"Days Will Come" November 17, 2019

Jesus warns His disciples not to be enthralled with what is temporary but to cling to His eternal Word.

A Comfort Dog's Prayer

Gabriel is packed and ready to go!

I have worked side-by-side with golden retriever Comfort Dogs for a decade.

I have worked with Comfort Dogs after natural disasters and mass shootings.

I have worked with Comfort Dogs in hospitals and long term care facilities.

I have worked with Comfort Dogs in elementary schools and universities.

Working with Prince and Fuerst (father and son who are now serving the saints in heaven), as well as Barnabas, Isaiah, and Gabriel has been a privilege and a blessing.

These wonderful creatures have given me opportunities to provide Christian care to countless people.

I think I have gotten to know these dogs pretty well over the years, so I composed the following poem to reflect the thankful hearts of these furry servants of Jesus.

"Gospel DNA Marker 4: Adaptability" November 3, 2019

"The Villain Is the Hero (of His Own Story)"

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

I just went to see "Joker" at my local theater.

It's not a movie for the kids by any stretch, but it is an engrossing character sketch of Arthur, the man who would become Batman's prime nemesis.

In this outing, Joaquin Phoenix portrays the Clown Prince of Crime.

Phoenix's Joker is plagued with mental illness regulated by meds.

When his meds are cut off due to cuts in city social services, his illness runs free, including a delusion that he is in a relationship with a single mom who lives in his building.

He also is told by his mother that her former employer, Thomas Wayne (Bruce's dad), is also his father.

Joaquin Phoenix

When he learns that his mother suffered from delusions, had been committed to a mental institution when he was young, and that he was adopted by her and has no kinship with the Wayne family, the illusion that is his life is shattered.

That night he enters the apartment of the single mother, who barely knows him and is shocked to see him.

When she asks what he is doing there, he mumbles, "I had a bad day."

There is no question that Arthur has had many bad days, a lifetime of them.

He is the product of abuse, poverty, and mental illness.

He would say, "My bad days justify my violent, murderous actions."

In his story, he is giving people what they deserve.

In his story, he is the hero who liberates the enslaved masses.

In the Dark Knight Trilogy we meet another version of the Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger.

This Joker arrives on screen fully-formed and offers multiple explanations for the scars that force his mouth into a gruesome grin.

Heath Ledger

When he is interrogated by Batman, he explains how society's moral code is just "a bad joke" that will be dropped "when the chips are down."

He then adds, "See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve."

In other words, "My violent, murderous actions are just a reflection of a society that is on the verge of chaos."

In his story, he is teaching people that "the only sensible way to live in this world is without rules."

In his story, he is the hero who enlightens the ignorant masses.

These tales illustrate a point about sin and evil. Sin and evil can delude us into believing that sinful and evil actions are anything but.

Our sinful hearts can find many and various ways to justify sinful actions.

"They deserved it."

"It's not gossip; it's the truth."

"God would want me to be happy."

That's because, as God Himself clearly declared after the flood, "The intention of man's heart is evil from his youth"(Genesis 8:21).

But even while making that declaration, the merciful God promises, "I will never again curse the ground because of man. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done."

You see, although our sinful hearts will contort and distort reality to portray us as the heroes, it's all a lie.

The truth, on the other hand, is that God provided the hero, the rescuer, the Savior.

He provided Jesus.

Trust in Jesus means that I can be honest about my sin, confess my sin to Him, and receive not false affirmations of my goodness but true forgiveness for my wrongs.

I can claim this truth, that Jesus is the hero of my story.

A 3D Mission

I recently finished a sermon series at the church I serve entitled "Messiah's 3D Mission."

A few years ago our congregation had developed a mission statement that could be boiled down to this: Embrace our neighbors with Jesus' unconditional love.

Let's let Jesus define "neighbor" for us.

When asked, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with the story of the Good Samaritan.

He concluded that story with a question: Which character in the story acted like a neighbor to the injured man?

That's a completely different question than the one He was asked.

"Who is my neighbor?" wants to categorize people so that I can figure who I will and will not love.

Jesus turns the question on its head and puts the responsibility on me to be a loving neighbor.

That's the mission part of "3D Mission."

Now come the three D's.

• Daily

• Doggedly

• Daringly

Daily means that mission is not an occasional activity.

Each morning is to begin with the conscious awareness that I am part of Jesus' mission.

I may not know what my opportunity will be today, but my eyes are open to the possibilities to embrace my neighbors with Jesus' unconditional love.

Doggedly means that mission is all-consuming.

Like the entrepreneur on "Shark Tank" who sacrifices all to make his or her business "the next big thing," I am to be single-minded in my determination to embrace my neighbors with Jesus' unconditional love.

(Some times I even do this with a dog at my side!)

Daringly means that mission includes taking risks and not fearing failure.

