Category Archives: Christian

Keep Christ in Christmas, December 23, 2019

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Here we are at the last week of Advent. Children wait expectantly to open the packages under the tree. Moms and Dads scurry around for those last-minute gifts and the trimmings for the Christmas feast at the family table. Everyone vies for their favorite Christmas movies on one of the six-thousand cable channels. At least it seems there are that many sometimes. The countdown to Christmas has almost finished.

But what do we expect when the countdown reaches zero?

Too often, the climax we expect feels like a letdown. When the paper and empty boxes pile up in the corner, the plates find themselves in the sink, and the leftovers fill the refrigerator, we sigh and ask, “Is that it? All that work and fuss for this?”

In just a few short hours, it’s all a memory and usually a relatively short one at that. We build our hopes around what happens around a Christmas tree or a Christmas dinner and find that what happens there just doesn’t last. The ribbons and bows and shiny paper don’t bring the joy we thought it would in the end. The perfect present we spent days and weeks searching out doesn’t carry the reaction we thought it would. The feast doesn’t create the festival we expected.

There is a reason why, but most won’t agree. You see, we miss the point. We celebrate Christmas, but forget to invite the person we celebrate. We forget to leave a seat for the namesake of the holiday. We welcome all our friends but put an “X” in place of the most important guest of the season. Even those who call themselves Christian miss this essential ingredient in celebrating this holy day. We forget to leave a place for him as we prepare the schedule crammed with fun things to bring special memories for the future.

Matthew records his birth this way:

The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. His mother Mary had been promised to Joseph in marriage. But before they were married, Mary realized that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Her husband, Joseph, was an honorable man and did not want to disgrace her publicly. So he decided to break the marriage agreement with her secretly.

Joseph had this in mind when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said to him, “Joseph, descendant of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus [He Saves], because he will save his people from their sins.” All this happened so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: “The virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do. He took Mary to be his wife. He did not have marital relations with her before she gave birth to a son. Joseph named the child Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25 GW)

His short journey with us isn’t one most would want. He began his life marked as an illegitimate son of Mary, born in a cave with a stone bed filled with straw as the only place to lay his tiny head. He knew poverty. Most scholars think his earthly dad died shortly after his temple experience at the age of twelve. He became the breadwinner for his family in a village whose residents often operated on the wrong side of the law. And most of those villagers thought he was an illegitimate child, not the son of holy God they worshipped.

People expected the Messiah. The prayed for him to come to rescue them from the tyranny of Rome. They longed for relief from their long trial of oppression at the hand of godless nations after returning to Jerusalem from their defeat and exile.

But surely God would not send his Messiah through a poor peasant from Nazareth. Surely God would choose the wife of the chief priest or some other notable character in the temple to raise his Messiah. He wouldn’t possibly have some peasant girl from the lowest of towns on the dark side of the nation give birth to the savior of Israel.

For everyone who knew him growing up, Jesus didn’t seem to be anyone special. But he knew, Mary knew, Joseph knew that he would redeem Israel one day. He would bring freedom to the captives. They didn’t understand how. They didn’t realize it would mean his death on the cross, and he brought freedom from the penalty of sin, not freedom from political oppression.

But we know. We look back on two thousand years of history and see what God did through his Son, Jesus. We know the changes he made to the world. We recognize the incredible transformation his presence in one’s life brings. Still, we leave him out of our celebrations at this special time of year.

We stay absorbed in the world’s pleasures and what the world offers instead of the real treasure Jesus offers. We remove his name from Christmas, replace it with an X, or just call it the holiday season, so no one gets offended. Then wonder why there is no satisfaction when we get up from the feast or unwrap the last present.

I invite you in the last days before Christmas to stop and meditate on him. Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, our Savior is the namesake of these holy days. He is the reason we celebrate. Be careful preparing the festivities for family and friends that you leave a place for him in your celebrations. Make him the centerpiece in all you do.

If you will, you will find this holiday most enjoyable. If Jesus is in the center of your celebration, this will be one of the best Christmases you’ve ever had regardless of your outward circumstances. Because he never fails, and he never leaves us alone.

Merry Christmas, and thanks for letting me share with you this past year.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Be Patient, December 16, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

As I read the scriptures associated with the lectionary readings for this third week of Advent, three words stuck in my mind for some reason – arrogance, humility, and patience. Why those three words struck such a chord for me that I can’t get away from them, why is beyond me, but since they keep popping into my head, I might as well explore them with you in light of the events of today and Jesus’ coming.

It’s not hard to think about how they fit together, but let’s talk about arrogance first. Just pick up a smartphone and tap into any social media and find the anti-social comments in the first two scrolls of the screen. We talk about or behave with a high degree of arrogance in our day.

In our nation, everyone takes one side or the other over the articles of impeachment leveled against an arrogant leader. He flaunts his power, the news says. He abuses his privileges, the reports say. Others say he acts like every other president doing what he said he would do. Others say he’s just doing his job and the other party is just mad because they didn’t win the seat.

With some assurance, I can tell you the truth is somewhere in between those extremes. We manage to view most events through a jaundiced lens and see things the way we want to see them despite the reality of the situation. Most of the time, our opinions are just that – opinions.

Arrogance is defined as having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities. Our opinions sometimes fit into that inflated sense of importance, our ability to think we know something a lot deeper or clearer than we do.

We can become arrogant in our thinking, our approach to others, our position in life, our jobs, in all kinds of ways. We can even become arrogant in our goodness. Jesus pointed out the Pharisee and the sinner praying in the temple and the arrogance of the Pharisee’s “righteousness.” God didn’t see him as righteous at all because of his pride and arrogance. He prayed to himself, not to God, as Jesus pointed out.

