Grab a light

We get some ferocious thunderstorms in Colorado in the summertime. When the black-purple clouds boil overhead in the evening, one of the first things we grab is a flashlight. It's not unusual for the power to go out in those storms, dropping a black curtain over our home.

I think I once broke a toe trying to navigate my own bedroom in the dark. I've stumbled over tables and chairs when there's no light.

In John's account of Jesus' life, he used that idea of light and darkness to brilliantly illustrate the contrast between those who seek spiritual light and those who hold onto their spiritual darkness.

John explained the phenomenon in John 1:15: " The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

But the kicker comes later, when Jesus addressed a skeptical crowd. They wanted proof of who he is. This exchange takes place in John 12, late in Jesus' ministry. He had already preached and healed and explained many times.

Not enough for this crowd, however. They wanted more proof.

Jesus' answer asked them to believe what his ministry had revealed. "While you have the light, believe in the light," he said to them.

He asked for belief while they could still see. Jesus himself was the light and he would be leaving soon. Before they were plunged into darkness again, he asked them to grab a flashlight. Believe, he said, that it's better to be in the light than in the dark.

Jesus said, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness doesn’t overtake you." (John 12:35)

And then, after his last appeal to believe, he went away and was concealed from them.

We don't get forever when the darkness is approaching. We can grab the light or grip the darkness. Jesus said it well: " But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." John 12:32

A man fell in a hole

Titus: Spikes

Read Titus 3:4-7


The spike had a word on it and I tried hard to read it as the soldier drew back his mallet to pound it in. I wish I hadn't looked:

Foolishness

That’s what the spike said.

More spikes lay close by, ready for use. There were words on them, too:

disobedience

deceived

I was getting a little uncomfortable.

There were more spikes ready to be driven:

selfish pleasures

malice

envy

hate

These nails were, one by one, being driven through flesh, pinning the man to the wood.

I knew the man was Jesus and I knew the nails were mine. Those were my pegs holding him to the cross.

Why would he allow the soldiers to pierce him with the nails meant for me? I was standing free and unpierced while he took my punishment.

Why would he do that? I lived a life of foolishness and disobedience and envy and hate…. All the things written on those spikes.

We weren't saved because of our clean living. Paul reminded Titus that God saved, not because of the righteous things we've done, but because of his mercy.

We forget about mercy sometimes as we pursue moral living. There's nothing wrong with righteous living until we trust it to get us to God.

We are heirs of eternal life, not because of anything we've done. We stood on the sidelines while Jesus did the hard work and we walk in victory by his grace.

that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:7

"Jesus didn't come to make bad people good
but dead people alive."

-Ravi Zacharias

Eating sins

In the movie, “The Last Sin Eater,” 10 year-old Cadi painfully begs the village sin eater to take away her awful pain now. “I can’t wait until I die. I can’t live this way.”

The sin eater is a man selected to absorb the sins. As folks die, the sin eater performs a simple but provoking ceremony at the funeral. He eats an offering of bread and wine that is symbolically imbued with the sins of the dead person. In doing so, he takes their sin on himself. His is the agony of hell, however, for he has no way to shed those sins. Although the legends paint him as a red-eyed demon who must be avoided at any cost – no one is allowed to touch, or even look at, him- Cadi dares do both, driven by her own internal agony over her own sin.

The freedom that Cadi craves doesn’t come from the sin eater, who compassionately tried to help but finds his ceremony holds no healing for Cadi. When a missionary visits the area, he grasps the folklore of the sin eater and explains things to Cadi: she need not be in agony until death, for there was an Ancient Sin Eater who has already taken her sin on himself.

This man of God grasped two things. First, he explained Jesus’ redemptive work in terms that Cadi understood. She knew the sin eater notion and she rejoiced to know that there was a perfect, one-time-only sin eater who was not destroyed by the sins he absorbed. He had already eaten her sins. The work was done.

Second, the missionary understood that change only happens when the pain of staying the same is too great. For Cadi, the agony of her secret (I don’t want to give away too much) drove her to desperate means. The pain of staying the same pushed her to a new exploration and, eventually, understanding.

Cadi found freedom. This Perfect Sin Eater was also the Truth in her life.

Those who carry the story of the Ancient Sin Eater as well. We need to remember, as the missionary did, that we must tell the story relevantly and we must be alert for those in such pain that they are frantic for Truth.

“Jesus said, ‘…Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’"

John 8:31-32

The amazing exchange

The key clicked in the lock. Heavy chains were cold on his wrists and the light paled as the jailer closed the heavy prison door. The air was as stale as the future. Guilty. Caught in the act of robbery. Condemned for murder.

