June 29, 2010

Joshua 1

It was 30 hours of traveling including the time spent waiting in airports. I dozed on occasion, but I had no good rest. Additionally, I crossed 13 time zones. I was tired. As tired as I was, I still could not get the proper rest that I needed. My body was out of sync with the new time zone. Even though I needed rest, it took me several days to get it. My body had to adjust to the new rhythm of sleeping. Arriving at a new country required a little bit of courage. It was a bit disconcerting. My luggage did not make it. By the time I had filled out a baggage claim with a clerk who did not speak English and passed through customs, the airport was shutting down. There remained only a handful of airport employees and a few taxi drivers. My ride was not there yet. I had no Mongolian money, and no phone that would work in Mongolia. The lady at the information desk seemed to have limited English and little desire to help me find and use a phone. I needed rest and courage.

You know what? The Lord eventually gave it. This is what the Lord our God gives us: rest and courage. What is it about Him that He would do such a thing? Well, He is a God of great glory. He gives rest and courage, but we must seize it as He gives it. And He does give it! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Acts 9:23-43

Sometimes the glory of Jesus is really hard to believe. It seems impossible to believe that Jesus could change someone who once hated Him supremely into someone who couldn't quit talking about Him. But, that is what happened. It happened instantly. None of the Jerusalem believers, save Barnabas (the son of encouragement) believed. But why not? They had seen people healed, raised from the dead, miraculous deliverances from prison. Indeed a few days hence, Jesus through Peter would heal a lame man in Lydda (about 20miles NW of Jerusalem). Then Peter would go to Joppa (modern day Haifa) and raise a woman from the dead. Why not believe Saul had been converted? To believe would mean they would have to love and trust Saul. Past experience had taught them that this would lead to their imprisonment and perhaps their death, if they were wrong, if Jesus really hadn't changed him. This required them to put their faith on the line. This is a test of faith for the Jerusalem believers that was as strong as Peter's request to walk on water, only Peter requested to walk on water. This test was thrust on the Jerusalem believers by the Lord. True to form, Barnabas, always the son of encouragement, passed the test.

Was it sin for the Jerusalem believers to not trust the glory of the Lord in the conversion of Saul? I really don't know. But this I know, Jesus did not convert Saul in order to add him to the Jerusalem church. He had a big plan for Saul, soon to be Paul. But Saul needed a little down time first, to sort things out. The Jerusalem believers were having a hard time "Going" as Jesus had commanded them to go. (Now that is a consistent problem with the church throughout church history. We enjoy huddling but hate going.) Jesus used the unconverted Saul to force the Jerusalem church to scatter when they had become enamored with their holy huddle. Jesus now had plans for this Jew of Jews to go through the Roman empire to the very heart of Rome preaching the Gospel and establishing churches among the Gentiles. Now that's glory! He takes a man who found all Gentiles to be an unclean thing and changes him to be the foremost missionary among them.

Why doesn't Jesus do that all the time? Certainly, Jesus did not change everybody 2000 years ago, who believed. Obviously He doesn't change everybody today. We still deal with husbands who don't love their wives even though they profess the name of Jesus. We still deal with people who continue to get drunk, even though they profess the name of Jesus. We still deal with people who fornicate even though they profess the name of Jesus. I could go on and on and get really negative here, but you know what I mean. What makes the difference? First it is the exchanged life. We will not lay down our lives for the life of Christ. Second it is a matter of focus. We are focused on our glory rather than the glory of Jesus. Because of that, we won't lay down our life for His. From a human perspective, Saul's hatred for Christians before his conversion was partly because of his passion for the glory of God. Once he saw the glory of Jesus, the exchanged life was a no-brainer. Paul was forever pursuing God's glory. That meant he had to pursue the glory of Christ. Indeed we serve a glorious king! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John