The Transcendence of Jesus

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8 NIV)

My wife is 9,000 miles away on the other side of the world in South Africa.  We talk every day and yesterday, while we were talking, I mentioned seeing the moon rising in the east.  On her side of the world, from where she was sitting, she said she could see the moon as well, in the western sky.  A half a world apart, we were seeing the same moon at the same time. 

People all over the world have viewed that same moon down through history.  Regardless of the color of our skin, our cultural heritage, where we live, or where our respective ancestors lived, the moon has never changed.  The one my wife and I saw from very different geographical perspectives yesterday is the same one viewed by all who are living and who have ever lived.

My experience yesterday put this verse in a much clearer perspective.  Though our world has changed in unfathomable ways over the past 2,000 years, Jesus is still the same.  Though the people who worship and have worshipped Jesus down through history are vastly different, He is still the same.  And though we may be separated by several time zones or by centuries, the One whom we worship as Lord is the same.

The Church has always held its history in great respect because, as the Hebrew writer notes, it is through that history by which we are surrounded by “such a great cloud ofwitnesses” that unites us as believers regardless of time or culture.  Think about it: The Jesus that Peter and Paul worshipped is the same as you and I worship.  And the Jesus that hundreds of millions of people have worshipped down through the ages is the same as we worship today.  And the Jesus the believers in rural China, the Massai believers in Kenya, and the believers in South Korea worship is the same as you and I worship. 

Like Peter while walking on the water, it is only when we take our eyes off of Jesus that we begin to sink into the waters of division and disunity as a community of believers.  I think this is why the Hebrew writer, after speaking of the cloud of witnesses, commands us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Because He is unchanging, He is the one fixed point in our lives and in all of history by which our lives are kept on the right course.  Without Him, we lose our sense of where we are and where we are headed. 

Today, recognize the transcendence of Jesus.  Down through the ages, across cultures and geography, He is timeless and omnipresent.  He is our fixed point in life, what unites us as a community of believers.  He always has been and always will be.

© Jim Musser 2016

Finding Shelter

“The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? 
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked advance against me to devour me, 
it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. 
Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; 
though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.  One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, 
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.  Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.” (Psalm 27:1-6 NIV)

As I awoke this morning, I heard the wind howling and saw the snow blowing. The outside temperature was in the teens.  Thankfully, I was safe inside.  The heat pump was on and the house was warm.  It is on these types of mornings that I am particularly grateful for shelter.  My house protects me from the elements, whether a raging snowstorm, bitter cold, or pouring rain.  And if I am caught out in the open during a storm, I will immediately seek to find shelter to protect me.

Jesus says our lives will be filled with trouble (John 16:33) and, speaking from personal experience, I have definitely found that to be true.  Not every day, mind you, but often enough.  And I am guessing this is true for you as well.  So where do we go when we are in trouble, when we find ourselves unprotected in this world?  

The Scriptures refer several times to God being our shelter, One to whom we can run to in times of trouble.  What a wonderful promise! When the storms of tragedy, heartbreak, and suffering roll into our lives, we have a place to run, a place of safety and comfort.  When we are overwhelmed by life, we are not stranded and on our own.  The Lord is there to shelter us.  All we have to do is run to Him.  And therein lies the rub.  

Many of us try to handle the storms of life on our own.  We attempt to find other means of shelter when trouble comes.  I once knew a woman who, as her troubles increased, so did her frenetic activity.  She attempted to busy herself to avoid dealing with her troubles.  Others seek shelter in relationships, alcohol, drugs, pornography, or food. These things may provide temporary relief, but as many find, instead of sheltering one from trouble, they create more.

Today, know God is the only real shelter against the storms of this life. So the next time you find yourself in trouble, run to Him.  He is your only real protection.

© Jim Musser 2016

Forgetting God

“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.” (Hosea 13:6 NIV)

There is an old saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes,” that gets to the heart of what the Lord is saying through the prophet Hosea. When life takes a terrible turn, when the woes of this world come crashing down on us, it is then we tend to cry out to God, but in the midst of life going our way and our needs being satisfied, this is when we tend to make Him an afterthought.  

Pride is an insidious sin of which we are often unaware.  But what else can explain this tendency to think we don’t need God, are not dependent on Him, when life is going well for us?  Is it not the sense that we have earned the good things coming our way or that somehow we are entitled to them that leads us to forget God when life is good?

