Dead Or Alive? It Matters!

When Cathy and I recently watched “Move Over, Darling,” starring Doris Day and James Garner, we pretty much knew we were in for a treat.  We have long admired the stars and figured that the film would be captivating.  We enjoyed the expected humor, but the story resonated on a number of levels.  The gist of it is this: how much would change if a spouse, thought to be long dead, turned up alive?  The answer, of course, is EVERYTHING!

Everything would change.  It doesn’t matter that a court had announced the death as legally viable and the life insurance had paid off.  It would make all the difference in the world if the person wasn't really dead.


I won’t give away the plot line of the movie.  It’s worth the watch, even without dinosaurs. (Nor does the city of Los Angeles get destroyed by an earthquake.)  Even without digitally-enhanced action, this film has twists and turns and some life-changing decisions that MUST be made.  It’s scarred with human failures as well as the lack of communication among the main characters.

I mention the “dead or alive” question here because the entire faith of Christianity hinges on it. Most of us would say that Confucius said some pretty wise things.  The same would be true of Buddha.  No one can question that Mohammed founded a religion that has influenced the far corners of the earth.  The single feature that sets Christianity apart is the faith that Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb, then rose from the grave, never to die again.

Only Christians will tell you, “The One we follow is alive!”  We don’t mean that He is alive in our hearts and minds.  We are not saying that He is alive because His teachings are life-changing. We are saying that He is fully alive and has conquered the power of death.

Saul of Tarsus dedicated his life to stamp out the teaching that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah who had risen from the dead.  With great violence, Saul came against the followers who had dedicated their very lives to spread the news about Jesus.  They wouldn’t back down, so he grew even more forceful.  One day he was on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus.  His purpose was to shut down the followers of Jesus in Syria.  Later, Paul described what happened to him on that road:

6 “As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me.
7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
8 “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’
9 The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me.
10 “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’
11 “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions.
Acts 22:6-11 (New Living Translation)

Saul’s physical blindness was a reminder of his long-held spiritual blindness.  Was it because Saul hadn’t heard of a resurrected Christ that he didn’t believe?  Obviously not.  He had heard and had seen formerly timid people who were now willing to die a martyr’s death because of their faith.  It didn’t convince him, just as many of us aren’t convinced of the veracity of Islam just because some are willing to die.  What DID convince the scholar/religious zealot?  He said that he SAW Jesus…alive!  He heard Jesus speak.  For Saul, an alive Jesus changed everything!

It matters whether or not Jesus is alive.  If He isn’t, skeptics can doubt without danger.  If He is, everything He said must be true.  One verse alone, John 14:6 (I encourage you to look it up), is enough to rattle many cages!

We will pick up the subject of a living Jesus this weekend at Stone Ridge Church.  It’s the next installment of “Why Bother?”  You don’t want to miss it!  Can’t be there?  Catch the podcast!

The Man Behind The Curtain...

…Pay no attention to him.  He’s isn’t who he says he is.  He can’t do what he says he can do.

The news spiked again last week with word of a false claim made by a leader. This time it was a civil rights worker in the Pacific Northwest who passed herself off as an African American, an ethnicity which her parents describe as false.

Such stories are becoming commonplace.  We hear them about a famous anchorman or about a military hero that wasn’t  The story might be about a politician or a member of the clergy.  Inevitably, we hear the news because the person is significant enough to draw eyeballs to his or her story.

There is a very personal part of this post that goes all the way back to my youth.  While I never took on a false identity, I was certainly guilty of exaggerating things about my life.  It started when I was in high school, I think.  Looking back, I wonder why I felt it necessary to juice up the things I said about myself.  Such exaggeration isn’t all that unusual for a teen, I guess, but for me it continued well into my twenties.  I realize now that I was on my way to being a person who could have lied about my life with aplomb.