The youth David went against the warrior Goliath with only a sling and a smooth stone.

Oh, and the assurance that the Lord God was with him.

I may not know if the outcome will be ridicule or rejection, but I am to dare to embrace my neighbors with Jesus' unconditional love.

That's our congregation's 3D Mission.

Every follower of Jesus is a part of His mission.

You might not phrase it the same way, but the mission is always the same: Love your neighbor as yourself, which is the second greatest commandment.

And keep in mind the greatest commandment, love the Lord your God with all you've got.

If that's the goal that you daily, doggedly and daringly pursue, you won't have to find Jesus' mission.

It will find you.

Come to Me

I've been reading 1 Samuel lately, focusing on the life of David.

David was plucked from obscurity to become a captain in Saul's army following David's defeat of Goliath and his other victories.

David even became Saul's son-in-law when he married Saul's daughter, Michal.

However, Saul became extremely envious of David's victories and, more to the point, David's popularity.

He chafed at the chant, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."

Finally, Saul plotted to kill David and David flees for his life.

Eventually David finds himself alone at the cave of Adullam.

Psalm 142, written by David, gives voice to his despair: "Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me" (v.6).

In 1 Samuel we are told that David's family joined him there, along with four hundred other men.

These men are described as in distress, in debt or discontented.

They were the outcasts, the disenfranchised, the fringe elements.

They were losers.

Reading about them reminds me of Jesus' words, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

It also raises the question, does the church of today behave the same way?

Do we welcome the outcast, the fringe elements?

Do we seek out those who can't pay us back, who might never join our congregations, who can't fill our offering plates?

Those are the folks that Jesus served.

Jesus relied on the generosity of the wealthy to serve those who weren't, the resources of the accomplished to serve those who weren't, the prosperity of the in-crowd to serve the outcast.

By global standards, most of the members of most of our churches are wealthy. (Generous may be another matter.)

The question is, do we use that wealth to reach the outcast or maintain our comfort?

Psalm 142 concludes, "Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me" (v. 7).

Those four hundred outcasts were the righteous.

They may have been on the fringes of society, but they were smack-dab in the middle of the Lord's righteousness.

The outcasts are still out there.

What are we going to do about it?

Divine Love for the Lost

In my last post, "That Man Welcomes Sinners", I focused on how the "sinners" of Jesus' day gathered to hear Him, much to the displeasure of the self-righteous Pharisees.

Tax collectors and sinners were drawn to Jesus because, as the Pharisees observed, Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. (Luke 15:1-2)

Those opening verses of Luke 15 set the stage for the three parables that follow, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Sons (more commonly referred to as Parable of the Prodigal Son).

That third parable is perhaps the most well known of Jesus' stories, as well as one of the most elaborate.

It tells the story of a father with two sons, each of whom demonstrates disrespect for the father.

The younger son demands to be given his portion of the inheritance early, since dad isn't dying soon enough for his liking.

The older son describes his relationship to his old man as a form of underappreciated slavery rather than genuine sonship.

This parable, however, is also the story of a father's love for his two undeserving children.

While this love is evident throughout the story, perhaps the most dramatic display of that love comes when the younger son returns home.

Having wasted his inheritance in what is described as "wild living," the son comes to his senses and realizes how good he had it back home.

In fact, he realizes that his father's hired men have it better than he currently did, since his only employment was slopping the hogs on someone's farm, an unimaginable task for a good Jewish boy.

So, after rehearsing what he will say to his father, the young man heads home.

Meanwhile, his father, who has no idea whether his son is dead or alive, waits daily for his son's return.

Then there comes the fateful day when he sees his son in the distance.

Immediately he runs to him, embraces him, and kisses him, before the son can utter one word of his rehearsed lines.

This is the point that I missed for years. The father welcomes his son before he even knows why his son is there.

Maybe the son was coming back for more money.

Maybe the son was going to say, "Dad, I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by to tell you that leaving here was the best thing I ever did and I'm never coming back again."

The point is, the father doesn't know what the son will say, and he doesn't care!

All the father knows is that he loves his son. That's all that matters to him. He loves his son, without question and without condition.

Whatever has brought his son back to him, for however brief a time it might be, the father has only one goal, to let his son know that he loves him.

What happens after that is beyond the father's control. Either his love for his son will win the day or it won't.

Come what may, he won't force his son to stay.

That's the purity of the father's love. It doesn't demand explanations or apologies. It simply offers itself freely to be either received or rejected.

That's God the Father's love for each of us.

He wants His love to win our hearts, but allows us to refuse it, because divine love doesn't coerce.

Rather, it is constant. This love doesn't change. This love doesn't end.

Be assured that, however far away from the Father your wanderings may take you, the Father's love is always there for you.

He is always waiting for you.

He will always welcome you.

Without questions. Without conditions.

With only love.