(Author's Note: The University begins Easter Break this weekend, so I will be taking a break as well. WftW will return April 4th. Have a wonderful and blessed Resurrection Weekend! Jim)
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8 NIV)
Substitutionary atonement is probably the most misunderstood doctrine in Christianity. It is the theological term describing the necessity of Jesus’ death for our salvation. It is also the cause for much of the historical derision of the Christian faith. Gods don’t die. For those tied to the Abrahamic roots of faith, Judaism and Islam, it is just proof that Jesus was merely human; He was no god at all. For others, a religion based on a god who died is weak and powerless. Gods are not mortal; they are not like us. They are beyond us.
As Paul accurately describes (I Corinthians 1:23), the idea of God dying for our sins is blasphemy to some and foolishness to most. But with the eyes of faith, it makes perfect sense.
It is not uncommon for people to risk or give up their lives in order to save others. The Marine who falls upon a grenade to save his buddies around him. The fireman rushing into a burning house to rescue a crying toddler. Or the bystander jumping into a frozen lake to save a drowning child. Why, then, isn’t it conceivable that God would seek to rescue us from eternal death?
There was no one else who could rescue us and we were powerless to save ourselves. The willingness of God to send Jesus on a “suicidal” mission to earth and Jesus’ willingness to accept it are proofs of just how much we are loved.
This is why today, Friday, is commemorated as “Good Friday.” The death of Jesus was good for us, essential, in fact. Without it, we would be lost forever. And it tells us just how much the God of the Universe loves us.
Today, know how much God loves you. In order to rescue you, Jesus gave up His life. That may seem foolish to most, but it sounds like good news to me.
© Jim Musser 2018
“When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’
They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, ‘Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?’ Jesus replied, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.’
Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, ‘Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?’ Jesus answered, ‘You have said so.’
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Matthew 26:20-30 NIV)
Imagine the scene: Jesus gathered at night around a wooden table with men He had specifically chosen to follow Him and with whom He had spent the last three years. He knew something all but one didn’t know—they would soon all desert Him after He was betrayed and handed over to the Jewish authorities.
Have you ever been betrayed and deserted by a friend or family member? If so, then you know how amazing this scene truly is. It wasn’t that Jesus was in denial that allowed Him to dine with these people. He calls out Judas’ intentions and soon after predicts the abandonment by all of the men gathered at the table (Matthew 26:31). He knew exactly what they all were about to do.
Yet, there He was, celebrating with them one of the most sacred meals in Judaism—the Passover meal. We often note Jesus’ love for us as exemplified by His death on the cross, but this is an earlier glimpse of it—sharing the Passover with those who would soon abandon Him to the will of His enemies.
In this scene, we see Jesus live out what He had earlier commanded: “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28)
The temptation we face when we are betrayed or abandoned by those whom we thought loved us and were our friends is to do in kind to them. Yet, Jesus shows us a different way, a harder, but more godly way.
Today, is there someone in your life who has betrayed or abandoned you? To date, how have you responded? Does it look anything like how Jesus responded to the Twelve? As we celebrate this week the events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection, consider how the Lord might want you to treat this person. He demonstrated love toward His disciples. Are you willing to do the same?
© Jim Musser 2018
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NIV)
Jesus had just warned his disciples of the terrible things to come. “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.” (John 16:2-3) His words would have special meaning to them because they all faced persecution after Jesus ascended, and all but John were put to death because of their faith. (John lived the latter years of his life exiled on the island of Patmos.)
Terrible things are still happening, as we all witnessed recently in Parkland, Florida, and, if we have kept our ears open, have heard on the news almost on a daily basis since we were old enough to understand such things. While there is much good in the world, it has always been full of trouble—wars, murders, torture, abuse, kidnappings, horrendous auto accidents, plane crashes, deadly fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, avalanches, terminal diseases, divorce, infertility, and injustice.
While we all hope and long for untroubled lives, there is no doubt trouble will visit us. Jesus said so. Yet, He also gives us hope, something onto which to cling: “Take heart! I have overcome the world.” No matter what we encounter in our lives, Jesus is stronger. Since He has overcome the world, He can help us overcome whatever troubles we face.
