Pray for THAT Guy?

While I was attending an Adventist college a few years back I got along with just about everyone there.  I thought my fellow students were great, and they generally seemed to like me, too.  Everyone was just so friendly, from the school's president down to the janitor on my dorm hall.  Everyone, that is, except for this one guy.

Mr. Jenkins was the head of campus security, and I am hard pressed to think of anyone who liked this man.  He made negative comments about the student body, and he harassed us constantly for not parking just so!  Any time his name was mentioned, someone had a story about how they didn't like him and they usually had a specific reason.

One day I was heading off to deliver a projector to a classroom on the other side of campus when I noticed that there were two squad cars-with lights flashing-out in front of the administration building.  A couple of seconds later, an ambulance came screaming onto campus.  I came to learn that Mr. Jenkins, while trying to stop someone from leaving before the police could arrive, had been hit by the fleeing car.  At first I didn't know what to think.  A part of me wanted to laugh, but another part felt

horrible for what had happened.  I continued on my delivery still mulling this over in my head.

That night in the cafeteria the news was everywhere, but for the most part people thought it was funny.  The general consensus was that it was not an undeserved accident.  The next day on my way to chapel, I overheard some students talking.  "You know, I really hope we don't have to have a big long prayer for this guy.  I think I might just leave chapel if that happens."  

I was in shock.  Here I was on an Christian campus, and all the talk I'd heard about the last day or so was how Mr. Jenkins deserved what he got, and I never once heard a single shred of sympathy for the man.  Part of the shock I felt was my own guilt for having many of the same thoughts as I heard voiced by others.

I began to think of something Paul said.  "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;  if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:20)"  Was I doing that?  I was ashamed to say that, even though I knew that I should do that, I didn't really want to.  That's when some of Jesus' words really hit home: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than [this].  (Mark 12:31)"  Wasn't Mr. Jenkins my neighbor in Christ?  Didn't I see him in church every Sabbath? 

Often times in our lives we seek to encounter God through the good things that happen to us.  How often do we look for God in situations where we don't want Him to be?  I didn't want the Holy Spirit reminding me that God loved Mr. Jenkins as much as He loved me. That night, as I said my prayers, though, I said an extra prayer for Mr. Jenkins, and you know what?  It felt GOOD.  It seems God knows what He is talking about when He tells us that we should love even those who don't love us.

ENCOUNTER:

Who are you impressed to pray for right now?  How will prayer change you?

Be Present: Instant Replay

“Why not just live in the moment, especially if it has a good beat?” –Goldie Hawn

Although I’ll be the first to admit an almost blind approval for anything technology-driven, let me declare my love/hate relationship with instant replay in sports.  If there can be such a thing as road rage, I believe I may be a replay rage-aholic.

It’s bad enough that the NFL referees have a penalty flag they can throw any time to stop the momentum of the game, but now coaches have a “challenge” flag tucked in their sock or back pocket!?!  And then, of course there is the booth referees tucked away in some media man cave somewhere, looking at high definition renditions of what just happened over and over and over again from every angle?  So the game comes to a screeching halt, and we’re stuck like commuter traffic purgatory, as the referee dons a black hood to repeated review the penalty?  Oh the humanity! 

Okay I’m done venting.  But seriously?  Now instant replay is creeping into the NBA. . . What’s next?  Life instant replay?  Okay, I’m done venting now.  Really.

Yet televised sports isn’t the only place where “instant replay” is plaguing our world, there are places far more important where it’s taking a more discouraging toll.

Should ha’

Could ha’

Would ha’

As a student looking at test scores, “I should have studied instead of goofing off...”

As a spouse early in marriage, “I could have been more understanding and less stubborn...”

As a parent regretting angry words, “If only I would have taken a moment to listen to her side of the story…”

Don’t get me wrong, there is great benefit to gaining wisdom through our past mistakes.  And certainly our past can serve as a reference point for better choices in the future.

But what’s often a stumbling point is the debilitating mental instant replay of life’s fumbles, mistakes, intentional fouls, and unsportsman-like conduct—The instant replay of our sins.  While there is virtue in remorse and the turn of a repentant heart—repeated replay of our failures and faux pas is destructive, and one of the devil’s tools to stop GOD’s momentum in your life.

Thank GOD for the forgiveness and freedom offered in our Savior, Christ Jesus!

“Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.” –2Corinthians 5:17-18 [Message]

Christ Jesus takes the replay remote away from Satan, and offers us the opportunity to live life freely.  Our past sins are erased, and we are invited to experience the new day, fully present.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” –Henry David Thoreau

May you spend this moment fully living, free from the torment of replaying past sins.  May this new day in Christ be filled with all the possibilities and freedom that His forgiveness affords.  Today may you truly live to the full.

