Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a day to remember those who have died in our nation's service. In the spring of 1866, Henry C. Welles, a druggist in the village of Waterloo, NY, suggested that decorating their graves should honor the patriots who had died in the Civil War. Townspeople made wreaths, crosses and bouquets for each veteran's grave. They decorated the village with flags at half-mast. On May 5 of that year, veterans led a processional to the town's cemeteries.

Decoration Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan and was first observed officially on May 30, 1868. In 1882, the name was changed to Memorial Day, and soldiers who had died in other wars were also honored.

In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday to be held on the last Monday in May. Memorial Day Weekend is a three-day holiday that is typified by the first family picnics and barbecues of the year. The Indianapolis 500 Mile Race takes place on the Sunday before Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is still a time to remember those who have died, whether in war or otherwise. In his book, Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral, Tom Long writes, “We [followers of Christ] know that death changes, but does not destroy, our relationship to the dead. We stand on a great continuum of worship with the saints who have gone before us. We pray, and so do they. We praise God, and so do they. Only the prayers and praises on our side are . . . all set to the music of ‘Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!’ (Revelation 22:20) . . . . The saints, however, stand day and night in the presence of God and the Lamb. . . . The victory has been won, not just their victory but God’s victory over all that destroys creation. For them . . . ‘the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah’ (Rev. 11:15). Our earthly intercessions blend into their acclamations of pure praise and joy.”

Real Love on TV; Bahamian Pastors

Real Love by Greg Baer has helped me to understand why people do what they do. Greg Baer’s seminar on DVD and his Real Love Bible Workbook have been the most important materials I have found for changing my attitudes and becoming a more loving person. In the fall, I am going to start a Real Love Group at New Hope.

The television show "World's Strictest Parents" asked Dr. Baer to consult with the producers to integrate Real Love into the show. The episode follows the Cooper family as they take in two children and help integrate them into their family unit.

The show will air on CMT (Country Music Television) on the following dates: Saturday, June 5, 8:00 pm; Sunday, June 6, 2:00 pm; Wednesday, June 9, 4:00 pm; Thursday, June 10, 6:00 pm; Tuesday, June 15, 5:00 pm; Saturday, June 19, 4:00 pm. I look forward to watching this show to see how Real Love helps this family.

Fleda and I will fly to The Bahamas on July 12. I will spend five evenings teaching a group of Bahamian Baptist pastors some of the basics of Pastoral Care. I will give each of them a copy of Understanding Your Grief, the book we used here at New Hope as the guide for our Grief Support Group. I’ll sharing with them my experience with leading groups. I’ll also teach them the principles of Real Love to help them with pastoral counseling. I will lead them in a survey of Cecil Sherman’s book, The Life and Work of the Pastor.

When you pray, ask God to give me wisdom as I prepare to teach and to give Fleda and me some relaxation and renewal as we enjoy the island of Abaco.

How Can I Keep from Singing?

In John 17, Jesus says to the Father, ”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” The pessimistic part of me says we who believe in Jesus through the word of the disciples (The New Testament) are not one at all. We are divided into many denominations and splits within denominations and within churches. We seem to be far from the oneness of heart and mind that Jesus prayed we would have.

Not only that, when I look at the hostility between groups of people, the high rate of addictions and marriage failures, and the general lack of commitment on the part of so many church members, I find myself crying out, Why are we not having more of an impact on the world? Look how evil and suffering and hatred continue in the world. I need some hope.

Here is the best statement of hope I have seen lately. Our choir is going to be singing these words this morning.

My life flows on in endless song above earth’s lamentation.
I catch the sweet, though far off hymn that hales a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear that music ringing.
It finds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comforts die, the Lord my savior liveth.
What though the darkness gather round, songs in the night he giveth.

The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart, a fountain ever springing!
All things are mine since I am his! How can I keep from singing?

No storm can sake my inmost calm while to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?

These words express the hope that is in the book of Revelation: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” (11:15) “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God….” (21:1-2)

Realism and Hope in the Book of Revelation

I’ve been studying the Book of Revelation. I see something I already knew about Revelation and something I had never seen before: The Gospel is clearly there in the Book of Revelation, and realism – even cynicism – about people is also there.

An image of the Gospel message is in Revelation 7. “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude . . . from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’" Then John is told, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (7: 9-14) This picture of people from every tribe and nation touches me. They sing to praise God for salvation from destruction. The life-giving blood of Jesus Christ has brought them together before God’s throne.

