STRESS!! It consumes, divides and doubles. You would think that a little quiet time would be welcome, but that’s not always the case. In fact, for many of us quiet time may invite the most intimidating minutes of our day.
A quiet awakening
I should have welcomed opportunity for more sleep, for my night had been nearly sleepless. Yet after awakening to near silence before dawn I turned off the alarm and remained awake.
What was on my mind? Everything. And I must confess that my first thought was not,
This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
We arose as usual, beginning the necessary routines of each day. The dog stretched and hurried toward the door. Routine, but required, we set out on today’s event full journey. Charlie followed his nose along previously blazed paths oblivious to my attempt of a hurried pace along a cold continuous sidewalk.
Running from work
A jogger ran by, buds in her ears and pulse-monitoring watch on her wrist. She tracks more than time and steps. On warmer days I sensed her daily pace, caught in her mini-marathon between school drop-off and her gym or coffee shop. A man drove by in his loud pizza-logoed car, bobbing his head to a beat of some music inside.
Charlie walked further, but I was no different from these running to and from work. I could have been busy in some song or sense of life’s sprint, but this day all was quiet except multiplying messages of a mind caught up in my ‘what to do next’ and ‘why did I do that.”
Once I had driven miles between accounts with my mind also cruising well above the speed limit of a time-constrained goal list. I once listened to anything louder than my passing thoughts; nostalgic classics or current upbeat songs by young musicians full of life. Yet work always approached with the day’s music fleeting to where carefree sounds, singing and smiles fade into hope of a different journey.
As I thought ahead to work I considered a place filled with well-meaning souls, busy building barns most will never see. Eight or so hours without running to places where we have time to count the costs before the laying of foundations of futility.
An unexpected glimpse at quiet sleep
Unexplored paths led by tugs of long leash from long-wandered straight paths of purpose, we returned to a road taken by only a few headed to their cul-de-sac of journey’s end.
A sight behind an open blind of dawn-lit window imprints image of both past and future. The man lay sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed, between his room’s window and rising metal tree with clear bags of liquid extending long lines dripping life into failing flesh and relief into the delay of decay.
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
A mere breath, vapour, a fleeting shadow are the lives of mankind. Souls caught in the image of God trapped in failing flesh. What question of man precedes such astute observation though the looking-glass of life?
In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; 2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
Charlie had inadvertently led me to a path where in the near silence of our morning walk I had to remember our path toward a final rest. So many have passed this way before us, yet today in an unwelcome misstep I glanced briefly into my own future as well as a sudden step back into a memory of a deathbed before.
By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
It had been brought into my own living room. She had been sick for months and they couldn’t figure it out. Doctors were busy and work went on while family and life rushed about. A trip to the ER told more of the disruption of life to come.
After giving up on work and her parents moving in, trips from doctor to hospital and home again… to a bed not our own…
Once I sat by her inadvertently on her oxygen tube. It was that kind of sudden realization that the breath of life we take so granted becomes perilously cumbersome to draw in for just one more moment. She would live fully just two score and ten, one more month and one more night to say ‘Good-bye, I love you.’
The days of our years are threescore years and ten;
and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,
yet is their strength labour and sorrow;
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knoweth the power of thine anger?
even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
So teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Charlie and I turned off into home, just a short way along our temporary path of these days. I remained lost in contemplative prayer and unexpectedly fond memory, for I knew just how temporary was this life for her and for me.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…
“..and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Do you believe that Easter is a celebration of life like no other?
Lots of talk about resurrection; some even call it ‘Resurrection Day.’
‘So What’ skeptics of Christ’s Resurrection
As a kids we easily turned a phrase for things of which we were skeptical. My quick answer to a parent or someone in authority: “So what?”
What answer quickly rolls off my tongue? What reactive thought tumbles around in my head about things I choose not to think about?
“So what?”
As one finally bowed down before Almighty God who calls Christ Jesus my Lord, I contrinued to be a little surprised by the ‘so what’ look of so many wandering souls I encounter in my everyday mortal life.
