David Bahn – Reflections

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Deuteronomy 5:21 NIV

Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Romans 13:10

We have a set of policies which proscribe the things which are unacceptable and to which I am accountable as Senior Pastor at St. John. They include financial constraints, staff and operational limits, and other Senior Pastor Limitations within which I am obligated to function, and for which I must answer if we are out of compliance to those standards. They are written purposefully in the negative.

The senior pastor shall not allow …

The senior pastor shall not require…

The senior pastor shall not fail to…

Some have thought that these policies ought to be written in the positive. The senior pastor shall… The senior pastor must…, etc. While it sounds nice, it’s really much more of a straightjacket than it might seem. To proscribe something means there are many things I am allowed to do. I can function however seems best as long as I don’t run afoul of the restricted behaviors.

So too, with God’s word. We are not to covet our neighbor’s wife, [husband], servants, etc., etc., etc. That means we are free to engage in other behaviors (which are not also proscribed in the 10 Commandments). There are many things we are free to do that do not involve coveting our neighbor’s spouse, or harming our neighbor.

The list is endless. We may and should help and befriend our neighbor. We should seek his or her good. We should encourage, love, protect, and bless our neighbor. There are a thousand ways to do those things as well.

Do not overlook, however, the key word in both of these passages: “neighbor.” That means the person next door. It means the person in need we see along the way to work, or coming home from the gym. It means we recognize that God has seen fit to provide blessings to our neighbors that may be better or more obviously good (I am not speaking here of one’s spouse!). Our neighbors may drive a better car, have a cooler home entertainment system, better backyard oasis, pool, vacation home, or 401k plan.

Our calling toward our neighbor is to do no harm, and more: we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Even that command may be obeyed in a multitude of ways. The key, in the end, is neighbor. We cannot love people in the abstract. Our love for our neighbor is an extension of God’s love for our neighbor. The way we treat our neighbor is a reflection of how we see God’s value and care toward our neighbor.

It’s really easy to befriend, care for, and bless people in far away places. That’s a good thing to do. But it is vital that we do not walk past and ignore our neighbor who is in need in order to get to someone far away. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. That might be reframed to say, “Love does not fail to care for one’s neighbor.” That’s what neighboring is all about.

Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” Genesis 28:16

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 2 Corinthians 6:2

The movie Awakenings is a fascinating look at a group of patients in a catatonic state in a Bronx hospital. Wikipedia provides this summary:

Awakenings tells the story of Malcolm Sayer, who, in 1969, discovers beneficial effects of the drug L-Dopa. He administers it to these patients who survived the 1917–28 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. Leonard Lowe and the rest of the patients are awakened after decades and have to deal with a new life in a new time.

While Sayer and the hospital staff are thrilled by the success of L-Dopa with this group of patients, they soon find that it is a temporary measure. As the first to “awaken”, Leonard is also the first to demonstrate the limited duration of this period of “awakening”. Leonard’s tics grow more and more prominent and he starts to shuffle more as he walks, and all of the patients are forced to witness what will eventually happen to them.

The L-Dopa induced awakenings were only temporary, although the impact was redemptive on several levels. L-Dopa provided only temporary relief.

Jacob’s awakening from his dream of wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, is a literal awakening from sleep, together with a spiritual awakening to the presence of God. The impact from that awakening is much more far-reaching.

Once we are awakened to God’s presence, goodness, power, grace, forgiveness, and salvation, life changes. Forever. When God’s Holy Spirit quickens our hearts to realize this, we become eternally alive. We are then alive to God’s love for us and all people. We are inspired and empowered to love God first, and our neighbor as ourselves. This is the truest and most permanent awakening – one to which we should all aspire.

When shall we do this? When shall we awaken to God’s presence, power, faithfulness, goodness, love, and salvation? Now. Today. This is the time for he truest and most profound awakening. For the dedicated Christian this is an everyday experience.

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. Then I acknowledged my sin to you. Psalm 32:3,4,5 NASB

Jesus said, “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10

David had a secret and it was eating him alive. He had committed adultery with Bathsheba, gotten her pregnant, then tried to cover it up. But his cover-up plan failed so he had to have Bathsheba’s husband killed. Then he took her as his wife. But his sin was gnawing at his heart and would not let his conscience rest.

It is interesting that David omits how it was that he came to acknowledge his sin. It wasn’t by his own will, or a decision he made because he was wasting away. If you know the story, you know that it took a very brave prophet – Nathan – to confront him and show him the depth of his sin. Once he was convicted he confessed. That he does not include in these passages from Psalm 32.