It’s a state of mind that creeps up and engulfs us so quickly. We can be proud of our humility if we’re not careful. Arrogance is one of those slippery characteristics that Satan wedges into our lives in the most benign ways that make us feel like we are anything but arrogant, yet those on the outside see it glaring its ugly head through us.

I’m reminded of that display of arrogance as Herod made his rash oath to his daughter at a feast. “I’ll give you anything you ask, up to half my kingdom.” What an arrogant boast in front of his royal, drunken friends. His wife set the trap, and his daughter asked for John’s head on a platter.

Arrogance cost Herod to act foolishly and then act even more foolishly by having that execution carried out. John had done nothing but spoken the truth to Herod and his ill-gotten wife, Herodias. His acts later cost him his life. He died of worms at the hand of an angel.

Then there is the subject of his execution, John the Baptist. Jesus describes him a little differently. John was in prison for his condemnation of Herod’s marriage. He had baptized his cousin, Jesus, but didn’t understand the delay in his redeeming Israel as he sat in prison. Here is the story from Matthew.

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.

What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:2-11 NIV)

It sounds like the description of a pretty humble guy. What does it mean to possess the character of humility? Well, it’s the opposite of arrogance. It’s having a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance. John knew he heralded the coming of the Messiah. He knew that was an important task. But John didn’t think himself a critical cog in the mechanism. He just did what he was supposed to do. God called John to preach repentance to those who would listen and to announce the coming of the Messiah. That’s what he did.

The people announced John’s greatness as a prophet. Those who flocked to him for repentance and baptism proclaimed his authority from God. The multitudes that came out of Jerusalem into the wilderness to meet him and listen to his preaching decided he had something important to say. John never put up billboards or handed out flyers or blasted the population with twitter feeds. He just humbly proclaimed the way of the Lord.

John’s message got him in trouble more than once. The Pharisees didn’t like him. They didn’t like the way he pointed his finger at them and accused them of hypocrisy. Herod didn’t want to hear John pointing out he and his wife’s adulterous marriage. Those that didn’t want to change their ways and turn to God didn’t enjoy John’s messages of repentance so much. But John stayed faithful to his mission, and humbly did what God asked him to do regardless of the price.

We’ve discussed arrogance, and its opposite humility, but why the word patience? Why would that word stick in my head this week? Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. I need that in San Antonio rush hour traffic. We all need that in our current political disaster. But why did the word stick with me concerning Advent?

I think the answer lies in the meaning of Advent. We wait for the Redeemer to return. All around us, we find arrogant men and women. We can sometimes find ourselves slipping into that mode if we are not careful. Jesus calls us to live a humble but courageous life among all these arrogant people. And like many in John’s day, we ask, “How long must we wait for your coming?”

He answers, “Be patient. Be ready, but be patient.”

You see, I think God wants us to work to share the good news diligently to as many as we can before he comes. He desires that all would be saved. Some will decide not to follow him, but all should have the opportunity to choose, and we are his ambassadors to share the message. So he says, “Be patient, be ready, and work until I come again. It won’t be long. It’s another day closer. Be patient.”

Enjoy this third week of Advent looking for his return.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Remember What Christmas is About, December 9, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Another mass shooting happened again this week. We can’t seem to get along very well. It appears the gunman didn’t know any of the victims. He just fired into the crowd indiscriminately. I don’t understand that mentality. I have a hard time wrapping my head around shooting someone for no reason.

I’m not against guns. That’s not the problem. We’ve been killing each other for a long time. It started with Cain. It wasn’t long until Lamech bragged about killing a man for wounding him. Violence seems inherent in us. We don’t like something, and rage begins to build in us if we don’t learn to control our emotions. It’s just that guns do more damage faster than other weapons. But clubs and knives and fists can and have been just as deadly. It’s about what’s inside the perpetrator that makes the difference.

Why do I bring this up in this second week of Advent? Because it reminds us Jesus came to do something remarkable for and in us. He brought hope to a hopeless generation. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome:

Everything that is in the holy writings was written to teach us. They give hope and strength when we have troubles. The holy writings comfort our hearts. God gives people power to take their troubles and he comforts their hearts. I ask him to help you to think the same way as Christ did. Then, together you will praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, accept one another, as Christ has accepted you. Then people will know that God is great…God gives hope. May he make you very happy. May he give you peace because you believe. Then the power of the Holy Spirit will give you much hope. (Romans 15:4-7, 13 (WE))

Instead of living with fear and hate and all the negative emotions that drive the actions we saw in that gunman, Jesus gives hope, peace, joy. He replaces what the world cannot provide with an abiding security that only comes from the presence of his spirit in us.

Advent usually brings just a touch of that spirit into the lives of more people as we walk the streets and see the bright lights, the glittering decorations, the smiles on faces expecting something special in the holidays. But why can’t we keep that spirit all year long? Why do we only find it when we approach Christmas? What causes us to lose that spirit once we tear the paper from the packages and finish the dinner on the table?

I think more and more; we lose sight of what the season really means. With the marketing starting so early, the Hallmark Christmas specials starting in July and continuing nonstop through Christmas, the bombardment of commercialism that strips away the story of that teenage mother-to-be making that journey to Bethlehem with her husband. We lose the story of the shepherds, the angels, the magi, the miracles that point to the incredible events that create this holiday season for us in the first place.

We have lost the wonder of Christmas because of our focus on money and material things. We have so much, yet every year we ask for more. We have to add one more thing to our collection of unused and discarded stuff that piles up in the closets and the garage. I write those words pointing at myself as I look at three keyboards on my desk, three monitors, two computers, and all the gadgets that make it all work.

Do I use all of it? At least some length of time during the week. Do I need all of it? Heavens no. When I travel, I get by just fine with my laptop and in fact, am using it to compile the podcast now. It holds the software to edit my audio. It links to all my files in the cloud. Do I need everything else? Nope, it’s all redundant — just more stuff.