Through Hosea, the Lord is recalling how He provided for the needs of the Israelites to the point they were satisfied with life.  But that did not lead them to appreciate Him or give thanks to Him.  Rather, it led those who were religiously devoted to think they  deserved it because they were “God’s people,” and those who were not to think that somehow the idols they had created with their own hands were responsible for life going so well for them.

Our pride shows, as did theirs, when we do not recognize all good things come from God. (I Timothy 6:17) In fact, when things are going great for us, rather than forgetting about the Lord, we should be filled with praise and thanksgiving.  But as the Scriptures show over and over again, this is difficult for us.  Our bent is to get lax in our appreciation for the Lord when life is going good.  So what are we to do?

Echoing the words of the Apostle Paul, we must cultivate an attitude of thankfulness. (I Thessalonians 5:18) And to do that, it must be intentional and daily.  

So today, think about how the Lord has blessed you and then give thanks for those blessings.  And do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.  For the truth is, when we take the time to think about all that we have in life and recognize from Whom they come, we cannot possibly forget the Lord.  Instead, our lives will be filled with thanksgiving toward Him.

© Jim Musser 2016

Bellbottoms and Shoulder Pads

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32 NIV)

I recently read an article talking about future trends in the church.  The author spoke enthusiastically that “online church” would be a thing, as would “experience over content;” that is, that people are going to be more drawn to the experience they have in a church over whatever is said or done.  Hmmm.

Over my many years in vocational ministry, I have seen many purveyors of “exciting” new church trends and strategies, but most are rooted in the trends of the culture rather than the truth of the Scriptures.  One example is the church growth movement of the 1980’s where the emphasis was increasing church involvement by gathering people who look and think the same.  The thinking was, contrary to Scriptural teaching, that the way to grow your church was by attracting the same socio-economic class of people as made up the core of your congregation.  It was all the rage for many years.  

Then came the “seeker-friendly church” trend, which postulated that in order to reach unbelievers, you had to make your church a place in which they felt comfortable and were not put off by too much emphasis on deeper biblical teaching.  While the intent was admirable, the model of the New Testament church was cast aside in the midst of jumping on the bandwagon.

The danger of being trendy (think the bellbottoms of the early 70’s or the shoulder pads for women in the 1980’s) is you have tunnel vision. You only see how cool the trend is without any sense of its long-standing value.  That is why so often, as is the case with those of us who wore bellbottoms and the women who wore outfits with shoulder pads look back and exclaim, “What were we thinking?!”  The same can be said about trends in the church.  What once looked fabulous in the moment can look very different as time moves on.  

This is why it is so crucial to examine any trend in the corrective light of Scripture.  We are fallen human beings and the trends we create and follow often reveal that.  Jesus is the truth and only in Him can we escape being seduced by trends that seem cool but are unbiblical. Think about the trend cited by the author I referenced above: experience will trump content.  So should local churches concentrate on giving people a good experience, even if that means telling people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear?  Or singing songs they like over songs that might have more biblical content?  Should we stop talking about the need to reach the world with the Gospel because people are more concerned with their own problems and needs?

The problem with trends is they mostly involve what people want rather than what they need.  It is not necessarily wrong for the church to try to stay in tune with the cultural trends, but the danger always lurks that the church will trend toward reflecting the culture in which it resides rather than the Lord whom it is to serve.

Today, remember all trends look good in the moment, as did bellbottoms and should pads.  That is why they are trends.  But as followers of Jesus, we need to evaluate every trend in the light of the Word.  It is the only way in which to avoid saying later, “What were we thinking?!

© Jim Musser 2016

The Lavish Nature of God

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3-10 NIV)

As I was reading this passage earlier this week, one word jumped out at me—“lavished.”  I think many people believe God to be very stingy. This is why I think people are hesitant to wait on God to bless them in certain areas of their lives because they see Him as inherently reluctant to do so.  For instance, many people get into, or choose to stay in, romantic relationships that aren’t spiritually healthy because they don’t believe God will bless them with anything better. Or they commit a sin and believe God could never truly forgive them for what they did.  Or they resist a calling to pursue a different career than they imagined for themselves, thinking they would never be happy doing that.  In other words, they believe the Lord would call them to do something they would hate.  

What the word “lavished” reveals is God is far from stingy with His love and grace.  Rather, He longs to bless us far beyond what we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  Generosity is at the heart of who He is, generosity in love, grace, and mercy.  He longs to lavish us with all of these.  

