shooting ideas and there it was right before my eyes. They had instructions on how to not only eliminate the problem, but how to keep the bike in top working form. There were a lot of words used to describe something I realized my friends had quickly demonstrated for me. Their examples filled the vacuum words would had to fill if they did not show me.

Don’t get me wrong, we need words. But the words are a part of the package, not the total package. Jesus didn’t say the Bible was useless. He showed us how to live the Bible. Jesus said, “Follow me.”

Where are you today? Do you expect your preacher or your professor or books or movies to say everything that needs to be said about the Christ life? If so, does that expose a vacuum in your life? Maybe evangelism is a simple as saying, “follow me as I follow Christ.”

My wife and I just celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary with a trip to Traverse City. It was the annual Cherry Festival and we participated in one of my favorite pastimes – people watching. There were all sorts of people walking up and down the streets. There were kids on skateboards, folks riding motorcycles, people on scooters, and some funky golf cart looking things. People were walking up and down the streets until late at night. But one thing stood out to me as we watched all of the people enjoying the festival; there were a lot of kids holding their parents hands.

I know it sounds silly, but my daughter is 20 and doesn’t hold my hand anymore. I remember walking down the street with her little hand in mine. I remember picking her up and carrying her when she was too tired to walk anymore. I remember her sitting on my lap and me reading a story to her. I remembered all of those times while I watched these moms and dads with their sons and daughters.

I don’t know when Lindsay stopped holding my hand. I miss her reaching out and taking my hand when she wanted to show me something she had found. I miss her taking my hand when she was nervous in a crowd. I don’t know when she stopped holding my hand; I do know that I miss it.

Let’s be honest. Our children will grow up. They will get older and they will become more and more independent. That is how it works. That is the way it is supposed to work at least. But sometimes with that independence comes an uncomfortable distance. I know from my experience I don’t call my mom and dad as much as I should. What makes me think that my mom and dad miss me hold their hands any less than I miss holding my daughters hand? I know I have grown up. Now, instead of running to my dad when I am scared, I am the one that must put on a brave face and tell my daughter everything is going to be okay. Actually, she doesn’t even need me for that much anymore. I sure miss those days.

That got me thinking about God. When I first became a Christian, God was so close. I ran to God for every little thing. I ran to God with every decision, every question, and every worry or doubt. As I grew up I started to understand more of what God liked and didn’t like. I was better able to make decisions based on what I was learning from God. I was growing up. And I think that is okay. We are supposed to grow up and mature. We are supposed to be able to make decisions based on what we have learned and are learning. This is the way it is supposed to be. Eventually I let go of God’s hand. But with that came an uncomfortable distance. I didn’t talk to God much. I didn’t spend much time with God at all.

Maybe that’s you. You used to be really close to God and walked hand in hand with God every day. Maybe something happened in your life that hurt you and in anger you lashed out at God and stopped talking. Maybe you just grew up and let the relationship slip to the sidelines of your life. I don’t know when you stopped holding God’s hand, but I know God misses it.

Wherever you are, whatever you have done, no matter how far you feel you are from God, there is a hand waiting to be held. Reconnect with God this week. Reach out and remember what it is like to be loved and have joy. You might just want to pray a little prayer and get caught up with God on what’s happening in your life. Love is waiting to be held if you will just reach out your hand and let love’s firm grasp find you. While you’re at it, if your parents are still around, give them a call. It will make their day and yours. I promise.

I am not interested in a timid life. I’m not interested in playing it safe or keeping the boat steady. I refuse to accept the belief that this world is the way it is and there is nothing I can do about it. I want to challenge the perceptions of what is okay and what isn’t. Injustice, selfishness, greed, pride, hatred and bitterness are part of life, but that doesn’t mean they are acceptable. They must be confronted and challenged and changed. If I am timid, I am pretty sure change will not occur.

Change will take courage. I do not want to die with more left to give because I was afraid of trying, of getting hurt, of losing. People tell me that I am not facing reality when I talk about the redemption of the world. The world is the way it is and we are just waiting for Jesus to come back and make everything right again. That kind of thinking makes it is easy to want to take care of myself and make sure my future is certain. It is easy to make not doing anything at all sound spiritual and right when all I am doing is hiding my fear. It is easy to want to play it safe and not try to make a difference. I want every moment of my life spent in the worthy pursuit of proclaiming the message of hope and redemption Christ offers. I do not want to spend it living in fear. I would rather fail in great ways than not try at all. I would rather be laughed at for trying than to sit on the sidelines wishing for the courage to try.

Change also requires a willingness to love sacrificially. To love people means to risk rejection and to be misunderstood. I do not want to be afraid of love just because it hurts when it’s lost. Believe me; trying to redeem this world will hurt. Your heart and mine will be broken a thousand times if we decide that the people of this world deserve better that what they are currently getting. I want to face the challenges of this life, and of this world, knowing that I will have my heart broken time and time again. In fact, I want to love so deeply that it feels like a truck has been dropped on my chest when I lose that love. Because that kind of sorrow is only found in the deepest, most intimate of relationships. If avoiding sorrow would cheat me of that kind of love, I will not do it.