I’m trying hard to get back to what is important, what is necessary. It’s not much, and the Christmas story helps us understand how little that might be. Mary and Joseph were outcasts. They offered the sacrifice of the poor for their firstborn son. They fled with what they could carry to escape Herod’s wrath. They returned to a bump in the road village called Nazareth, one of those towns you just didn’t want to live in if you could live anywhere else. It had one of those reputations.

It’s the story, though, of the King of kings. His story tells me he accepts the lowliest of men and women. We don’t have to wait until we have a certain level of respectability to come to him. He accepts us as we are. Jesus doesn’t care about riches or skills or talents. He cares about your heart. He wants your love and worship. Jesus wants you to embrace his teachings with all your whole being.

He summed up his teachings in two simple but not so easy commands. Love God and love others. That’s it. When we do, we won’t get trapped in the cycle the gunman did. We won’t harbor the rage that sends over the edge to do the unimaginable. Instead, we will extend God’s love to the unloveable. We will give generously to those in need. We will embrace a lost world in arms of forgiveness to show them there is hope and joy and peace waiting for them if they will give themselves to Christ.

In this second week of Advent, remember the hope that comes to us because of Jesus first coming. He brought peace and joy to the world. We continue our confidence in him because of his promise to return. Advent looks backward to what he did, and it looks forward to what is yet to come.

Enjoy this second week of Advent remembering him. Don’t lose the reason we celebrate. He is what Christmas is all about.

Scriptures marked WE are taken from THE JESUS BOOK – The Bible in Worldwide English (WE). Scriptures are taken from THE JESUS BOOK – The Bible in Worldwide English, Copyright © 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications, Derby, DE65 6BN, UK. Used by permission.

Look for Him, December 2, 2019

Leave a reply

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Can you believe Advent has begun? Well, actually, it’s not hard to believe it’s here given the number of months the Christmas trees and Black Friday sales have been beating us over the head. It seems the commercialization of the season gets earlier every year. I think I saw the first Christmas tree sale in June this year and the first mention of early Black Friday sales before Halloween.

So for some, Advent means all those commercials finally come to a screeching halt. Not really, because after Christmas, all the retailers try to get rid of their inventory before taxes come due. New Year’s sales bombard us just as vigorously as Black Friday sales, just not as long. But Advent for those retail clerks means the mad rush is slowing down a little.

For some, Advent means pockets fill because of those weeks of sales. Marketing reaches the highs of the year to get all the merchandise sold. It means long hours but with a substantial financial reward if all goes well. Owners like Advent for the boost in profits and the hope of a better bottom line when markets start a little sluggish or stagnate in the middle of the year.

But for Christians, Advent means something very different. It’s a time to remember a past event when God descended to earth to dwell among us in human flesh. Jesus lived with us, suffered all the things we suffer, worked, played, laughed, cried. He was human in every respect. Jesus was also God in every respect. God incarnate. Advent looks to the past at the incredible love God demonstrated by becoming like us.

Advent also looks to the future. It reminds us Jesus said he would return to take those who believe in him to live with him forever in a new creation, a new heaven and earth born from the destruction of this one. He told his followers to watch for his return. But Jesus did something some think peculiar. He didn’t tell them when he would return, just to be ready.

Jesus taught in parables most often because we remember stories so much better than we remember lectures. So his lessons come through the stories he told. Many of his parables deal with the warning to be ready for his coming. But He sometimes gave straightforward warnings about preparations for his return. One such warning appears in the lectionary for the First Sunday of Advent that starts the new Christian calendar year. It comes from Matthew chapter twenty-four:

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.

Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

It would be nice if God told us when he would come, but you know what would happen. In my travels around the world, I’ve found that people can and will do incredibly horrible things to each other. We see it here in the drug and sex trafficking. We see it through the news media every day as political parties attack each other just because they can. We seldom hear the whole truth anymore about any story. The story twists to what someone wants to persuade us to lean to their side. It’s easy to understand why Pilot asked Jesus, “What is truth?”

If God told us when he would return, we would be horribly evil and do terrible things against each other until a few hours before his return. Then the churches would be full. Altars would be lined with seekers asking forgiveness. Most of us would wait until the very last minute to try to squeak into heaven on God’s good graces.

God doesn’t want us to squeak by. He wants us to worship him because he is God. He wants us to love him because he is love. God wants us to serve him because of the sacrifice he made for us out of his love for us. God wants us to understand who he is and so give ourselves as a living sacrifice to him so that others will know him.

God wants us to demonstrate every day the love he has for the world by loving others the way he demonstrates his love for us. Jesus told us all the Father’s authority rests in him. Then he told us all the commandments can be summarized in just two. The first, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. But before anyone could question him about that one, he said the second commandment is like the first. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Those are the two commandments Jesus told us to follow. Love God and love others. And he told us you can’t love an invisible God if you can’t love the visible people around you. Then he showed us what love looks like by allowing himself to be arrested unjustly tried and executed in a manner reserved for the worst offenders of the law. Laws he never broke.

Even the laws the Pharisees said he broke concerning the Sabbath, when you read them carefully, Jesus only spoke most of the time. He told the man to stretch out his hand. He told the man to stand and walk. He told the woman she was healed. Most of his Sabbath healings, he just spoke. Even those in which he did something physical were not so dramatic physically that they violated the law. He spit on the ground and made mud. He touched a man’s ears. He touched a man’s eyes. Nothing worthy of the charges brought against him.

Even the charge of blasphemy for which the council finally found a reason to crucify him in their mock trial. Jesus never said the words for which he was convicted. As you read the transcript, you’ll find the chief priest asked the question, “Are you the Messiah?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am.” Is that Jesus confirming the truth or the high priest confirming the truth of his claims? Who is guilty here? So Jesus never broke any of the laws of Moses. Still, he was crucified based on those laws.