An image of realism about people is in Revelation 8 and 9. A third of everything in nature is destroyed. A plague of stinging locusts tortures people. Many people suffer and die. Others suffer and wish they could die but cannot. God is trying to get through to people through their pain. As C. S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." Many will not be roused. This is the conclusion of all the pain of chapters 8 and 9: “The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” (9:20)

I know some of those unrepentant people. They play out their lives on the field of death. They refuse to turn, refuse to learn. They continue down the path of destruction. Even pain cannot get through to them. Despite opportunities to turn from the path of death and receive the gift of life from Christ, they continue toward destruction.

After more than 39 years as a pastor, I believe the good news that we human beings can change. God will give anyone who comes to Him a new life. I see people change but not often. Jesus said, “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13).

“You Can’t Worship God and Money Both”

Right after Jesus tells us to store up treasure in heaven and not on earth, he says these words. "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” I have had a tough time understanding what Jesus is talking about. Now I think I have found out exactly what he means. He is talking about what we should desire. Henri Nouwen makes it seem clear to me. We are to love God, desire God more than anything. Otherwise our desire is divided and in the same way that blind eyes cannot see, we cannot focus on what we want. Jesus is telling us the same thing when he says, “You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.”

Here are the words of Nouwen: “Desire is often talked about as something we ought to overcome. Still, being is desiring: our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our souls are full of desires. Some are unruly, turbulent, and very distracting; some make us think deep thoughts and see great visions; some teach us how to love; and some keep us searching for God. Our desire for God is the desire that should guide all other desires. Otherwise our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls become one another's enemies and our inner lives become chaotic, leading us to despair and self-destruction.

Sometimes we behave like children in a toy shop. We want this, and that, and then something else. The many options confuse us and create an enormous restlessness in us. When someone says, "Well, what do you want? You can have one thing. Make up your mind," we do not know what to choose.

As long as our hearts keep vacillating among these many wants, we cannot move forward in life with inner peace and joy. That is why we need inner and outer disciplines, to go beyond these wants and discover our mission in life.”

I hope this helps you to understand what Jesus is telling us. Love God with everything that is in you. Then you discover the meaning of life, and it is not about accumulating things for yourself. It is about your mission in life, which is to love and serve God.

A Church Full of Ministers

What we need is a church full of ministers. I don’t mean ordained clergy. I mean church members who are serving God. Minister means “servant.” To minister is “to serve.” This is the New Testament’s job description for pastors and teachers in the church: "God has given... pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of ministry, so the body of Christ may be built up" (Ephesians 4: 11-12).

My job is “to prepare God’s people for works of ministry.” That means it would be wrong of me to try to do all the ministering myself. It makes sense that I would do other “works of ministry,” but my main service to the church as a pastor-teacher is to prepare church members for works of service. I am using my spiritual gifts, abilities, and training to try to prepare a church full of ministers or, as Ephesians 4 says it, “so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

I’m not the only one preparing God’s people called New Hope Baptist Church. We have others gifted, able, and trained to teach including those who teach Bible study classes: Ruth Bradley, Mel Lyons, Shane Gaster, Boyd Frank, Jeanne Mathieson, Leesa Holloway, Cheryl Secunda, and Tim Fisher. Dennis Bucher is our Minister of Music. As his title says, he prepares God’s people for works of ministry through music. Elaine Hardy is our Sunday School Consultant, gifted and trained as a preparer of God’s people. My list is not exhaustive. There are others preparing God’s people in other ways. We work together to have a church full of ministers.

Flow of the Spirit: Beyond Resentment

Colossians 3: 1-10

We are in a series called “The Flow of the Spirit.” We began the Sunday before Palm Sunday. Remember Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty (empty, needy) come to me (trust me, follow me) and drink (live the life I lead you to live) and out of your belly will flow rivers of living water.” The John comments that by rivers of living water, Jesus meant the Spirit, which was to be given.

What God wants to do is have the Spirit flowing in us not just to bless us. God wants his Holy Spirit to flow through us and out

to others to bless them.

The question is how do we not quench the Spirit? How do we keep it flowing?