Fortunately, I got hijacked by God.  It was the Psalmist David (who had his own struggles, if you remember) that wrote to God, "You want me to be completely truthful, so teach me wisdom.” (Psalm 51:6 New Century Version) It’s hard to describe the change that happened in me and I can’t remember all the details, but God changed my heart. I found myself wanting to be truthful at all costs.  This meant that I had to go back and clear up some things I had said. Coming clean was hard, but it set me on a course that rescued me from the person I could have become.

“The person I could have become.”  I could just as easily have been the guy making false claims about my life as some of those who recently made headlines.  I got rescued from having two faces; the real one hidden behind the curtain and the false one that others saw.  

I didn’t write this to be cathartic.  I wrote it because I know people who look at Jesus as if he is a man behind a curtain.  They think of the “real” Jesus as an outsized illusion, a figment of Christians’ imaginations.  But, is that true?  Could Jesus have been a fake?  That’s the “Why Bother?” question this weekend at Stone Ridge Church.  Talk about something that matters! That’s why you need to be there this weekend.  Can’t make it?  Catch the podcast!

Blood Work

Cathy and I enjoy watching classic TV and movies.  Maybe it’s because we are classics ourselves, but we usually prefer great stories told in a way that leaves a lot to the imagination.

I wasn’t surprised, then, when we saw a shooting on a TV drama from almost fifty years ago. The victim was shot twice as he dove into a swimming pool.  When the police arrived, the body was at the bottom of the pool with a very noticeable detail missing: blood.  Can you imagine such a thing in today’s world of showing virtually anything and everything on screen in graphic detail?  If that scene were shot today, the victim would have bled out and the pool water would be a sickening crimson.

That scene reminded me of stories I used to hear about violent crimes committed by people who were shocked at how bloody and messy they ended up.  Think about it; they might have been angry enough to shoot or stab someone, but they just didn’t imagine all the blood that would flow.

I have heard stories about soldiers that were gung ho about going into combat.  They had no idea that they would end up in shock over the horror of just how bad and bloody war actually was.


I bring this up today because I frequently hear people express their dismay at just how bloody the Bible is; especially the Old Testament.  "King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God." (2 Chronicles 7:5 New Living Translation)  Imagine what THAT looked like!  Have you ever driven by a slaughterhouse and smelled the odor that comes from there?  I can recall times growing up when my dad would kill one of our fully-grown calves to provide meat for our family. The sight of all that blood would sicken me for the next few days.  22,000 cattle?  120,000 sheep and goats?  What must that have been like?

You probably know that “blood work” is a big part of the Bible.  To miss it is to ignore a critical element of faith.  That’s why it’s the topic of this week’s “Why Bother?” installment.  Believe me, blood matters and I can’t wait for you to hear about it…this weekend at Stone Ridge Church. Can’t be there in person?  Catch the podcast!

Who's to judge?

My cousin Tommy and I grew up a year, 2.5 miles, and a world apart.  Tommy is a year younger than me, but we spent our childhood playing, going to school, going to church and (sometimes) working together.  Tommy grew up in town and I grew up two and a half miles out in the country.  Our worldview of what makes life fulfilling?  Well, you could tell from our youngest years that we just saw the world differently.

When we got together with Tommy’s family, which was often, choices had to be made about how we would spend our time.  Since I was a year older, I did my best to exert influence on him to play the way I wanted, things like sports or war or cowboys and native americans.*  (* not the name we called it)  I ALWAYS wanted to play something competitive, something that had you fighting to win.  (How did I ever end up as a pastor?)

Tommy?  Well, Tommy was more consistent than me.  Tommy almost always wanted to play “trucks.”  He could spend hours outside, pushing dirt, hauling things and building great construction projects with toy trucks.  Tommy has trucks in most of his gene strands, I think.

One day, when we were young enough to care and old enough to know better, Tommy and I got into an argument.  (Just so you understand, Tommy and I got into more than one argument!)  Tommy’s house was a short block off the main drag in our New Mexico hometown and we often walked up to California Street to buy things from the convenience store or just to hang out.  On this particular day, Tommy and I saw a large truck go by.  We were a bit down his street when it passed and we just caught a glimpse of it.  That glimpse was enough for me, the competitive one, to show off my extreme knowledge in Tommy’s field of expertise: “Look at that Mack!” I said.