The real reason for his death? The council proclaimed it. If Jesus kept doing the things he did, people would believe him and follow him. The Romans would come and take away their place of power and their nation. They envied his position as Messiah, the Savior of God’s people.

Jesus is coming back. We will stand on the side of those who believe in him for eternal life, followers of his way of life. Or we will stand with Pharisees and Sadducees, envious of his power and position as God. It’s been that way since Satan tempted Adam and Eve with what they thought was the opportunity to be like God. They were not; we are not.

There is only one God. He came to live with us. He died for us. He promised to live in us. We celebrate Advent because of that promise and his promise to return to take us with him forever. Look for him in all you do in celebrating this year.

Who Gets the Praise this Year? November 25, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The focus of the lectionary readings for this week didn’t seem to fit the Thanksgiving season very well as we think of it in the United States. We gear up for the big meal with family followed by the football game complete with all the Black Friday advertisements. Then the enormous Christmas season.

Commercialization has taken over what use to be a time of joy and merriment. Now we rush around trying to find the same marvelous gift that is a must-have for every child if a parent wants to be a model parent. Of course, the stores sold out of that must-have present six months ago, but that’s not the point. We have to get that perfect present to make Johnny happy. We rush around doing too much. Decorating too much. Expecting too much of our families when they come home. We expect Christmas to meet our perfect 1950’s Donna Reed Show expectations. Then we show our disappointment when they don’t.

When you stop to think about it, though. Christmas isn’t about all that stuff. In fact, Christmas isn’t even about Jesus’ birth. If that were all that happened, we wouldn’t be celebrating. We would recognize a nice man who did some good things, taught a little and died.

But something happened that blew the socks off the disciples and caused them to give their lives for this man. They understood him to be God incarnate. It wasn’t because of some magic tricks. There were plenty of sorcerers and magicians in their day that fooled the people with magic tricks.

They didn’t willingly give up their lives because Jesus had nice words to say. He didn’t. He proclaimed things that got all of them in trouble with the establishment, both religious and government. He said things like, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” That won’t win you any friends at the dinner table.

Those men and women followed Jesus because they believed he rose from the dead. Not just a ghost or a vision they thought they saw. They knew he rose bodily from the tomb. They talked to him. They ate with him. They touched his flesh. They couldn’t explain how he appeared behind locked doors, but it was Jesus, their leader, their Rabbi, their Messiah. The one just a few days earlier they had seen beaten to the point of death, forced to carry his cross to Golgotha, hung there to die, stabbed with a spear, laid in a tomb bloodied, beaten and bruised, dead. But now, alive.

So Paul could write to the congregation that met at Colossae and encourage them with these words.

“May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his [Jesus] glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Where does this encouragement come from? The first Easter. The first resurrection. Jesus burst from the tomb, conquering death. He proved his ability to win over the grave and so his ability to forgive sin. He bought our redemption. The old sacrificial system disappeared with his perfect sacrifice. He paid for our sins, so we no longer need to wallow in guilt that comes from disobedience to the God who created us.

Paul goes on to say, ” He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

The resurrection empowered Jesus’ followers to do extraordinary things because they knew he was only the first of many to come. The promise of the New Covenant said those who believed in him would not die but have everlasting life. A resurrection day gives us assurance of a new life. Jesus rose, and all who believe will be raised with him. Courage comes from that belief.

What can you risk when you know you cannot die? What can you give up when you know life does not end here? What can you do for God when you know nothing can really harm you? With God on board, you truly are invincible.

Death in this life is a transition for those who believe in him. The criminal on the cross beside him found forgiveness and found himself in paradise. The resurrection is real. Thousands upon thousands gave their lives because they knew the truth of the resurrection.

So, what should Thanksgiving and Christmas and our holidays focus on each time we celebrate? Not gifts or food or trying to impress family and friends. But remember the fact of the resurrection. Remembering Jesus changed the world as the first to show the grave can not hold those who live in him. Remembering there is more to this world than what the world wants you to believe. Jesus told those who would listen, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

What did he mean? Open your eyes. Look around. See God in the world around you. Help others see God by loving them into his kingdom. John said, “God is love.” Jesus said, “They will know you are mine if you love each other.” He also said, “You cannot love God whom you cannot see if you cannot love your neighbor who you can see.”

Those are sobering thoughts as we already begin the bombardment by the politicians for next year’s election here in the United States. The other party is not the enemy. The other country is not the enemy. The other race is not the enemy. God made us all.

Jesus said, “Love your neighbor.”

What does that look like? 2000 years ago, a man with the Hebrew name Joshua, translated Jesus in Greek, was nailed to a rough wooden cross and lifted up to have it slammed into the ground. He hung there most of the day. At last, he said, “It is finished.” And he died, much faster than anyone expected. When he did, the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple split in two. The earth shook. Darkness fell over the land for three hours, far too long for an eclipse. Love looks like a cross.

Remember that cross as you begin preparations for the holidays this year. Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, New Year, all the holidays that jam our calendars over the next few weeks are meaningless without Jesus. Let’s stop and give Him thanks for what he has done. He does deserve it, after all.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scriptures taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Get to Work, November 18, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

In college, I worked for a moving company to make a few extra dollars in the summer. This particular company also stored tires for one of the tire companies in Nashville, and every few weeks, they were delivered to the warehouse in railroad boxcars. Because the task only happened occasionally, the company hired day laborers to help unload the cars rather than lose furniture moving business by using their permanent employees. Of course, someone had to oversee the operation, and I often became the stuckee as the sort of permanent employee, since I worked as often as I could, but not really permanent.