Paul in Colossians says that the two things, which are true of Jesus, are also true of us, his followers. Christ died. Christ is risen. We also have died with Christ. And with Christ, we are given the power to rise and live a new way of life. This is the way he says it. “So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.” (Colossians 3:1-2 Message)

So since we are living this new resurrection life, our job is to keep our eyes on the things that are important to our life with Christ. We are to look not at the things around us all the time. We are to look above to the things that Christ wants to do in our lives.

Paul goes on to tell us that we are going to be living in some new ways. We have died to the old ways, and we are living in some new ways. We have put some things to death in us. We are now alive to some new realities. Then he uses another image. Paul says it is like taking off old clothes.

Anybody here have any old clothes in your closet? Do you ever wear them to work around the house? Maybe to clean out the garage or to work in the yard or go up on the roof and blow out the gutters. Then you come back in and shower and put on clean new clothes. The old clothes are like rags compared to your good clothes. That is the image Paul uses.

So for today and the next three Sundays, borrowing an acrostic and some ideas from John Ortberg, I want us to look at taking off the RAGS.

Resentment.

Anxiety.

Greed.

Superiority.

Those are the RAGS we are exchanging for the new clothes of compassion, gentleness, humility, and trust.

Let’s look at the list of ways we can quench the Spirit that Paul talks about in Colossians 3. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”

Before we deal with Sexual immorality, I want to comment on “the wrath of God.” God’s wrath is not God losing his temper the way we tend to do. God’s wrath is not God flying off the handle in a fit of temper. We do that sometimes when other drivers cut us off on I-4. This morning someone cut me of on highway 44 in a white Nissan Versa. Anybody here driving a white Versa? There was a flash of anger in me about how I was being disrespected and endangered. God’s wrath is not like that. God doesn’t flare up in a fit of temper and then lash out and hurt somebody.

God’s wrath is the natural working out of the consequences of the way a person is living. A sexually immoral life will lead to destruction. That is God’s wrath. Greed will eventually lead you to an empty life of loving things instead of people. That will be destructive of your life. The destruction is God’s wrath working in the life of a person who makes money and possessions idols and ends up smothered in them.

Now, look at the list in Colossians: Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. Then Paul talks about another list of things that will quench the Spirit. He says, “ . . .you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (vv.8-10). What I want to focus on today is anger. I am calling it resentment in my title today.

I thought about the fact that Jesus deals with the same destructive attitudes and actions in “The Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5. Jesus first says that he has come not to destroy the Jewish Law, Old Testament Law, but to fulfill it. Then he gives illustrations of the way he fulfills the Law. He gives interpretations of laws beginning with the formula, “You have heard that it was said to the people of ancient times, but I say to you….” It is interesting that he deals with the same two broad concerns that Paul talks about in Colossians 3, but he brings them up in the opposite order.

Paul talks about sexual immorality first. But Jesus starts with “You have heard it was said to people of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment, but I say to you, ‘Whoever is angry with a brother or sister is liable to judgment. Whoever says to his brother or sister Raca (a term of contempt like “Trash”) is liable to the council and anyone who says, ‘You fool’ is liable to the hell of fire.” The Greek word for hell there is the Greek word Gehenna that means to always burning garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. Jesus is saying that anger expressed with attacking disrespect will destroy the angry person. He says we had better get rid of our anger as quickly as possible.

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to that person; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24) Getting reconciled instead of continuing to let your anger smolder is more important in the church than giving you offering. First, Jesus says, deal with the anger. Don’t let is smolder.

Then he says that again with another image. "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” (Matthew 5:24-25) It is a way of saying again, Deal with the anger quickly. Don’t let stay in you and quench the Spirit.

Paul says the same thing this way in Ephesians 4:26-27, "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” That is his way of saying about anger, “Don’t nurse it and rehearse it. Get it out of you heart as quickly as you can.” Anger, which builds up in you, can defile the church. It can spread its poison within the system. It is like snakebite. What kills is not the bite. It is the poison, which courses through the blood. If you can get the poison out, you can save life.

I think he is talking about getting control of resentment when the writer of Hebrews says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” The devil gets a foothold, not only in your life, but also in the lives of others when you allow resentment to stay in you and to grow.

So how do we get beyond anger and resentment? I want to give you three pieces of guidance that I have found helpful, as I have tried to learn how to handle my own anger.