Encounter Prayer:

Lord, who is a God like you?
    You forgive sin.
You forgive your people
    when they do what is wrong.
You don’t stay angry forever.
    Instead, you take delight in showing
    your faithful love to them.
Once again you will show loving concern for us.
    You will completely wipe out
    the evil things we’ve done.
You will throw all of our sins
    into the bottom of the sea. –Micah 7:18-19 [NIrV]

Encounter:

• What parts of your past haunt you?
• Who might you need to make amends with and reconcile?
• How are you going to live this day freely and fully in Christ Jesus? 

 

Going Old School: Saying You’re Sorry

As we’ve studied so far in Leviticus, you’ve probably begun to see a pattern.  God isn’t giving us a bunch of useless rules and regulations to make our lives difficult.  Quite the contrary, God is trying to help us live the best lives we can!  Sure, God wants us to be healthy and happy, but more than anything God wants to develop a relationship with us, and in Leviticus He really goes into detail about Himself and how we, as fallen, fragile human beings, can develop a relationship with out all powerful Creator.

In Leviticus 16, God goes into great detail about how the Israelites, as a nation, can be made right with Him.  The Day of Atonement was the greatest day of the year for the Israelites (much the same way we hinge the year on the Christmas season now).  In Hebrew, the word לכפר  (atone) literally means “to cover.”  As we’ve gone through Leviticus, we’ve seen God outlining the different offerings and sacrifices for the people, but all the sacrifices they made could never remove their sins, only cover them.  Our sins could only be covered until the perfect sacrifice from God was given on the cross, which is the sacrifice all the others pointed too.  On Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) the people confessed their sins as a nation and the high priest would go into the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle to make atonement for them.

The high priest couldn’t just go traipsing in to the Most Holy Place, though (Lev. 16:2).  He had to spend hours preparing himself to meet God!  How he dressed, bathed, and the sacrifices he had to make to cover his own sins before entering the tabernacle, everything!  The high priest had to be absolutely focused on God when he interceded on behalf of the people.

Lev. 16:5-28 talks about two goats, which is sacrificed and one which is released into the wild as the Azazel (scapegoat).  The two goats represents the two ways that God dealt with the peoples’ sins:

1. He was forgiving their sin through the blood sacrifice of the first goat
2. He was removing their sin guilt through the scapegoat that was released into the wilderness.

This same was repeated every year until Christ’s death replaced the old sacrificial system once and for all.  Now, instead of making an animal sacrifice, we can ask Christ (our High Priest) to remove our sins when we put our trust in Him (Heb. 10:1-18).

One more sidebar while we’re here.  You’ll notice (Lev. 16:12) that the high priest had burn incense (and in fact take incense with him into the Most Holy Place).  The incense burner would have been a shallow dish or bowl that hung by a chain or was carried by tongs.  Inside the burner were a combination of sweet smelling spices and burning coals from the altar.  In the Most Holy Place, the smoke would shield the priest from the full glory of the Shekhinah (God’s presence shining between the two cherubs above the Ark of the Covenant) otherwise he might die.  The incense probably also had a more practical purpose, too.  The sweet smell would draw the people’s attention to the morning and evening sacrifices at the Tabernacle (and help to cover up the often foul smell of burning sacrifices).

The Israelites went through all this every year to have their sins covered until the day when God would remove them completely, which He did (and does!) through His Son, Jesus.  How spoiled we are that we can approach God any time we want (Heb. 10:16) without having to go through everything that the priests of old did! 
Just because we have this access does not mean we get a free pass and can be careless in our worship of God.  We must remember that God is holy, and our ease of access was bought at a steep price: Christ’s death.  Christ opened the way so we would not have to go through all the rituals to come to God, but we must still take the time to prepare our hearts and focus our minds as we draw close to God in prayer.

After all, how can we develop a relationship with God if we never give Him our undivided attention, even for a few minutes each day?

Encounter: Have you taken the time to meet with God today?
 

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Some references borrowed from the Life Application Study Bible (NLT) 2nd Edition published by Tyndale House Publishers.

Going Old School: When Was Your Last REAL Offering?

All right, show of hands, how many people have read through the book of Leviticus…on purpose? Anyone? Don’t worry, I never really gave it much thought except when Dr. Michael Hasel made us do it for an Old Testament studies class…and then I admit to skimming and glossing over it. But believe it or not, there is some really good stuff in there about living our lives! So, with that in mind, let’s dive into the book of Leviticus!