The boxcars would have about 500 tires each, and usually, we would unload two and sometimes three with each delivery. The mix of tires included car, truck, and tractor tires of all sizes weighing from tiny 10-pound boat trailer tires to giant 300-pound tires six feet tall. I don’t know if you’ve ever worked inside a railroad boxcar in the middle of summer, but imagine standing in an oven covered in rubber dust and someone gradually turning the temperature up while you worked. It reminded me of living in Hanzel and Gretel, living in the witch’s cottage. Good stuff was in the oven, but boy was it hot in there.

We would unload the first 75 or 80 tires laughing and joking. I’d get to know the day-laborers and learn a little about their families. But after a 150 or so, most quit talking. By the mid-morning break, I only heard grumbling and complaining about the work they agreed to do. In all the years I worked at that company unloading those boxcars with day-laborers, I only had one that didn’t disappear at lunch. Every other worker headed to the office at lunch to draw a half day’s wages with some excuse about needing to leave.

The rest of the day’s task of unloading the boxcars fell to me. The joy of all joys! Whenever I entertained any thought that college was hard, I remembered those boxcars and drove on. Even now, if I think something is hard, I remember those days and know there are tougher things out there, and I can make it through whatever I’m trying to do. That was brutal work.

Why do I bring up that story today? It has to do with the lectionary scripture from this week. Paul wrote in his second letter to the church in Thessalonica some words that strike a cord to a large section of society today. As we try to find early retirement, four-day workweeks, more pay for less work, we should listen to Paul. Here is what he says:

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

Am I saying we should have no leisure time? That’s not what I’m saying. We need leisure time, too. But we have become a society that seeks time, money, things, pleasures, everything for “me” without thought for anything or anyone else. We want pay without effort. We want reward with earning it. We expect things given to us without giving in return.

A 2017 Department of Labor study showed that US employees spend an average of eight hours a week checking personal email, social media, online shopping, or other non-productive time on the internet. That eight hours a week amounts to $15 billion of productivity a week stolen from their employees for which they are being paid to work.^[1] We can laugh it off and say, “They can afford it. I work hard enough for them. I bring in profits for them.”

That’s not the point. If we call ourselves Christian, I think it means we should work as if we work for Jesus. Would we steal time from him? I guess too many do today when we look at the number who come together to worship when we are admonished to worship together. Would we steal wages from him? I guess we would since we fail to “give to God what is God’s” as he directs.

The point is: we become so self-centered we forget it isn’t about us but God. We get the false idea that the things around us, the things found in our house or apartment belong to us. We think we own them. We really don’t.

First, if you pay a mortgage, you don’t own the property at all. The bank does. If you pay rent, the landlord owns the place in which you live. So, frankly, the vast majority of the people who hear these words do not own the home where you lay your head; someone else owns it. You just use it at their pleasure.

Yes, you have a piece of paper that gives you some legal rights, but how good is that piece of paper? It depends on how good the judicial system stands. I just read the history of the Mongols conquest of the Middle East in the Middle Ages. When they swept through a city, they killed every man, woman, and child in the city. It’s why Christianity disappeared in Asia Minor.

Remember all those missionary journeys Paul took, Antioch, Ephesus, Lystra, and all those other cities in Asia Minor? What happened to all those churches? Where did all those people go? The earliest leaders didn’t go to Rome; they went to the cities in Asia Minor. But then the Ghingus Kahn hordes came through.

How good were the contracts, treaties, legal papers established between the Christians, about 40 million in Asia Minor at the time, and the khans? Not worth much when a sword swept through your neck. The Christians lost everything, including their lives. The contracts they had with the communities they lived in didn’t mean much. Their property disappeared anyway. They died anyway.

Second, the old saying, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” is more accurate than many give it credit. Work keeps the mind focused on things that add value to the community. Idleness provides the mind with the opportunity to wander into those areas Jesus warned about in his sermon on the mount, hatred, lust, envy, those base emotions that get us in so much trouble and lead us to actions that we almost always regret later.

Third, work brings fatigue at the end of the day, so we rest better. Rest is important. It’s when our body recovers and repairs itself. But when we do nothing, when we are idle most of the time, we become restless. Our mind wanders through the night, and it becomes difficult to sleep. When we use our bodies and minds in physical and mental labor throughout the day, we can rest better and so rejuvenate our bodies for the next day.

Can we overdo work and sleep? Yes. Anything and everything can be overdone, but I see fewer in our country overworked as we search for more and more leisure in our culture. Do I long for the old days of unloading boxcars of tires? No, I don’t think I could even physically do that today. But I do think we need to remember our work is unto the Lord and give a good days work for the pay we receive and never be one of those bending the statistics that take $15 billion of revenue from the pockets of our employers using our cellphones at work eight hours a week. It’s not the boss watching what we do; it’s God.

^[1] Gregory Bresiger, “This is how much time employees spend slacking off, 2017, https://nypost.com/2017/07/29/this-is-how-much-time-employees-spend-slacking-off/ (accessed Nov 8, 20

An Argument Worth Winning, November 11, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Have you ever gotten yourself into one of those debates you never wish you’d entered? One you know there was nothing you could do but dig a deeper hole for yourself? You know the kind. Sometimes they involve politics or science or family or religion or a host of other topics, but there is just no way out and absolutely no winning.

In those debates, facts are fuzzy at best. No one has the real scoop because no one was around when events took place or like traffic accidents, everyone there saw the event from a different angle and so saw the crash just a little differently. It’s like standing on the other side of the word mom. From one side it says MOM, from the other it says WOW. Who is right? Both maybe. But not really, because the person who wrote the word in the first place is the right one.