The man slid along the cool wall to sit on the ground. Guilty. Caught in the act. There had been no hope in the judge’s monotone sentencing. What could he expect?

All the excuses hung like shredded rags now, because the soldiers had looked him in the eye as he held the goods in his hand. The knife, just wiped clean, was in his belt. What defense had he had? He was drop-dead guilty.

He deserved to die. The dark hopelessness of isolation settled over him for ages.

Outside, the sun was shining. There wasn’t even a glimpse of rain in the sky. But the heat in the air was nothing compared to the argument between the government man and the angry assembly.

Their evidence was worthless. It was easy to see the accused had done nothing wrong, except really tick them off.

But the government man was wilting under the pressure. Really, why should he care? He could keep the crowd happy. The accused man would fade from everyone’s memory soon.

That was how a minor government official gave the order to substitute an innocent man for another who was absolutely, no-questions-asked guilty. That was how the swap happened, that a man who didn’t deserve to die trudged to an execution in the place of the one who did. It was the beginning of the amazing exchange.

The official turned to his assistant: “This stinks but it isn’t my fault. I have other business to attend to. Go release Barabbas.”

Because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[

Isaiah 61:1

The tools of deliverance

Jael invited a killer into her home and delivered a nation from his terror. The story is an odd one. Take a look at Judges 4 for the complete text.

Sisnera was a powerful army commander, ruthless in his attacks on the nation of Israel and equally brutal in his misuse of women. He was fleeing from a battle gone bad (which speaks of his courage in battle, by the way), when Jael invites him into her home. He eagerly responds.

Although Sisnera generally used women for his own pleasure, this time he intends to use this woman for his own rest. He asks for water to drink and a place to sleep. She gives him milk, covers him with a blanket, comforts him like a mother might tuck in her child.

While he sleeps like a baby, Jael takes up the tools of the home – a hammer and tent peg – and drives the peg through his temple, killing him instantly. The image is horribly jarring. The Judges text lulls us with the nurturing images and then turns it into a shocking death. Jael is praised by Israel as blessed, honored as one of the mothers of the nation for her courageous act.

Who would think the tools of the home and the care of a mother would destroy the oppression of a nation?

And yet…. Perhaps it is so yet today. We watch the breakdown of the traditional family today. We know something of the statistics. Broken families are the norm. Divorce is common. Unmarried parents are familiar. Where once children were raised by their family – parents, grandparents, aunt and uncles – today they are raised by their peers.

We know the consequences: depression, drug use, anger, alcoholism.

The women of Jael’s day were responsible for their tent-homes. It was the women who tore down the tent and put it back up. They used the hammer and tent pegs all the time. Jael didn’t use anything unfamiliar in defeating Sisnera.

She identified Sisnera as the oppressor of her nation and she used what she knew to defeat him. Her home and her bravery were the keys to freeing a nation.

What is the Sisnera of our day, dominating our people? How can we show the courage of Jael to spring our people free? The pieces are in place. We must be on the alert. A simple mother delivered a nation. Hope springs from tyranny.

Most blessed of women be Jael,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

Judges 5:24

The requirements

Judaizers had gained traction in Jerusalem, which gave them the audacity to travel all the way to Antioch to spread their falseness. We’re talking first century here, the early believers some 15-20 years after Jesus’ resurrection.

Whether tradition still held a death grip or whether power beckoned, some early Jewish believers were already adding onto the teaching of the apostles. They proclaimed, “Unless you are circumcised, you cannot be saved.” (Acts 15:1)

Peter, in his first speech at Pentecost, hadn’t mentioned the Jewish rituals. Stephen, in his final speech, hadn’t brought up Jewish rituals. But these new believers were Pharisee-izing the gospel: there’s more, folks. You have to be a Jew before you become a believer. We’ll add a few helpful clauses to make it clearer.

The issue was now huge because Paul and Barnabas had been planting churches among non-Jews. Did these new believers have to first go through Jewish rites before they could be saved? Was there really a pre-salvation preparation that was required? Did they need a pre-salvation class or ritual?

Peter stood before the council in Jerusalem to proclaim loud and clear: “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." (Acts 15:11)

Ah, but don’t they need to be washed and smell good before they enter the church doors? Don’t they need to quit smoking? Quit swearing? Quit gambling?

What if they spill/stain/shout/tear something in our building? Do they respect our holy of holies? Do they know about offering envelopes and silent prayer requests?

“No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

Acts 15:11