Today, what trouble are you facing? Whatever it is, take heart! Jesus can help you overcome it.
© Jim Musser 2018
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:8-9 NIV)
Many years ago, at a Fall Retreat, I had a student come up to me after one of the sessions and tell me she wanted to be re-baptized. As was my practice then, and now, I asked her to explain her reasons for such a decision. She explained she had committed a sin about which she felt very guilty. I empathized with her, but led her to this passage to explain what she needed was not another baptism, but rather confession of her sin to the Lord.
I think it is normal to become emotional in the midst of our guilt. We feel bad and want it to go away. This is why, often, a person who sins will often fall prey to the same temptation over and over because, in an irrational way, he will seek relief from his guilt through sinning again. Much like a drug, sin often offers temporary relief from guilt.
So baptism can easily become a means to assuage guilt. It is an attractive alternative to mere confession and repentance because it naturally provides an emotional “rush.” Like going forward at an altar call, baptism can call attention to us; people watch and pray for us, which feels very good. However, like the altar call, baptism is a “one-off” event. It happens and then it is over. Then what?
Similarly to one’s decision to follow Jesus, baptism is designed to mark a beginning—a life once walking away from God to one whose sole purpose is to seek after Him until its earthly end. Confession and repentance are how we are to deal with the sin of our lives in between.
By nature, we are impatient people. We can grow weary of sin’s hold on us and may seek to deal with it in one fell swoop. But what we must understand is that is one of the devil’s many strategies to derail us spiritually—tolerate sin in our lives until we become overwhelmed or desperate, and then seek out some magical moment where we can have it all go away. Of course, it might for a while. But it won’t last because, at the heart of the matter, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and we naturally sin. There is no escape from this reality.
So, we have a choice. Either we deal with sin each and every time we are overcome by it, or we tolerate it in our lives until we grow desperate enough to want to rid ourselves of the guilt it continues to bring. Which of these do you think is the more wise and helpful approach?
Today, recognize dealing with sin in your life is best done by repeated confession and repentance. You have the choice to hold onto it, but why would you want to do that when the Lord offers forgiveness each and every time you come to Him and confess?
© Jim Musser 2018
“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:1-6 NIV)
Over the years, I have had my share of encounters with people who despised Jesus. There was the time as a college freshman in a Psychology 101 class that my professor mocked Jesus and told us that anyone believing in the resurrection was a fool. There was also the time in my senior year when a professor overseeing placement of social work interns threatened to not place me because of her concerns regarding how my Christian faith would influence my interaction with clients. Under no circumstances, she said, was I to talk about my faith in Jesus. And not many years ago, I reported a student to the Dean’s office who wrote me a vitriolic email mocking the Christian faith and me as a believer, after he had received information about our campus ministry, which he had requested.
While Jesus is often hailed as a great teacher, many, particularly among university professors, administrators, and students, have long despised him. There is no doubt that some of this hatred is the result of the ways of the institutional church, which, to them, represents Jesus. They see hypocrisy, bigotry, and greed, and vent their anger toward the one they see as a symbol for it.
Yet, this isn’t the main reason Jesus is so despised. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. His rule is supreme and He claims absolute authority. It is this that rubs people the wrong way. In the West, people naturally resist authority. We don’t like people in our business. In the East, there are other gods or prophets, whose followers resent the claims of Jesus. There are also those who believe there is no God, and so heap ridicule on anyone claiming to be God or knowing God.
The prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled 2000 years ago, but it still rings true for today. Jesus is still despised and rejected by men and women. Many of those who faithfully follow Him are subjected to the same treatment as their Lord. They are ridiculed, mistreated, jailed, and even put to death because they make the great confession: Jesus is Lord.
Today, understand that claiming Jesus is Lord opens you up to ridicule and rejection. But that is the path of a Jesus-follower, the same path the Lord took long ago. But know that path leads to an eternity in His wonderful presence, enjoying the rewards of a life lived faithfully for Him.
© Jim Musser 2018
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
‘These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.’” (Revelation 3:7-10 NIV)
For so many, social media serves as a source for validation of worthiness to be admired. “Look at me!” seems to be the mantra of so many Facebook and Instagram posts. “Look at how great and fun my life is!” Or, how lousy it is. Either way, the attempt is being made to draw attention to one’s value as a human being—either to be admired or to garner empathy.