After the fact, when the author is gone, and we happen on the word years later with no context, we wouldn’t know who is right. Either of us could walk up to the word and debate all day long about whether it says MOM or WOW and never know until some other intervention brings light to the events that happened that day that caused the writing and how the author penned it into the medium onto which we stare.

That’s how a lot of debates happen with scripture. We weren’t there when authors put words down. Jesus said things we don’t understand. He debated concepts from the old covenant with the scholars of his day that they didn’t understand and wouldn’t accept what he said. But Jesus spoke with authority because he knew facts they didn’t. He saw things from a different perspective. But Jesus’ view was infallible because he was there from the beginning. He was part of the inspiration process for the words in the first place.

Luke records one such debate in chapter 20 of his first book to Theophilus we call the gospel of Luke. Here is what he wrote.

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” (NIV)

The debate between the Sadducees and the Pharisees stayed heated over the topic of the resurrection. The Pharisees believed in a final resurrection of the dead; the Sadducees did not. The Sadducees based their beliefs only on the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, the Books of the Law. The Torah doesn’t mention the resurrection, so obviously, it must not exist according to the Sadducees.

The Pharisees accept the entirety of the Law and Prophets as inspired scripture in which the resurrection can be found and so believe in it. The debates became heated to the point fistfights broke out in the council at times. Amazingly enough, the two groups joined together to try to trap Jesus in his words to condemn him in his teaching. And on this day, the Sadducees took their turn at trying to trap Jesus with their questions.

Let’s use Moses’ rules about marriage to trap Jesus in his teaching about the resurrection. If people rise from the dead, what brother of seven, married to the same woman, will be her husband?

In our Christian faith today, we think this a stupid question. But think about the impact of the answer when first presented. First, the debate over a final resurrection raged within the temple, and the people just listened with no real answer. There might exist some hope of such, but the prevailing thought at the time said that when you died, you went to Sheol, the place of the dead. You existed, but it wasn’t a happy place. Sheol represented all that is anti-life; a place of silence where there is no praise of God; a place where God’s presence is not felt. ^[1]

The Sadducees thought that was the end. You headed to Sheol and stayed. There might be a difference between the righteous and wicked in their experiences in Sheol, but that was the final resting place for everyone. The Pharisees, however, thought Yahweh, Jehovah, would rescue the righteous from Sheol at the judgment. The righteous dead would experience a bodily resurrection from the dead at the end of time.

Jesus ended all debate about the resurrection for all time. First, he answered the Sadducees by pointing out their ignorance about the topic. He pointed out the fact of the resurrection but significantly changed from the current thought of what it meant. The resurrected no longer tied themselves to the Mosaic law but operated under the laws God set, more like the angels in heaven.

Second, he often talked about his own death and resurrection. His disciples and others who heard him didn’t understand at the time but remembered after they found his tomb empty on that first Easter morning. Jesus consistently announced the fact of his resurrection as the first event of many to come. A bodily rising from the dead in a form recognizable to all who saw him.

Third, it happened. Jesus, Paul says, became the first fruits of the resurrection. God ordained a day on which Jesus will return to take with him all those who believe in him for salvation. Paul tells us all the dead will rise first, then we who are left will be taken up with them in the air. I’m not sure I understand what that will look like except that the disciples saw a bodily resurrected Jesus appear with them behind a locked door. He walked with two men on their way to Emmaus and ate with them. More than five hundred people saw him after his resurrection in a physical form that defies what we know about physics.

Jesus demonstrated what those resurrected bodies could do. We don’t understand it. Many couldn’t believe it then and don’t believe it now. But his resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith. If Jesus did not come out of that tomb on that Sunday morning, the disciples would have abandoned the message. The Jewish Council and the Romans would have branded Jesus one more renegade, trying to overthrow the status quo. We would still stand condemned in our sins.

But the resurrection is real. Jesus did it. We believe. He forgives. We have hope in him. Those who believe will live with him forever in resurrected bodies like his resurrected body.

Read about him. Hope in him. Believe in him. And live.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

[1] Sheol: The Abode of the Dead: A Study of the Imagery of Sheol (שְׁאוֹל ) in the Book of Psalms, BIBSPACES: ‘Moving in Christ,’ https://bibspaces.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/sheol-the-abode-of-the-dead-a-study-of-the-imagery-of-sheol-שְ%D7%81או%D6%B9ל-in-the-book-of-psalms/

Love the Underdog, November 4, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I like stories where the underdog wins. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been much of an athlete. In Junior High, I tried out for the football team and discovered with my size at the time, pain and I didn’t work well together. I was a cornerback, and everyone who came at me weighed at least 30 pounds more than me. I saw a lot of blue skies that year while lying on my back. Did I tell you I’m not fond of pain? This business of no pain, no gain, just doesn’t work for me. It seems pain is there to tell us something is wrong. We might be doing something stupid and need to stop.

I like it when the underdog wins. Whether in sports, business, or life. It’s good to see the guy you least expect to come out on top do just that occasionally. It helps us to know there is hope that any of us can make it. Underdog stories give us the energy and enthusiasm to keep on going when things look kind of bleak. They give us courage when we want to back away from some seemingly insurmountable obstacle in our path.

We find an underdog story told by Luke from some eyewitnesses that saw Jesus come to Jericho. In chapter 19 of the writings in his name, he shares the account in this way.

He [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”

So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”

Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

Zacchaeus would be called an underdog. No doubt about it. First, he was short. So short, he couldn’t see over the heads of the crowds gathered along the road, waiting to see Jesus. That meant he must find a way to maneuver through the mass or find a higher vantage point. Otherwise, the preacher everyone talked about would pass by without Zacchaeus seeing him.

Second, Zacchaeus held one of the most hated occupations in Israel. He collected taxes for Rome from his own people. And how did he earn his wages? From the taxes he collected. Zacchaeus added a little more to each Form 1040 to make sure he could pay his mortgage each month. Everyone knew the game. Tax collectors lived on the excess the received above that which Rome required. And that leads to the third problem for Zacchaeus.