Whether that is prideful self-image preservation, or simply not necessary to David’s psalm of repentance and forgiveness is not clear.That David, when confronted by Nathan, realized more deeply and profoundly his sin, confessed it and wrote the words of Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 is much more clear. We are blessed by these words.

What does it take to get you to repent of your sin? What opens your eyes to the depth of your guilt, and your need for God’s mercy, forgiveness, and healing grace? Sometimes a friend will help you see your wrong. Sometimes a word of Scripture will stop you in your tracks. Perhaps you are brought to an awareness of the pain you’ve caused others simply by reflecting on your life in personal reflection and self-examination.

Whatever it takes, however, do not delay to acknowledge your sin. If it’s crawling around in your conscience, God is calling you to himself. Admitting your sin is not a sign of weakness. Far from it; it’s a sign of the Holy Spirit’s work, and the gift of faith he offers. We all need that – whether it comes at the challenging confrontation of a personal Nathan, or in the quiet of the night by God’s Spirit refusing to let you sleep because you need to come clean and find mercy, grace, peace, forgiveness and healing for your soul. When you confess God forgives. Then comes the joy in heaven!

The Lord is a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. Joel 3:16

We who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us. We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. Hebrews 6:18-19 GNT

Diane and I were married at the Chapel of Hope at Southeast Missouri State University in my hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The chapel had a beautiful cross in the front in the shape of an anchor with the text from Hebrews 6 carved into the wood. “Hope,” says the writer of Hebrews, “is an anchor for the soul.”

Morgan Freedman’s character in the movie Shawshank Redemption would disagree. “Hope! Hope is a dangerous thing,” he says. In effect, don’t get your hopes up. Don’t allow yourself to look too forward to anything good. Keep your expectations low. Don’t hope for much. It’s good disappointment insurance, but it’s also a recipe for a flat and lackluster life.

Hope anchors our souls. It keeps us from crashing in hopeless despair. It prevents us from getting too close to the rocks of mediocrity. It enlivens our hearts. Solomon says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12). Take away hope and you will plod through life as an automaton. That’s not life.

Hope pursued, however, can be dangerous. That’s why God not only gives us hope, but also provides safety and security in his care and keeping. For sometimes our hopes are not immediately realized. Sometimes we must face disappointment and deal with discouragement. God welcomes us in those times, and gives us a stronghold of safety and security.

Your hope may be for children or grandchildren one day. You may hope to become debt free. A new job may be the focus of your hope. A major vacation or bucket list trip may pull you forward. Those are all good things. But God’s offer is for a hope based in an eternity of bliss and joy, life and salvation. That is not to minimize your earthly hopes and dreams.

Perhaps, however, we may need to remember that the very best hopes we may have which we may even realize are but a dim reflection of the hope that will be fulfilled that is centered in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and coming on the Great Last Day. Christian hope anchors us to that eventuality, and encourages us to move through life expectantly.

Hope: Hold On Pray Expectantly!

Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love. Psalm 31:16

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Luke 1:46-48

You may know the song, “Good morning to you…we’re all in our places with bright shining faces.” I’m wondering if the song was designed to require a good attitude on the part of the children who sang it at the opening of the school day. I seriously doubt it would be required singing in any school today.

As I write this I sport anything but a bright shiny face. It’s Ash Wednesday afternoon, and I wear an ashen cross on my forehead. Sometimes I forget it’s there, but I’m sure that even when I forget it, others notice. I doubt that many would call mine a bright shiny face under these circumstances. The ashes were imposed by my colleague with the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.” Again, not a cause for a bright shiny face.

Consider God’s response to a lowly and humble attitude. The psalmist says, “A broken and contrite spirit you will not despise” (cf. Psalm 51:17). Indeed there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10). In the face of our downcast spirit God shines his face of love and mercy.

It’s not that God is a sadist. He takes no pleasure in the death or willful attitude of unrepentant sinners (Ezekiel 33:11). He is not happy when his children suffer. He does not willingly bring trouble upon people (Lamentations 3:33). He shines his face of love and mercy because we are aware and acknowledging our need for his mercy.

In fact God smiles. He delights. He loves. He beams. He saves. He blesses. This he does for sinners. Jesus himself said that he came not for saints, but to seek and to save the lost. When we are downcast and soberly aware of our own mortality, and acknowledge our sin and need for a Savior, God smiles upon us with his blessing and grace.

When we rejoice in his salvation, and are deeply thankful for the lines he has drawn for us in pleasant places he is still pleased. That is a good thing. But for today we can thank him that with sober judgment we look to him and seek his mercy and find him smiling down upon us.