As I have been reading Revelation the past few days, a sentence in this passage stood out: “I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.“ The glorified Jesus is acknowledging the hardships of His followers in the church at Philadelphia. In spite of great persecution, they had not denied His Name. He comforts them by promising they will soon be acknowledged as worthy by their persecutors who were currently doing terrible things to them. And His reason? Because He loved them.
What struck me as quite pertinent to our culture today is the Philadelphians’ value came from the reality they were loved by the King of kings and Lord of lords. No matter what other people said about them or did to them, nothing would or could change this fact. The Lord loved them and soon that would be evident to all who thought them unworthy.
What wonderful news to all of us! Instead of chasing after the attention and validation of others through “likes,” “views,” “comments,” and “shares,” we can rest in the knowledge that we are loved by the King and soon enough everyone will know of our value to Him. There is no need to continually seek assurance from others that each of us is a worthy and valuable human being. Our assurance comes from His very lips! “I love you!”
Today, are you in constant pursuit of validation? Are you weary of it? Then find rest and solace in the fact you are valued and deeply loved by the One whose opinion, in reality, is the only one that matters. Even if, like the Philadelphians, you feel unloved, take heart in the fact that one day everyone will know how loved you truly are!
© Jim Musser 2018
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’
The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”’
‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” (Genesis 3:1-7 NIV)
When I was with students on our Spring Break trip in Florida two weeks ago, we had just returned from an outing and were pulling into the place we were staying when we noticed the orange cones blocking the entrance. The parking lot was nearly full and it became obvious that men there to attend a weekend retreat had mistakenly parked in front of the place we were staying. Realizing that, I assume the camp set the cones out to prevent others from doing the same.
I set several of the cones aside so we could pull our van in and after I did, suddenly a car pulled through ahead of us. I approached the car to explain the situation, but the man rolled down his window and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.” He then proceeded to look for a spot to park. He mistakenly thought this was the place he was to check in for the weekend. He didn’t know that and I was seeking to explain it to him. He waved me off because he thought he knew better. So I watched him pull further in, but without a place to park. Again, I approached his vehicle. This time he asked, “Isn’t this the place we check in?” I explained to him it was not and that he would have to proceed on further to another building where people were registering. His only response was a weak, “Oh, okay.”
It is the oldest and greatest weakness of the human race. We just tend to think we know best and can do things better on our own. This is what happened to Eve and Adam in the Garden. The Lord was explicit in His instructions about the tree of knowledge of good and evil—don’t eat of its fruit. Yet, both thought they knew better when the serpent gave his perspective of God’s command. They reasoned it was fine to go ahead and disobey the Lord. They really wanted a taste and, really, what harm could come from it? They quickly found out and it was worse than they could have ever imagined.
Obviously, the man in my parking lot story didn’t suffer any severe consequences by pulling into the wrong place, but the hubris of him thinking he need not listen to me because he could figure it out on his own was evident, and indicative of the same temptation our ancestors, beginning with Eve and Adam, have continually faced and given into down through history.
I can look back at my life and see the same inclination, and I have continually seen it in the students with whom I have worked over decades. I remember one time in my early 20’s literally telling the Lord I was going to disobey Him because I desperately wanted to renew a relationship with my ex-girlfriend. As one might expect, it turned into a disaster and I immediately realized how stupid I was. I also recall my wife and I talking with a student who was making some poor lifestyle choices. We knew the spiritual danger she was in and attempted to warn her. She refused to listen and, to this day, she continues to suffer the consequences of her choices.
What about you? Are you in the habit of thinking you know what is best for your life, even if the Lord or those who love Him deeply are attempting to tell you that you are making, or about to make, a very poor choice? If so, be warned the temptation that has wrecked the lives of so many before you is knocking at your door. You would be very wise to refuse to let it enter further into your life.
Today, know the commands of the Lord are intended for your good and should not be taken lightly. You may think you know best, but as we all learn sooner or later, you really don’t. And the sooner you learn that, the better.
© Jim Musser 2018