Their non-consideration of Easter and frequent rebellion at even a mention of the name of Jesus affirms their ‘so what,’ as common era reaction to faint hope that the resurrection of Jesus is real.
These with hearts hardened to God will always turn against any hope that Christ’s cross and the resurrection are most real and relevant answers to sin. Judgment for sin and punishment of a second death are the furthest thoughts removed from the flesh of self-worshiping humanists.
Jesus was rejected and crucified by a religious establishment that made up their own rules about God. Jesus came to a world that did not seek God. Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus came as a sacrifice for our sin. And Jesus is resurrected from the grave, because He IS the LORD God! He came to man to show us the mercy required to save us from death with the grace of reward for eternal life we do not deserve.
for Church members:
The photo to the left & cover photo have been added to the original post along with some minor edits, including this question below from our earlier series on Doctrine of the Church.
SO WHAT if we do NOT insist that JESUS is the ONLY way of eternal life because of the Cross?
Gentle believer, fellow saint of Christ’s own body,
Our own sacrifice is small and our reward great for our touching of hearts with the healing love of Christ Jesus. Sure, the world says of the resurrection, ‘so what?’
Yet even in these last days of evil we have hope in the resurrection to share with others who also never believed that Jesus would die for them.
As long ago as the first century and first generation of witness of the gospel, men were still evil. Yet the letters of the Apostles spoke to the Jew and the nations alike, all who would listen about the Messiah Jesus.
Paul lived in Corinth for a time and wrote of the resurrection to the church, encouraging us in Christ. HERE is his answer to the so what skeptics and listeners in the public arenas of hostile crowds:
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Mention Jesus Christ and you get a tough crowd, don’t you? And most with their face against God show you that ‘so what’ look.
It was no different in Corinth when Paul taught the gospel to the church there in person or by letter.
Even by the pagan standards of its own culture, Corinth became so morally corrupt that its very name became synonymous with debauchery and moral depravity. To “corinthianize” came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery… Like most ancient Greek cities, Corinth had an acropolis (literally. “a high city”), which rose 2,000 feet and was used both for defense and for worship. The most prominent edifice on the acropolis was a temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Some 1,000 priestesses, who were “religious” prostitutes, lived and worked there and came down into the city in the evening to offer their services to male citizens and foreign visitors.
CAN YOU THINK OF A 21ST Century of the Common Era CITY LIKE THAT?
CAN YOU THINK OF A TEMPLE TO GLORIFY US & our gods?
ARE THE CITIZENS AND VISITORS OF OUR BEST CITIES LIKE CORINTH?
Yet Paul preached to the church in Corinth (and all the other believers) about the resurrection:
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Are you like those without hope in the resurrection?
Does your earth-friendly, Christian-persecuting community “corinthianize” the pulpits of truth with compromises of false faith?
Roger@TalkofJESUS.com +
Guard against it, as Paul warned.
For we have Christ crucified, died and resurrected. We hold to certain hope of eternal life in worship of God our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of the new heavens and the new earth without sin.
Christ has been raised from the dead!
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep..
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death…
The only ‘so what’ question
Are you looking to your own resurrection?
Do you share the Good News of Christ’s resurrection with others?
Do you even Talk of JESUS to anyone — even others in your gatherings ‘at church?’
“Who was Jesus?” they may ask; for the world hears little of our Lord in these last days.
This might be the only ‘so what’ question you ever get from your unbelieving friend or loved one. Jesus rose from the dead! Over five hundred witnesses. Furthermore, Jesus promised He will return for you and me, if you would like to have him as your Lord too.
Here's how Paul continued with the Good News of Jesus' resurrection to Corinthians of the 1st century:
35 But someone will ask,
“How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body…
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable;
what is raised is imperishable.
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
I know resurrection is a lot to think about. Has a lot more to do with your body and soul than bunnies and eggs. Jesus has a lot to say about it. You should read one of the gospels about Jesus.