Today, know God is not stingy, and He is for you, rather than against you.  You are His child and He wants to lavish you with His love, grace and mercy.  All that is needed from you is trust in that truth.

© Jim Musser 2016

The True Church

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:15-20 NIV)

One of my former students is the pastor of a church whose motto is they’re a church for people who hate church.  It’s a clever pitch because there are so many who are negative toward the institutional church. With the ascendance of social media in recent years, stories abound about abuse of all sorts and thrown in for good measure are the typical charges of hypocrisy, arrogance, and intolerance. 

But what people often describe as “the church,” is a variety of institutions run by human beings for a variety of reasons, as opposed to the Church, which is headed by Jesus Christ and whose members are committed to serving and glorifying Him.  The latter is not contained in one particular building or in one denomination.  Rather it is made up of all who humble themselves before the Lord, confess and repent of their sins, are baptized in His name, and are filled with the Holy Spirit.  The former, like the synagogue in the time of Jesus, are run by human beings whose commitment is often greater toward the institution and its evolving traditions than to the Lord.  Thus, it is important to recognize the difference.

If we listen to the voices of our culture, even we believers will be persuaded to think negatively toward the Church because the distinction is never made.  Of course, the Church is not yet perfect, as any serious reading of the letters of Paul and Peter will easily attest as will any honest observance of any true believer.  As Paul states, we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  Yet, the Church is not headed by a charismatic pastor who needs a private jet to get around, or one who takes advantage of children, or one who hates anyone who disagrees with him.  Rather, it is led by the One through whom all things were created, who is the image of God—Jesus Christ.  And its members, while not yet perfect, live out lives surrendered to His will, in obedience to Him, and humbly seek His grace and mercy when they fail.  They are the body of Christ and their lives reflect His ministry on earth.  While a minority of churches has few true believers among them, the vast majority has some and many are filled with them.  

But one thing is true and must be understood: Your church or a church you may have attended and left with very negative feelings is not the Church.  The Church is headed by Jesus and its members are sold out to Him. 

So today if you are struggling with negative feelings toward a particular church, don’t confuse it with the Church.  For the Church is not defined by a building with a sign out front saying such and such church, or by those inside its walls.  Rather the Church is and always has been defined by its distinction of being led by Jesus and being filled by those who love Him and humbly submit to His Lordship. 

© Jim Musser 2016

Making Resolutions

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:33-34 NIV)

It’s the 11th day of 2016.  So how are those New Year’s resolutions coming along?  The ritual of making resolutions at the start of a new year is matched only by the inability of keeping most of them.  So why do we continue to it?  Perhaps it makes us feel better about ourselves. We know there is a great need for improvement and recognizing that fact, and expressing a desire to do something about it, means we’re not all that bad.  This year I’m going to shed some pounds, which means I really care about my body as opposed to being someone who has just given up on himself or herself.  This year I’m going to study harder and become a better student, which shows my desire to become responsible and prepared for the real world.  This year I’m going to spend more time with the Lord, which demonstrates I am getting serious about my faith.

What most resolutions have in common is they are future-oriented and not very specific as to how they will be accomplished.  What I am going to do today to help make this happen is rarely contemplated.  Now Jesus does not address New Year’s resolutions, but His statement in the Sermon on the Mount gets to the heart of their shortcomings.  

Resolutions to have a better year miss the point and set us up for worry and failure. They put the focus on us even if our resolution is to be more helpful to people.  Jesus says to seek first the kingdom, not to lose weight or be a better person.  While those may not be bad ambitions, they are not to be our first priorities.  Rather, our first priority is to seek God, daily.  

If you read what comes before this passage, you will notice people were worrying about what they would have to eat and what they would have to wear—their daily necessities.  But Jesus didn’t tell them to go work harder and be better people in order to assure they had the provisions they would need.  No, He told them first to seek God, and then everything they needed would be provided.

Like those in Jesus’ audience, we tend to focus (and worry) about what we need to do and what is going to happen.  We make resolutions about the future, but tend to ignore the priorities of today.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Jesus is telling us our first priority as we start a new year is not to make and fulfill resolutions, but to seek Him every day.  

Today, make it your priority to seek Jesus every day and, in doing so, you may be surprised at how little you need to make resolutions in order for positive change to happen in your life.

© Jim Musser 2016