“It wasn’t a Mack; it was a GMC,” replied Tommy.

“No, I’m certain it was a Mack!”  I said, wanting my truck-loving cousin to respect my great knowledge (and let me win the argument).  

Tommy knew his trucks and wouldn’t back down.  “Sammy, it wasn’t a Mack; it was a GMC!”  I can still hear the tone in his voice as he proceeded to instruct me on the differences between the trucks.  The argument progressed and was never resolved.  I couldn’t and wouldn’t back down, either.  Tommy was a year younger, remember?

It’s scary, but it has been over a half century since that day.  I don’t get to see Tommy that often, but we pick up our truck argument every time we get together.  Tommy retired recently.  He spent his whole work career repairing semi trucks.  I quit trying to compete in sports and never chose a career fighting bad guys, but Tommy was true to his childhood fascination.

I wanted to tell you this story because we will never know for sure whether that truck was a Mack or a GMC. (For the record, the only reason I included a Mack image here was that it was the first one I could find that fit the bill for this post.)  In retrospect, I’m not even sure which side I argued that day so long ago.  It’s actually possible that Tommy and I have reversed roles several times over the years.  If I were a betting man (I’m not), I would lay money on Tommy’s pick, though.  He was probably right all along; I just wanted to win.  

There is one Person who knows the truth from that 1960s-era day.  He’s the judge who watched as that truck was created.  He presided over the “making” of the driver when that driver was in his mother’s womb.  Before rough ore was forged into steel and shaped into that truck's engine parts and side panels, that one Person knew the day the truck would drive it’s last mile.  He knew every load the vehicle would carry.  He knew every drop of lubricant that would flow through motor and transmission and hydraulic lines.  

And He knew the hearts of two boys: one who was probably right and one who stubbornly refused to back down.  The One who knew is also the only One qualified to judge and we will discover more about Him this weekend at Stone Ridge Church.  I hope you can join us for the next installment of our “Why Bother?” series.  I can tell you that “This Stuff Matters.”  It matters that God alone is qualified to judge the world, including you and me.  Can’t make it to a service?  Catch the podcast!

"Let There Be..."

“Did you bring your Hula Hoop?” our preschool friend Katie asked Cathy as we arrived at their house.  Her eyes lowered in disappointment when Cathy explained that she didn’t.  That exchange helped take my mind back to the TV commercials I saw as a kid.

A company with the crazy name “Wham O” had the reputation for developing toys that kids loved and that lived up to their hype.  I could be watching Dick Bills on one channel or Uncle Howdy on another channel when suddenly Roy Rogers or Popeye would cut to the latest Wham O commercial.  Hula Hoop, Frisbee, Slip ’n Slide, Super Ball and Trac Ball all captured my imagination at some time or another.

For the record, Cathy can still Hula Hoop, but, for some reason, my hips don’t wiggle like they used to.  I played Frisbee golf with my son-in-law Jason last year and the old guy can still fling a disk around (just not as well as the young guys).  Each of those activities lived in my thinking long before being lived out in my hands (or around my waist).  Each is a powerful example of creativity at work.

I mention Wham O and their very creative toys because creativity, done well, impacts us all. When I sat down in my office cubicle to write this post, Cathy was in our prayer room on the opposite end of our little office building.  She and I were in the middle of a running text message conversation that started earlier, but concluded while we were under the same roof.  Think about that with me for a minute...

• For most of history, verbal communication required that two people be within hearing distance of each other.
• Written communication could travel much farther, but required that it be transported to the reader or the reader come to it.
• It took creativity to come up with the telephone…a means of talking to one another while a distance apart.
• It took more creativity to write each other and transport those words electronically.
• It took even more creativity to imagine a portable device on which we can talk AND write to each other.

CREATIVITY CHANGES OUR LIVES!