Since loving risks so much I can be tempted to protect my heart; however, there is a dangerous door that is opened with an unbroken heart. While keeping my heart from breaking, I risk becoming less compassionate, less caring, and less human. When I avoid the suffering and sorrow of this life, I avoid the things that make me human. I am also unwittingly avoiding the things that make me more like Jesus. Every time I rationalize not going to the dark places of sorrow and despair because it is just so sad and hopeless, I cheat myself of meeting with Jesus. Every time I rationalize not going to these places, I cheat others of experiencing the proof of Jesus’ love. Protecting my heart makes me less human and the world a darker place.

When I die I want to know that there was nothing held back, nothing left to give, and no reserve. I want to know that I used every ounce of love, grace, and mercy Jesus empowered me with to change the world. I want to have given all I have to bringing the hope and love of the risen savior into a desperate world. I want to be totally spent in living my life to the fullest capacity God has given me. I do not want to stroll into heaven and run to meet Jesus. I want to be so tired that all I can do is drag my body toward that pearly gate, unable to stand for lack of strength. And, when my hope is realized in seeing Jesus, I want to hear him say, “You look tired. Well done!”

I am not interested in a timid life. I do not want to die with more left to give because I was afraid of trying, of getting hurt, of losing. I want every moment spent on life and living, not fear. I would rather fail in great ways than not try at all. I would rather be laughed at for trying than to sit on the sidelines wishing for the courage to try.

I want to know the pain of a broken heart because that will mean that I loved much and loved deeply. I do not want to be afraid of love just because it hurts when it is lost. I want to love so deeply that it feels like a truck has been dropped on my chest. Because that kind of sorrow is only found in the deepest, most intimate of relationships. If avoiding sorrow would cheat me of that kind of love, I will not do it.

When I die I want to know that there was nothing held back, nothing left to give, and no reserve. I want to be totally spent in living my life to the fullest capacity God has given me, and when I see Jesus, he will say, “You look tired. Well done!”

When you think about it, the resurrection of Jesus is a pretty unbelievable story. A lot of my friends told me about their Easter services and about what their preachers preached. One I liked was about doubting your doubts. This is pretty true when it comes to the resurrection. It doesn’t appear that anyone believed Jesus was alive on that early morning. The report was that Jesus body was gone and no one knew where it was taken.

After the initial shock, Jesus appears to Mary. She runs to tell the others about it. Mark 16.12 says that they didn’t believe her. The Bible says that even when the disciples finally see him, some doubted (Matthew 28.17). Even seeing Jesus was not enough to make them change their minds. This is an unbelievable story. It was unbelievable then, it is unbelievable now. But it happened.

We spend a lot to time trying to convince people about the reality of the resurrection. We try to use logic, the Bible, and other historical witnesses to get people to believe that the resurrection happened. I don’t know that this really works.

This is a lot like the story of “Horton Hears a Who!” Horton is an elephant that hears some voices coming from a speck of dust. He actually hears their voices. The problem is that he is the only one that can hear it. Everyone else thinks Horton is crazy. And yet, Horton hears them and knows that he knows that he knows they are real. Horton tells the Whos that they are in danger and they need to make themselves known to the animals in Horton’s world. Every Who starts yelling, “We’re here! We’re here! We’re here!” Every voice is important to make the animals in Horton’s world hear the Whos.

All around us God is trying to make himself known. The Godhead is announcing “We’re here! We’re here! We’re here!” We catch a whisper of it when we serve others. We hear a whisper when we feed the hungry and clothe the naked. We can hear it faintly when we see a sunset or hear a baby laughing. We hear it when we see people in love. But they are only whispers. It’s not loud enough for the world to hear.

What we need to make the resurrection real to people is to live like people who believe it is real. Every voice is important. Every voice is needed. What would happen if we all decided to put our petty differences aside and actually serve the people around us? What would happen if the world around us saw all of our churches serving our communities out of love, with no expectations of getting anything back? What would happen? They would hear heaven shouting, “You are loved! You are loved! You are loved!”

I think the people would begin to hear the truth of the resurrection. They would begin to hear, “He’s alive! He’s alive! He’s alive!” We, all of us, the Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Lutherans, Nazarenes, Brethren, Presbyterians, Assemblies of God, Episcopalians, and everyone else need to work together to announce the reality of the resurrection. If we would do that, amazing things would happen. 

All of the sudden, out of nowhere, the world would hear in our loving actions that Jesus is indeed alive. He is risen! He is alive! He is here! Will you join me in announcing the unbelievable? Will you help me make the resurrection real by loving everyone and everything like Jesus loves? None of us can do it alone. It will take all of us to make the voice of heaven heard. I can’t wait to hear it, can you?