(John, for instance, tells us a lot about why God sent Jesus to the world.)
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
+
Jesus IS. His resurrection after death on the cross proved his place in history and the mercy of God’s intervention in time by His sacrifice for our sins.
Many events, teachings and miracles were yet to take place between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost fifty days later, when the risen Christ was taken up into the clouds of heaven in the same manner He will return.
Matthew 28 [above] closes the Apostle’s Gospel with just a brief outline of the commission of Jesus to all who believe. Matthew witnessed the risen Christ as detailed in other gospels. He makes no attempt of evidence for the truth of the resurrection the Apostle had himself witnessed. Matthew simply presents the great commission of Jesus’ command to go into all the world and preach the Good News (the Gospel).
Jesus had assured Matthew and the Twelve, “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” KJV
In troubled times even unbelievers speak of the ‘the end of the age’ or ‘the end of the world.’ We see and hear false fantasy about the terrible coming of the Lord to judge all creation, although the world would leave out God and Jesus Christ from their fantastic explanations.
Dear believer in the risen Christ, let us examine the comfort of the loving Son, Jesus, who suffered for your sins and for mine. Let us examine the comfort of knowing that Jesus IS. Let us know with certainty that Jesus IS not only with Matthew and the other Apostles; even now, Jesus IS with you and with me.
Jesus had appeared to Matthew and the others many times. He had eaten with them even after the resurrection. He taught them as He always had, even explaining how His crucifixion had to fulfill scripture of the Old Testament (the Bible before Christ). Jesus IS and the Apostles understood even after Pentecost, Jesus IS. Whatever happens, Jesus IS. I, GOD, have taught you; you, therefore, teach the world what I have taught!
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. – Matthew 28:18-20 KJV
The Apostle John, the only Apostle who would not be martyred for preaching the Gospel, reveals even more witness of how Jesus IS always with him and with the Apostles and with those who believe.
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
+
Again, the great commission to the Apostle John and the Twelve. The reassurance and proof of the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ of God, continues:
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,“Peace be with you.”27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
+
John adds a statement of other proofs he does not present in his Gospel. (Some of these are later revealed by Peter and others to Mark and Luke). No Gospel explains Jesus’ reasons any better than the Apostle John. John closes his gospel stating his purpose.
The Purpose of This Book
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Do you believe Jesus IS the Son of God?
Do you believe Jesus IS with you always, even to the end of the world?
Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,
16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”
24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
+
Peter does not pray to the Father, Peter prays to the Lord. Peter does not pray to a Jesus who was, Peter prays to Jesus who IS One with the LORD GOD, Father and Holy Spirit!
He is the same Lord Peter addressed as Lord after the resurrection asking, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [Acts 1:6] Peter prays to Jesus, his personal Lord and Savior – Jesus, his teacher and adviser.
Peter preached at the festival of Pentecost by the power of the Holy Spirit. The LORD spoke the Good News of the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
Teachers of the Law and officials of the Temple recognized that no fishermen and common disciples of Jesus could have such power of God and knowledge of scripture. (Some would later become followers of The Way.)
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words:
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it…”
+
No fisherman or tax collector (like Matthew) has such power to persuade, even with scripture if God has not ordained it and anointed these men with the fire of the Holy Spirit. How could an unlearned fisherman know or understand the power of such scripture? How could God choose such lowly men as Prophets to speak His very Word?
Only in Christ Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
+
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
+
What will you do, learned twenty-first century man? What must you do, educated twenty-first century woman? What shall we do in this day, now that we have read, heard and understood the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Good News for all men and women until the end of the world?
+
38 And Peter said to them,
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
+
Yes, the promise is for not only the Nations (the gentiles), but for the generations; for we are ‘the children far off, those whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’
Matthew, John and the Gospel writers offer witness and many proofs; yet it is by faith the Lord calls you.
+
40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