First, you have to give up blaming your anger on other people. You have to stop saying, “She makes me angry. He makes me so made.” Other people do not make you angry. The angry thoughts and then the angry emotions are in you. One piece of evidence that the other person doesn’t cause your anger is that what stirs up your anger, doesn’t even bother someone else. Have you ever noticed that?

It is your emptiness and fear, your inner pain that is the source of your anger. Have you ever had a bad sunburn? You were burned to such an extent that your whole body was sensitive. Your were in a room full of people and somebody bumped you. It hurt really badly. You moved quickly to protect yourself. But did the person who accidentally bumped you cause your pain? No. The pain was already there. They just happened to touch you in a way that stirred up your pain.

If you tell yourself that other people make you mad, you are in effect saying, “I will stop being angry when other people stop being so stupid.” When is that likely to happen? Never. There will always be people treating you without courtesy, telling you the check is in the mail when it is not, cutting you off in traffic. You have to stop blaming other people for your anger and accept responsibility to for the fact that it is in you.

Second, You need to change your perspective on other people. Our tendency is to be understanding of our own inner motives and attribute to ourselves the best of intentions, while we see others as to blame and just downright evil.

Let me give you two images.

This one is a true story. Steven Covey, the author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People writes about traveling one day on big city subway. Just across from him was a man who brought three small children onto the train with him. As they were headed out of the city, the three children began to pick at each other, the way children will. The father sat staring straight ahead not paying them any attention. It got worse. The kid’s were getting louder. Still the father was lost in a dream world of something. Then the children began to run about and were becoming a serious bother to other passengers.

Finally, Covey says, he was getting very judgmental toward this man who was allowing his kids to disturb everybody around them. He could take it no more and spoke to the man. “Sir, your children are creating a disturbance. I think you need to deal with them.”

He said the man looked up suddenly as if awakening from a dream. He said, “I am sorry. Please forgive us. We are on our way home from the hospital where their mother just died.”

Covey, of course, immediately had a change of feelings toward this man who had just lost his wife. That perspective made a huge difference in his understanding of what was going on. We need to keep in mind that there is much about others we don’t know. There is a saying, “To understand all is to forgive all.” I am not certain that is completely true, but in this context it helps us to realize that there is much we don’t yet understand about other people, and when we are tempted to judge them, we need to make an effort to look at them with the desire to understand them.

This image comes from Greg Baer the author of the book Real Love. Imagine you are sitting with a friend beside a swimming pool. You have a really good lunch spread out on the table, tall glasses of tea, the weather is perfect and you are enjoying your conversation. Suddenly someone in the pool begins to splash water in your direction. You can’t see who it is because there is a deck chair between you and the water. The splashing is getting worse until your pant legs are getting wet. You get up to go tell this idiot to stop it. But as you get close you realize that the person who is splashing you is drowning. Do you feel angry with him now? No. Instantly your feeling go from feeling irritation to feeling compassion and you want to help him.

The thing I believe is that when people are mistreating me, attacking me, lying to me, running from me, it is not about me. They are drowning emotionally. They are splashing me with their behaviors they use to protect themselves or to try to get something for themselves not because they are bad people. They are downing emotionally and just splashing about trying to keep their head above water. What you believe about other people, your perspective on their behavior will have a direct effect on your feelings about them.

I have said that in order to get rid of anger you need to stop blaming your anger on other people.

Second, you need to change your perspective on other people.

Third, and this is the most important thing you can do: You need to find ways to enable yourself to know in your head and feel in your heart God’s love for you.

John says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” I believe fear is behind a lot of anger. Therefore, I believer love can drive out fear and melt anger. We worship Jesus whose love overcame death and who rose from the grave on the third day. It is in knowing a love so strong and deep that we have hatred, fear, and anger driven out of us. May you, with all that is in you, know that you are surrounded by unconditional care. And God’s love flows to you and me through many human channels. The more deeply and fully we experience God’s love, the more we come to see that the love of our mates, our parents, our bothers and sisters and our friends are reflections of the “first” love of God.

Paul says take off the old clothes of anger and malice and resentment. Put on the new clothes of compassion, understanding, and love.

In the early days of the church, they used to ask those who were being baptized into faith in Christ to strip off their old clothes and go down into the water of baptism. When they came up from immersion they were given new clothes to wear. The new clothes were white to symbolize their changed lives, their new and pure way of learning from Jesus and letting his Spirit flow through their lives.