The man was rich. In ancient times, Israel did reasonably well economically. Like any city, Jericho had its slums, its middle-class, and its wealthy. I picture Luke, a physician, one of the higher class in both our day and his, knew what rich looked like. Zacchaeus may have been Jericho’s poster child for the wealthy.

That meant no one was going to let him through. He would not push his way past that mob to see the man called Jesus. He’d have to find another way. So he did. Luke tells us he ran down the road and found a tree to climb. Picture in your mind this middle-aged man in flowing robes running down the street, kicking off his sandals, and climbing a tree. Zacchaeus probably put on a few extra pounds since buying food wouldn’t be a problem for him. So watch him in your mind’s eye pulling his rotund body up those limbs to find the right spot where the branches wouldn’t sag too far, but he’d get a good view of this miracle man.

Then imagine the surprise when Jesus stops under the tree. I expect most thought Jesus would ridicule this thief among them. He stole their money and gave it to their oppressors. They knew Jesus was about to let Zacchaeus have it. He preached righteousness and holiness, after all.

But that’s not what Jesus did. Luke says, “When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.'”

Stay at the house of the tax collector? Spend time with this thief? Make friends with someone who has tried his best to steal us blind through the years? Surely, not! But Jesus did. The crowd didn’t applaud Jesus’ action. They grumbled and complained. Why would the Prophet, the Teacher, the Rabbi, the Son of God, go to the house of a sinner? Why would he dirty himself by even being in this tax collector’s presence? They were not happy. Zacchaeus was. Jesus was. The underdog won.

But the day turned in a rather strange way. After spending time with Jesus, the tax collector changed. He saw people the way Jesus saw people. Zacchaeus’ focus shifted. Remember what happened? Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

Zacchaeus didn’t think about what it might cost. He didn’t pull out his calculator to see if he would still be rich or if his plan would put him in the poorhouse. He just did it. We’re not told, but I expect Zacchaeus carried through with his promise. Meeting Jesus will do that to you.

Then Jesus says an interesting thing that you might not have caught before. Listen again. Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

Did you get it? Salvation came through living out the commands Jesus gave us. There are only two. Love God and love your neighbor. Then Jesus told his disciples to make more like themselves. Teach them to love God and love their neighbors. Let them see faith demonstrated through love as James and Paul and Peter tell us. Zacchaeus did it and found salvation.

We can find salvation, too.

We forget about that horizontal beam of the cross, but Jesus says it’s as important as the vertical one. He says you can’t love God whom you can’t see if you don’t love those around you that you can see. Paul’s letters and the other epistles tell us the same thing. Love other people and give us some examples of how to do that. Then, like Zacchaeus, we can find salvation. It’s not about a works-based faith, but as James says and as Paul says, faith without works is no faith. Expressing your faith through your behavior driven by the love of Christ in you demonstrates your faith.

We need more of that demonstrated faith in our world today. We see plenty of hate and vengeance and revenge. What we need to see is love demonstrated – a cup of water for a thirsty child, a blanket for a cold and homeless woman, a small meal for a hungry man on the street. We need to show we love God by loving those around us who appear so unlovable.

That’s what Jesus did, and that’s what he calls us to do. Just love – with our actions. Be Jesus to the world around us. Now go and do what he said.

Don’t you hate evaluations? October 28, 2019

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I remember throughout my military career going through my calendars searching for those events that would help me remember things I had done that I could list as accomplishments for my efficiency reports. I was never very good at keeping diaries or journals then. I’m hit and miss now when it comes to what I’ve done. But I would go through my calendars of ToDo lists and try to figure out what might appeal to promotion boards or schools or other entities that used those reports for different considerations.

I hated the process then, and I hate the process now. I’m delighted to be mostly retired and not have to worry about those reports anymore. Except I do. Every time I travel to another installation to help in the training of a medical unit, which I do part-time, now, I end up searching through those ToDo lists finding the good and the bad to create the reports that go to the clients I serve and the men and women who hire me.

It seems we never get away from evaluations. All through life, we find ourselves evaluated on something. Someone has something to say about our performance, our behavior, our personality, our wealth, our mood, something. No one is left alone without some evaluation. We all face the music, and we all probably dislike it to some degree or another.

Evaluations can be useful, though. They help us learn our weaknesses and give us opportunities to improve in areas we might not see in ourselves. They help us understand better the desires and directions our boss wants us to go instead of traveling in our own sometimes misguided ways. Evaluations can inform us in many ways if we let them.

Jesus gave such an evaluation in a parable. A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. I sometimes wonder if Jesus’ simple stories were really stories or real events with unidentified people to protect the names of the guilty. Many of them are so true to life. I can visualize them happening then or today in our society.

Today, the one, in particular, I’m thinking of comes from the eyewitnesses Luke heard from recorded in chapter 18 of the gospel by his name. It goes like this:

18:9 He [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (NIV)

Jesus draws an interesting comparison between the two. He talks about both of their prayers. The Pharisee tells God, “I’ve kept most of the 612 laws we’ve put on the backs of your people.” If Jesus had told the story with the whole prayer, the Pharisee would probably list 600 of those 612 laws he had not broken. He was a ninety-eight percenter — top two percent of his class.

The prayer did not impress the Father according to his Son.

If I could paraphrase Jesus a little in debriefing the Pharisee after the long-winded prayer he probably gave, Jesus might have said something like, ” Hey, bud. You’re right. You’re a two-percenter, but you got the position wrong. The Father put you at the bottom two percent, not the top. I hope you enjoyed listening to that beautiful oration you gave yourself because it got no farther than your own ears, according to the Father. And I should know, we’re on pretty good speaking terms. Oh, and by the way, he gave me the grade book, and I say you just flunked the course. Sorry about that.”