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;

¹³ And rend your heart and not your garments.”
Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.

-Joel 2:12-13

Perhaps you ran away from home as a child. You took your stuffed teddy bear, a blanket, some toys, maybe even some food and set out. But where to go? A friend’s house might be OK for an hour or two, but then where? A gully behind your house would be fun, but eventually you would get cold or lonely. So you go back home.

Perhaps you’ve done the for real. You’ve left home, family, and even God. Or you know someone who did. She went away to college, abandoned her faith, her family, and even went north to Canada. It was during the Vietnam war, and by the influence of her friends and others determined that it was better to live there than in the United States.

\Maybe you took such a trip. You left the church, your faith, and your God on a wayward, erring, and rebellious foray into a life of profligacy and licentiousness. You trued drugs, sex, and disobedience of any kind you could imagine.

One day, however, you realized that what you had left was far better than the best that lifestyle had to offer, or certainly all it had to offer in the end: a life of hopelessness, and meaningless despair.

Most likely you’ve not gone that far. But you realize you need to get back to God. God delights when sinners return to him. He calls us to himself and promises his lovingkindness will embrace us, forgive us, and take us back into his heart and family.

On Ash Wednesday we do just that. We repent of our sins. We acknowledge that we are but dust and will return to the dust of the earth. More than that, however, we rely on God’s goodness and mercy to forgive, redeem, and restore.

You may not always receive a gracious welcome from an abandoned parent, partner, friend, or colleague. But God is gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love. It’s a good day to return to God – this Ash Wednesday, and every day of our lives.

Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust. Psalm 113:5-7

Jesus Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. Philippians 2:6-7

One of the people at the gym where I workout is a significant leader in the Mormon church. As such she is a dedicated workout enthusiast and a strong advocate for moral decency and good behavior. The formal name of her church uses the name Jesus Christ, but I haven’t had or taken the opportunity to ask her what she thinks about Jesus. I wonder how she would answer my question, “What does Jesus mean to you?”

Marshall had that question asked of him by a youth in our confirmation program. When he shared that question at our recent men’s retreat I began to reflect on it myself. I wonder how my friend would answer that question. I wonder how you, dear reader, would answer that question.

How would I answer that question? There is a theological answer: He is the Son of the Eternal God, co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. One in essence. He is the Savior of the world, the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Before Abraham was, he says, “I am.” Quite a claim!

He is also the son of Mary. He is true man who suffered and died on a cross. He got weary and fell asleep in a boat during a raging storm. He ate and drank with the high and mighty and the lowly and poor. He was a friend of sinners. He was thought to be the son of a carpenter.

All those are true, but they don’t really answer the question, “What does Jesus mean to you?” My answer: He means life, hope, forgiveness, purpose, direction, challenge, blessing, favor, mercy, goodness, steadfastness, and love. He is the One True Thing in all of life – the thing that never changes, never wavers, never disappoints. When I fail he is there to forgive me, help me back up, and send me on my way again. He is true in every sense of the word – no sugar-coating. No glad-handing. No soft shoe dancing.

Back to my Mormon friend: I’m not certain how she would answer that question, but I do know that the Mormon view of Jesus is not that he existed from all eternity as God the Son. And I know if someone goes to a Jesus who is not the real, true Jesus, their hopes in that false Jesus will be gravely misplaced.

Yet another thought comes to mind: If God has revealed himself to us in Jesus, and recorded for us in his word that Jesus is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, there may be an implication to that reality that we do not yet fully understand. In other words, truth is not important only because or if it has practical reasonable implications. The implications and significance of God’s truth about the true identity of Jesus may unfold in profoundly glorious ways in the life of the world to come. Then, the Bible tells us, we will know even as we will be fully known. Until that time I do well to think seriously about what Jesus means to me. I urge you to do so as well.

He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save them from those who would condemn them to death. Psalm 109:31

When they kept on questioning Jesus, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7

These verses seem to speak of dangers of days gone by. The Salem witch trials come to mind, as does the inquisition. Martin Luther faced the very real possibility being killed for his refusal to recant his teachings. The verse above from John 8 is the end of an encounter between Jesus and a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Jesus refuses to condemn this woman, instead he challenges the one without sin to throw the first stone at her. They all leave and Jesus does not condemn her, but tells her to leave her life of sin.

Other than in some very oppressive Islamic extremist countries the danger of being condemned for such sins is minimal. The occurrences are rare and notorious. But it does still occur. Whether it’s the death of Otto Warmbier following his imprisonment in North Korea, or the severe persecution of the Christian Church in China, the need for protection of innocent people against false accusations and death is real.