The first seven chapters of Leviticus talk about five specific offerings the Israelites were to make to God, and the reasons why they were supposed to do that. Offerings (often referred to as sacrifices in the text) were meant to restore a relationship with God. A gift was offered to God by sacrificing on the altar (which, by the way, was in the center of the camp and visible by everyone). Sacrifices were meant to teach people a few things:

1. By requiring perfect animals and holy priests, they taught reverence to a holy God.
2. By demanding exact obedience, they taught total submission to God’s laws.
3. By requiring an animal of great value, they showed the high cost of sin and demonstrated the sincerity of the people’s commitment to God.
4. Because of what they were, sacrifices required the use of all senses in worship, which encourages a whole-person response to God!
5. The sacrificial system not only taught the people about God’s laws, it presented real opportunity for genuine voluntary response to God.

Chapter 1: Burnt Offering

The Burnt Offering was a voluntary offering to make atonement for sins in general. The purpose was to demonstrate a person’s devotion to God. Jesus, of course, was the perfect offering. (1:1-17, 6:18-30)

Do you show devotion to God by confessing your sins and asking to be made right with Him?

Chapter 2: Grain Offering

The Grain Offering was to show honor and respect to God in worship. This voluntary offering was to acknowledge that all we have belongs to God. Jesus was the perfect offering, who gave all of Himself to God and us. (2:1-14, 6:14-18)

Can you even remember the last time you turned off the TV/cell/computer and showed love and respect to God in worship?

Chapter 3: Peace Offering

The Peace Offering was an expression of gratitude and thanks to God. It symbolized the peace that fellowship with God brings. Jesus is the only way that we can have true fellowship with God. (3:1-17, 7:11-21)

Have you thanked God for the blessings in your life? For helping calm your inner storms and for always being there with you, through good and bad?

Chapter 4: Sin Offering

The Sin Offering was required of the people to make payment for unintentional sins such as uncleanness, neglect, or thoughtlessness towards others that they had committed going about their daily lives. By giving a Sin Offering, the sinner was restored to fellowship with God, and it helps to show us just how harmful sin is. By His death on the cross, Jesus restored our fellowship with God. (4:1-35, 5:1-13, 6:1-7, 24-30)

Have you made a mistake today, even accidentally? Did you talk with God about it and ask to have your relationship with Him restored?

Chapter 5: Guilt Offering

The Guilt Offering was required as payment for sins against God and others. The sacrifice was made to God, and before it could be accepted, the person you hurt had to be asked for forgiveness and was repaid for the wrong done. This encourages us to make things right not just with God, but also with each other. By His death, Jesus makes things right between God and us.
When you do something that hurts someone else, do you try and make things right, or do you hope things will “just work out?” God instructs us not to wait, but to make things right with the person as soon as we can. When we make things right with others, we can also make things right with God. (5:14-19, 7:1-9)

Chapter 6: Ordination Offering

The Ordination Offering was made when a priest was ordained to the ministry. (6:19-23)

Today we lay hands on a new pastor, elder, or deacon to ordain them to ministry.(ex. Acts 13:2-3)

The people were also instructed to give a portion of their offerings to support the priests (7:28-38).

The entire sacrificial system that is described in these first seven chapters of Leviticus were useless to help a sinner unless he (or she) brought an offering with an attitude of repentance and a willingness to confess sins. This confession was done publically because the priests had to perform the sacrifice and put it on the altar before the Lord (and the altar was at the center of everything).

I think that is something sorely lacking in our churches today. We keep everything bottled up, private. We don’t help each other with our struggles and just hope everything will “just work out.” People in church today are so TERRIFIED of being judged for making a mistake, that church has become the loneliest place on earth. A place where lonely people surround themselves with other lonely people, and no one talks about anything “serious.”

God doesn’t want it to be that way! When God was establishing a society for His followers, He was intentional about us sharing each other’s burdens. About confessing our sins to one another and asking Him and those we wronged for forgiveness. Even though Jesus’ death makes animal sacrifices unnecessary today, that doesn’t mean we can stop making things right with God and each other! Jesus’ death is meaningless if we don’t bring our burdens to Him and confess our struggles to one another! God is not going to judge you for asking forgiveness for a sin; to regain that intimate fellowship with Him! He wants that so much He DIED to get it!

It might be easy to dismiss the instructions for maintaining a happy and productive spiritual life that builds strong, meaningful relationships with God and people simply because Leviticus is a long, boring (and sometimes gross) book in the Old Testament. There aren’t “good stories” in it, and we don’t have to do all that stuff any more, so why bother to read it at all? It’s hard! But the apostle James tells us the exact same thing that God told us in Leviticus:

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16)

If praying together and helping each other overcome sin was so important that God spent seven chapters going into excruciating detail about it, maybe there’s something to it. What would church be like if it worked like God meant for it too, as outlined in Leviticus and summed up by James?

ENCOUNTER: Would this be a church you’d want to belong too? How do we make it happen?

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Some references borrowed from the Life Application Study Bible (NLT) 2nd Edition published by Tyndale House Publishers.