The tax collector, on the other hand, couldn’t say he got anything right. He just knew he needed help if he had any chance at redeeming his filthy, sin-ridden soul. He recognized where he stood before God. The tax collector understood that no matter how good he tried to be, God was so much better, and we are so far from true righteousness that our only hope lies in his mercy. So he pleads for it.

Who gets the crown in the end? The guy the Pharisee never expected. The one who broke all the rules. The tax collector who couldn’t even lift his face off the floor because he felt so unworthy to even be in God’s temple.

But aren’t the rules important? When you’re a toddler and mom has to tell you to keep your hands away from the stove, or you’ll get burned, the rules are important. When dad says, “Don’t play in the street, you’ll get run over.” Rules are important. But Jesus summed up those 612 laws that crushed God’s people in two simple commands. He told us to listen to him. All authority rests in him, not in the Mosaic Law. So do the two things he said to do. What are his two rules? Love God and love others with everything you’ve got.

If we could just catch his message and do those two things as his followers, what a difference we could make in the world. Oh, and that love others part, that means everyone. He said to go into all the world. I think that covers all races, all nations, all religions, all political parties, all. We are to love all. Do we have to agree with them? No, Jesus didn’t, either. But he loved them. And as people saw the love in his heart and the love in his disciples, they wanted what they saw. It changed the world. What happened to us? We started hating this group or that group. We began demanding people follow our rules. We wanted everyone to act and talk and look like us instead of loving people and letting God handle the rest.

Sounds rather like that Pharisee’s prayer, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s about time we who call ourselves Christian look in the mirror and ask ourselves, “Do I love others the way Jesus loves me?” If not, I have some work to do – on my knees.

Time to Teach, October 21, 20190

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I learned early in my military career that one of my responsibilities was to train my replacement. Eventually, I would leave my position through transfer, promotion, or at some point, everyone departs the service. If I failed to train someone to take my place, the service would suffer, and soldiers would suffer. Not that I was indispensable or anyone else was, but we had a responsibility to make sure none of us were by ensuring we had someone ready in the wings to take our place.

Paul knew the importance of doing the same as he embarked on his missionary journeys. So he groomed Timothy and Titus to take his place in the early churches he formed in his mission work. He knew he would need a replacement at some point, and the way things had been going for him, that time would probably come sooner rather than later. He’d been shipwrecked, beaten, stoned, run out of town, and imprisoned. He knew his days were numbered. So, while in prison, Paul penned instructions to his two proteges.

My instructions to the officers that came behind me centered on how to treat soldiers, how to make decisions, how to carry out the tasks given by higher commands, how to determine priorities of work with limited resources. Some of the training I provided to those who would come after me in the service I hoped would save lives on future battlefields, and as I’ve heard from some of them and read accounts of current conflicts, I think some of those lessons paid off.

Most of the training I passed on didn’t make it into documents that I expect to survive for centuries, though. In fact, if they last another decade, I will be astonished. Those bits of knowledge will last a season and be gone. Some will trickle down another generation, maybe two, but then warfare will change, tactics and doctrine will evolve, and the lessons passed on thirty years ago will seem pretty meaningless to anyone who might care to hear about them in another generation.

But Paul’s words to Timothy are a completely different story. We read them, memorize them, absorb them into our being. We do so because we understand the depth and truth of his words. He writes these words to Timothy in the second letter addressed to him in the New Testament:

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17)(NIV)

We know from these few sentences, Timothy was a student of God’s Word. He learned from his mother, Lois. He studied from Paul. He poured through the scriptures personally to discover all he could about the God he served and loved. What we often forget as we read these words from Paul, is that the “scriptures able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” did not include any from our New Testament. That should cause us to give pause to any who might discount the Old Testament as unimportant to the Christian life or its statutes as ancient and no longer applicable to modern society.

What can scriptures do for us? Timothy knew, and Paul reminds him. They teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness. And why are those attributes important to followers of Jesus? Because he gave us a mission. He told us to go and make disciples. Teaching them all the things others taught us in his name. How can followers of Jesus share knowledge if no one shared with them in the first place? It goes back to what I learned as a new Army officer. I need to start preparing my replacement. If I don’t, there may not be a replacement when one is required.

Have you thought about that in your Christian walk? What if you were the only link to carrying the message of Christ to the next generation? How well has your replacement learned to place his or her trust in God based on what you taught? Is the next generation of disciples ready to pass on what you know because you taught them well?

The next words from Paul often used to provide the charge to ministers really apply to all of us who follow Christ. Jesus didn’t differentiate between any of those gathered on the mountain when he gave the command to go and make disciples. He told all of them the same thing. What Paul told Timothy, reminds me of the importance of my role in sharing what I learned from others. Paul continues his letter with these words:

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)(NIV)

It tells me that whenever I have the opportunity, I must be prepared to correct, rebuke, encourage, teach with great patience and careful instruction. The time when people will not want to hear sound doctrine came a long time ago. They didn’t want to hear it from Timothy or Paul or even Jesus. With all we see around us, those statements could not be any more accurate today. People run to what they want to hear instead of the hard truth of God’s Word.

Ignoring the truth in his word does not fix our sin problem, though, any more than ignoring cancer will repair those runaway cells in our body. We must do something about the disease. When we find out about cancer, we go to the oncologist and seek a cure. When we find out about sin, if we are to find release and relief, we must go to God and seek a cure. Listen to Paul. Do the work God calls each of us to do in reproducing disciples through sharing what others entrusted to us. It’s how God’s kingdom grows. It’s plan A and surprisingly, he never developed plan B. It’s up to you and me to make it happen.