As I consider these verses, I must ask myself, “What is at stake for those who wish to condemn others to death?” Some would say it is to deter crimes of violence and aggravation. Others would talk of “just desserts.”

Charles Colson (of Watergate fame) was convicted of crimes surrounding the Nixon Watergate scandal was brought to faith in Jesus Christ while in prison. After his release from prison he formed a Christian group, “Prison Fellowship.” Prison Fellowship is the world’s largest Christian nonprofit organization for prisoners, former prisoners, and their families, and a leading advocate for justice reform. They work in more than 1000 prisons. Their programming reaches more than 365,000 incarcerated men and women each year.

Colson at one time opposed capital punishment, but later expressed support of capital punishment, “at least in principle, but only in extreme cases when no other punishment can satisfy the demands of justice” (From The Gospel Coalition).

So what of Jesus’ words recorded here in John 8? I am seriously wondering what I am to do with these words. I do know this, however. I am called – as a follower of Jesus – to be quick to listen, slow to speak, gracious in my judgment of others, and committed to the truth that he has revealed. To do so is no easy balancing act. It is nonetheless a high calling and a worthy commitment.

I am thankful for God’s disposition toward me in this regard as well, for in his mercy I find great peace of heart and spirit. There will come a day when the scales of justice will be balanced. That will be God’s prerogative, and his wisdom and knowledge, justice and mercy are those which I am glad to embrace.

All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:6,8

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35

Several years ago I got an app for my phone that provided a countdown in months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds to a special vacation Diane and I were planning. It had a photo I had taken from a previous cruise of the water trail from the back of the boat. To that point it shows a waning horizon. It displays were we’ve been, but at the same time offers a reminder of where we will have been in the coming days.

The word of God provides both a where we’ve been horizon as well as a where we are yet to go horizon. The where we’ve been is important. We are called to remember where God has acted in our lives. This is especially true of remembering his great acts of deliverance. The Exodus. Daniel and his friends in the fiery furnace. The blind man given sight. The little girl raised from near death. The resurrection of Jesus – the greatest act of deliverance of all.

But we move forward in life. We have a future, a hope, and a calling that invites us to look forward. The look forward as a child of God, however, is beyond the horizon of a future cruise, special anniversary, or any other life event. Our look forward propels us beyond the visible horizon and provides impetus to move with confidence and purpose beyond our own benefit or personal achievement.

A friend of mine spoke once of a fellow pastor nearing the end of his active ministerial career. Of this man he said, “His is the longest slide toward home I’ve ever seen.” Whatever he meant by that, I decided then and there not to slide toward any horizon – be it retirement, church program, or personal goal. I want to keep an eternal perspective toward the future God has for me. To do that I must embrace the Word of God, and let that inform my horizons’ goals and my hopes.

I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak. Ezekiel 34:16

Jesus said, “What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?” Matthew 18:12

When I read the texts from Ezekiel I feel at least a bit convicted. The reason God promises to bring back the strayed and bind up the injured sheep is because the shepherds God had placed over them had failed to do their job. They had not cared for the sheep as they should have. They had focused instead on their own comfort, and wellbeing rather than on the people put under their care.

Any conscientious and honest pastor will admit the same shortcomings. We have all failed to do all we possibly could to care for God’s people. We’ve missed the phone call, forgotten a phone message, and perhaps even ignored a pesky Extra-Grace-Required person’s incessant requests (grumbling?).

When we pastors lead the congregation in confessing our sins before God we are not just leading the congregation for the sake of cadence. We’re not merely speaking strongly so that people know when to pause or what to emphasize. We’re confessing our sins with the congregation. That’s one of the reasons I particularly love the confession and absolution in the order of Compline service where the pastor or leader confesses his sins to the people, and receives absolution, before receiving the confession of the people and absolving them of their sins.

It is also one reason I love the ultimate message of Ezekiel: God will not let his people go un-gathered. He will search for his sheep and seek them out. That’s just what he did. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. His comments, however, are not only a comforting promise to us who recognize our sins, they are a strong indictment of those who think they are not lost and who have actually scattered God’s flock by their self-righteousness.

There is only one thing worse than a pastor who has failed to do all he can to gather God’s flock. That is one who has failed and in self-righteous arrogance refuses to acknowledge his sin and by his sanctimonious attitude prevents the repentant sinner from finding grace at the foot of the cross.

I am thankful to be able to go to the foot of the cross, and I welcome you to join me there.