This brings me to a profound truth: human creativity originated in the heart of the original Creator.  His creativity is way beyond our imagination.  In addition, He creates  (making something from nothing) while we re-create (transforming something into something else).  It is amazing that He has given us a mind to “see” things which don’t yet exist, then a heart to work until they become reality.  He, though, sees things that are not yet, then SPEAKS them into being.

The creativity of the Creator: that’s our “Why Bother?” topic this weekend at Stone Ridge Church.  It’s family worship weekend and I guarantee that it will stir up your imagination.  Don’t miss it!

"Explain it to me."

The tiny one had a gleam in her eyes as she spoke.  With the pure simplicity of a small child, she said, “It’s like an egg.  It has a shell, a yolk and a white, but it’s still an egg.”  

Her little friends continued playing with their toys and didn’t really pay attention.

The young student stood before his classroom with a clear cup filled with water.  “It’s like water,” he said.  “It can be solid or liquid or gas, but it’s still water.”  

A few classmates snickered at his explanation.

The young man boldly said to his friends, “It’s like a man.  He can be a leader at work, a husband to his wife and a dad to his kids. In each role he can be different, but in all of them, he is still a man."

One of his friends argued vehemently against the concept.  Another silently walked away.  

Many years ago, back when we had church services on Sunday evenings, I was approached by a young adult.  I was on staff of that church and not the pastor.  Maybe he approached me because of our similar ages.  Maybe he saw me as more accessible than our pastor, who had just preached and was greeting people near the door.  Whatever may have been his reason, the question he asked caught me off guard and has stayed with me ever since: “I have about five minutes before I have to leave; can you explain the trinity to me?"

 

His question has bounced around in my head like a pinball ever since.  Who can explain THE trinity in five minutes?  Indeed, who can explain it at all?  Simple explanations may help illustrate it, but none can fully explain the idea that God is ONE God in THREE persons.  If the trinity is so far beyond our thinking, why try to understand it?  “WHY BOTHER?”  

 

As we said last week, “This Stuff Matters!”  That’s why we are picking up the subject this weekend at Stone Ridge Church.  You don’t want to miss this important message about the God who loves us and wants us to know Him.  Can’t be there?  Catch the podcast!

This stuff matters!

 

I’m a guy, you know.

I can tell that I’m a guy because I tend to ALWAYS trust my GPS and NEVER consider stopping to ask a “local” for directions.  “It’s a guy thing!”  By the way, I don’t really ALWAYS trust my GPS.  I was in a big city recently and decided I knew the way to where I was going better than the app on my phone. I ended up taking the long road…the GPS was right. However, I also DIDN'T trust my GPS when I was traveling to a friend’s house in my own town.  I had been there once before and needed a little extra help…until I discovered that the GPS would have landed me in a location about five miles from the neighborhood where I was going.

Does this mean that the GPS and I are each batting .500?

As a guy, I figure it’s also my prerogative to skip the poorly-translated-into-English assembly instructions which came with that new gizmo we just ordered. For the record, I paid close attention to the instructions on how to put together a piece of exercise equipment when it took forever just to inventory all the parts.  Like I said, it’s my choice.

Maybe my guy attitude is an indicator of what is happening among many followers of Jesus who seem to consider the Bible as sort of like my GPS app.  I find it very common for people who say that they love and want to follow Jesus, but who are open to every possible source of direction for their lives.  Then, when the Bible seems to agree with all the other input, they are ready to quote the Bible.  When it doesn’t agree?  Then they just close the Bible and disregard what it says.  Ouch!  But I see it happening constantly.  No wonder our sense of direction has become so cloudy.

Tongue in cheek, I might just consider a campaign to rename the Bible.  I think I would call it, “Start Here!”  and print that title boldly on the cover.  Maybe that would clear some of the misdirection about how we make critical life decisions.

Because of issues like this, we have chosen the theme “Why Bother?” for our Stone Ridge Church Summer Sermon Series.  Indeed, why bother?  Because THIS STUFF MATTERS!  And it all begins this weekend with a message on the Bible.  I promise, you don’t want to miss it, but if you can’t be there, catch the podcast.  You might be amazed to find that God’s Word bats 1.000!