Sept 30 - A Good Samaritan I Know

Luke 10:25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

This morning I was reading in Galations 5 about "faith working through love" and later in the chapter it said "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Love is not a feeling. It's an active verb. Love does. Love has compassion, like the Samaritan, but then love does. Compassion without action doesn't do much good.

Love can be frustrating. There's frustration with how the recipient of our "doing" is responding to our help. There's frustration with how the one being served treats the servant. I wonder if the beat up man in the story was appreciative? I wonder if he complained about the kind of help he was getting? Maybe. Maybe not. But it doesn't matter in this story. The point is that this good samaritan did what was right.

Who in my life is living this way? There are many, but one particular person comes to mind - my mother-in-law.

For the past year, she's been the good samaritan to her mother-in-law. This is not an unknown neighbor or passerby, so maybe along with compassion comes a sense of obligation, but more than obligation is seen here - much more. Serving someone well, whether you've just passed by them on the street, or known them for a lifetime, is hard work. We hear the stories of her daily service. I ask myself if I could do what she's doing. And I usually respond by saying I don't know that I could. She's going above and beyond. She's a quiet, unknown hero in that regard.

Our pastor has a catchy little line that I think may apply here. Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone. "Faith working through love" is commonly spoken of by Christ, by Paul, and others in the bible. This makes me think of her.

Her daughter has this kind of love too, by the way!

Sept 26 - Seeing Yourself as Clean

I think it's easy to hold on to mistakes in our lives. A few posts ago, I noted King David's horrible mistakes with Bathsheba and her husband. There were severe consequences from God for those offenses to God. However, in 2 Samuel 12:13 David speaks to Nathan and says "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord has put away your sin."

David showed repentance - a turning away from former actions and turning to God. And God's mercy allowed him to see himself as clean in the sight of God. This is a good lesson - God's not expecting us to harbor guilt for offenses we've repented of and He's "put away".

Here are David's words in a song from 2 Sameul 22, believed to be written after his terrible offenses. This is not just a mind trick - if I tell myself I'm clean, then I'm clean - this is David knowing God has cleaned him. See how He sees himself:

21 “The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
23 For all his rules were before me,
and from his statutes I did not turn aside.
24 I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from guilt.
25 And the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness in his sight.

Sept 25 - Not a Blind Faith

It's good to remind myself now and again that belief in the death and resurrection of Christ (on which everything hinges) doesn't require blind faith. The story's 2000 years old at this point - tucked off in a far away corner (Acts 26:26). Except we have preserved for us reliable accounts which speak of eyewitness testimony to these events.

There are numerous mentions of eyewitness account, but the most clear and obvious is found in I Corinthians 15:3-6. I Corinthians was written from Ephesus between AD 53-55, 20 years after Christ's death and resurrection. This sounds like a lot of time between the events and the writing. However, it's little enough time that there were people still around to deny the claims. 20 years ago, I was about to graduate from A&M. If I decided to write a letter today claiming some crazy, outlandish event that happened on the middle of campus, and further claim that 500 people saw it, people would be coming out of the woodwork to deny it, and there certainly wouldn't be 500 people behind me supporting my claim.

I Cor 15:3-6 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Sept 23 - Sanity and Grace

In an email exchange with a South Dallas pastor yesterday, he said, "These kids contend with so much; it simply blows my mind. Although I have worked in the community for 20 years, I still stand amazed that the kids have any degree of sanity when you consider their home situations."

We have one particular student that is on thin ice. He's one bad day away from getting kicked out of the school. He's craving attention and going too far to get it. He has said things like "I'm not here for this school, this school is here for me". His philosophy in life has been: I'll respect those that respect me. It's a philosphy that has done nothing but cause anger, frustration, jail time and pain.

This is a hurting kid - one with no father, nor a mother present in his life.

He was on probation from the school this Monday and Tuesday so I met with him down at the south Dallas church on Tuesday for a one-on-one conversation. He's an incredibly bright kid, and so far, this is being wasted.

I asked about his relationship with God. He said, "I know I'm going to heaven. I mean, I know I've done wrong, but I've done some good too, more good than a lot of people I know." Along with all the other burdens this kid carries, he's also carrying the burden of feeling like he needs to (or can) earn his salvation - and that confidence about going to heaven, upon further discussion, seemed to dissolve a bit. He admitted fearing death.

He now understands that grace is a burden-lifter. It frees people from religious weight. This young man has grown up around religion his whole life, and has never been pointed to, or at least has never understood, the truth of the bible - that we can't be good enough - that it's all about undeserved grace to those that let go of pride and in humility ask for it.

Our conversation ended really well. I'm hopeful for this young man. He still has deep issues and poor philosophies to work through, but God can transform.

In a text this morning, I reminded him of Galations 5:16-22 - that he can nail his anger and pride to the Christ's cross, and they can be replaced by the work of the Spirit within him:

16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Sept 18 - King David - A man after God's Own Heart...and a Royal Screw Up

Paul speaking in the Temple - from Acts in the New Testament. As a summary of the bible in a couple paragraphs, this will do:

Acts 13: And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” 16 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. 19 And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23 Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28 And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus.

In my reading of I & II Samuel the past month or so, I've been captivated by the life of David, the second king of Israel, chosen by God and described as a man after God's own heart (I Sam 13:14).

This King David did some heroic things. He feared his Lord. He had pride in the name of the Lord. He had faith in his Lord when he decided to fight Goliath. The kid story of David & Goliath is not really so G-rated when you read it in the bible though.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52 And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath [5] and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. 53 And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

He was loyal to his friend Jonathan and to the preceding king (Saul) who was out to kill him. A good man indeed.

However, if he were king today, he'd be done. He'd be run out of office and out of every church in America. He made some horrible mistakes. I post this as a reminder to myself that our grave sins are not beyond God's restoration and grace.

11:1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

So David calls Uriah (Bathsheba's husband) in from the battle field. David's hope is to cover it up by having Uriah back in town - so it will appear as though the baby is his. However, Uriah, being a brave soldier, insists on not going home to comfort while his brothers are out fighting.

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” 16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. 16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him 25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

The beauty of this reading plan is that it has me in different parts of the bible on the same day. I also read Paul's words to the Corinthians: "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

David's "godly grief" produced repentance that led to salvation without regret. Godly grief, according to my study notes, is grief over having lost God's approval. Worldy regret is regret over losing the world's approval.

We're all messed up. Thankful for godly grief that produced repentance that leads to salvation. Remember from Acts above - God found in David the son of Jesse a man after His heart, who will do all His will. "Of this man's offspring God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised."