David Bahn – Reflections – Page 308 – Light from the Word and through the lens

The Full Breadth of God’s Redemption

October 23, 2015

Isaiah 40:15

The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales.

Revelation 14:6

I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation and tribe and language and people.

I recently learned that The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (the denomination of which I am a member) is the second most monolithically-white denomination in the United States. This does not make me happy for at least two reasons. First of all, we do not reflect the reality of the cultural and ethnic mix of the nation in which we live. Like it or not, legal or otherwise, our nation is a mix of ethnic and cultural groups, and our failure to reflect that is surely not pleasing to God. Secondly, and more importantly, this is a far cry from the vision of heaven in the Bible:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” – Revelation 7:9-10

I realize that we LCMS Christians are not the only tribe, but sometimes we act and speak as though we are. Even more sadly, however, our monolithic makeup point to a sectarian bent (not on purpose surely!) that is difficult to deny. We pride ourselves on being pure in our doctrine. But somehow we must ask ourselves how pure we are if we are not reaching and embracing the many tribes and nations in our communities and nation itself.

Thank God we are not saved by our purity! Thank God for the Gospel message of God’s love in Jesus Christ, his atoning sacrifice, his perfect faith, his mercy and goodness, his promises and power, his resurrection and reign, his second coming on the Great Last Day. I look forward to that expression of the fullness of God’s redemption as we “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” stand before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in our hands, and cry out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Come Lord Jesus!
Remembering Those Who Are in Prison

October 22, 2015

Genesis 39:20–21

Joseph remained there in prison. But the Lord was with him.

Hebrews 13:3

Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them.

The entrance to Death Row inside Angola Prison

I walk from my car to the double gated entrance at which there is a three story guard tower. There is massively strong and reinforced steel door at ground level, and thick tinted bulletproof windows around the top of the tower. A small walkway twenty feet off the ground runs around the perimeter of the tower. A basket with a rope and pulley is attached to a arm on one side of the walkway. The guard asks, “Name, and purpose of your visit?” There is no chit-chat; no friendly banter. I tell them I am there for a pastoral visit. He lowers the basket to me and instructs me to put my identification in the basket. Once they have seen my ID and verified that I do have an appointment in the chaplain’s office, they return my drivers license and I am allowed to go through the first of two gates giving me access to a 20 foot no-man’s-land between two 15 foot razor-wire-topped fences. The electronic lock clicks shut. Seconds later the other lock opens and I walk up a sidewalk to a second security station. At this station I go through a similar protocol. Only this time I walk through a metal detector, and they do not return my drivers license. I am in prison. I am about to visit a prisoner who is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.

When I meet Bobby, he is dressed in white pants and shirt – as are all the prisoners in this maximum security prison. The visit begins with prayer and a Bible reading. I learn his story. He professes to be Christian. He acknowledges his guilt. But he also says he should not be here without the possibility of parole. Some time later the visit ends and I am allowed to retrieve my drivers license, walk out through the double gates, past the guard tower, to my car, and make the 25 mile trip back to my family. That memory is more than 25 years old: my first of several visits to the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas State Penitentiary. I got to know Bobby and visited him several times before moving to Texas. He is still in prison as far as I know.

Since that time I have visited several other units in the Arkansas system as well as the once most bloody prison of all: Angola Prison in southern Louisiana. One major difference between my experience in Arkansas and in Louisiana: there is a seminary inside the prison at Angola. Through the efforts of Burl Cain, the prison warden at Angola, that prison has undergone the most incredible change imaginable. From a reputation as the bloodiest prison in the United States, to becoming a model of true rehabilitation and Christian redemption, the change is nearly beyond belief. Burl Cain is a man of faith and wisdom. He even brought a Bible College program into the prison there!

I have only the faintest inkling of what it is like in prison – though I have visited prisons several times in my life. But I do know there are people there who have been redeemed and whose lives have been changed by the power of the Holy Spirit and the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They have heard the gospel, repented of their sins, and in some cases – as in the seminary and inmate-chaplain program at Angola – have experienced the fullness of God’s grace by mediating that grace to others within the prisons.

There are some very bad people in prison; people who deserve to be there (including even some of the prison pastors serving in Angola and now also at the Darrington Unit near Sandy Point, south of Houston). But if God’s word is for sinners, and God’s grace is for the lost, there is no place more clearly in need of the grace and truth that is embodied in Jesus Christ than in prison.

We may think that tougher laws and harsher prison sentences are the way to save our society from evil’s influence. But the game change that society needs is the message of the Gospel, the call of Jesus to repent and believe, and the power of the Holy Spirit shaping our lives as sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. That message changes lives in prison. Whether or not these men ever see the outside of the prison walls those who have been freed by the Gospel are precious to God. We are called to remember them.
What is God saying? What am I going to do about it?

October 21, 2015
1 Samuel 2:2

There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you.

1 Timothy 1:17

To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

For some time I have been engaging the Bible with a two-fold question: What is God saying to me, and what am I going to do about it? It is a healthy tension between God’s revealed grace and truth on the one hand and my response to that grace and truth on the other. It might be that I need to obey a command. It may be that I am simply to believe something, embracing that truth in my heart. If that is the case, the question then turns around what it means to believe something. If I believe something what difference does it make? How does that shape my life?

These verses acknowledge the unique nature of God, “the only God”; the one who is like no other. Paul adds that this great King of the ages is to be honored and glorified forever and ever. God is saying to me that I need not, and should not look elsewhere than to him for all my needs; he is my highest good in life. What will I do about it? I will look to him. I will seek to honor and glorify him. I will embrace this truth in my heart and turn from false gods and godless pursuits.

In everyday life it means…
- Gathering regularly with others for worship (admittedly easy for me since I serve as a pastor!)
- Regularly reading the Bible and reflecting on the two-fold question: What is God saying, and what am I going to do about it?
- Seeking to build and sustain good relationships with fellow-believers, friends, family, and neighbors
- Looking for opportunities to tell and show others about this great and glorious like-no-other God
- Living a moral and decent life
- Providing for orphans and widows, and helping other people in need
- Doing good for others when I have the opportunity to do so
- Praying to God for his glory, others’ needs, my concerns, and the world around me
- Putting the temporal realities and ebb and flow of politics, economics, and entertainment in their proper perspective
- Writing this blog as a means for my own personal reflection – and perhaps for the benefit of others who might read it
- Enjoying the blessings and treasures God allows me to have in daily life, withing the context of God’s eternal glory
- Using my gifts to further God’s reign in my heart and in the hearts of more and more people
My doing anything does not effect or affect God’s saying or doing. He has established his kingdom in his Son, Jesus Christ. He has forgiven the sins of the world and conquered death for all. My belief does not cause any of this to come about. But oh my goodness! My faith puts me in a relationship by which I receive the marvelous gift of God’s salvation. I believe that and deeply desire to put that faith into action.

Paul writes, “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17). What is God saying to you? What are you going to do about it?
True Religion = Reflecting God’s Care

October 20, 2015

Psalm 146:9

The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow.

James 1:27 (NIV)

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Who cares about true religion? Too often the attention to religion is negative. Sexual abuses on the part of prominent protestant pastors or Roman Catholic priests gain 120 point headlines. Hard-line socially-conservative churches take a stand against homosexual marriage and fingers are pointed back accusing: You’re too judgmental! Everyone has his or her opinion about what constitutes true religion. The Christian church doesn’t fare too well in that regard in today’s secular news outlets and social media feeds.

There is another group, however, who cares about true religion in a very positive way. Widows, orphans, strangers, and those otherwise overlooked by the world deeply care about true religion as God defines it. True religion reflects the Father’s care for those most vulnerable. True religion cares for widows and orphans. True religion seeks not to be carried along with the rest of the world in pursuit of the better life at the expense of the care for the needy.

I notice that nothing is said in these verses about correct forms of worship, proper sacrificial practices, church polity, or even pure doctrine. Surely these things are important – as is clearly expressed in other portions of the Bible. But true religion does not make an end of these things. It might be that they are assumed to be settled. But it is clear that God does care for things beyond those concerns. Living out our faith in everyday ways, expressing our beliefs and values apart from worship stand tall in the eyes of God.

Certainly this does not mean that our treatment of widows, orphans and others justify us. We are not pleasing to God because we do these things. We do these things because we are justified. For Jesus’ sake he is already pleased. We do these things to express our faith in God, and to reflect God’s nature and character to the world around us. That is our kingdom calling. It matters to God and to those to whom we reflect God’s nature and care.
Whatever happened to sin?

October 15, 2015

Proverbs 20:9

Who can say, “I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin”?

Romans 3:23–24 (NIV)

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Self-righteousness and self-justification abound today in every quarter. The sexual radicals say that sexual orientation, identity, activity, and expression are a matter of personal choice. It’s no sin to express oneself in a manner unlike others. Others make the moral equivelence argument: My misdemeanor is not as evil as the dangers of global warming or income inequity. Still others speak of the evil of illegal immigration while they justify paying immigrant workers (legal or illegal) a barely-living-wage.

This is no mere political observation nor a political commentary on any of these things. My point is that sin is rampant and often denied. And people of all kinds and stripes are trying to justify themselves. Still others are very willing to overlook their own sins while pointing to the sins of others.

“All have sinned,” says Paul. We’ve all “fallen short of the glory of God.” Proverbs tells us, “No one can say, ‘I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin.’” Our relief from this is not in self-justification, self-righteousness, or denial of facts. Relief is in Jesus Christ alone. Through him, through faith in him, we are justified. We are declared righteous for the sake of Jesus’ redemptive death and victorious resurrection from the grave.

Here’s what became of sin: it wasn’t denied. It wasn’t excused. It wasn’t equivocated. It was taken into the body and soul of Jesus Christ, punished and atoned for and nailed to the cross on which Jesus died. Those who seek refuge in him and in that wonderful grace are declared righteous. What we could never do for ourselves God has done for us in his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God!
Cult of Happiness

October 14, 2015

Psalm 119:2

Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart.

Matthew 5:6 (NASB)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Unattributed Photo from theconversation.com

I heard some interesting insights recently on a Christian podcast. The comment was made about a “cult of happiness.” That got my attention because I believe it describes a dangerous mentality and deceptive desire that leads to greater sadness and harm than the attempts to assuage the sadness seek to relieve. The desire to be happy, and the belief that happiness is a right causes great stress and unrealistic expectations – a source of great unhappiness. An unbridled desire to be happy will lead people to deny reality in their own lives, overlook the suffering of the world around us, and reduce happiness to a checklist of achievements, possessions, or experiences.

I am personally in favor of being happy. I would much rather focus on the good in life. I believe that a cheerful heart is good medicine (cf. Proverbs 17:22). But happiness is best served as a secondary pursuit. And the danger of deciding what to do based on some sort of happiness quotient will miss the mark of true joy in God and his righteousness.

The pursuit of happiness is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence as a right, along with life and liberty. Such pursuit must never, however, take us outside the boundaries of God’s ways or be embraced apart from his righteousness. God offers a different approach: Find happiness in pursuing God’s righteousness. Discover the way of obedience as a fuller embrace of joy and satisfaction. Jesus did that perfectly for us, and for the joy set before him endured the cross and is now seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 12:2). His righteousness is a gift we all need. It fully satisfies those who embrace it by faith.
Carrots or Sticks; Obedience or Compliance

October 13, 2015

Exodus 9:34

When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned once more and hardened his heart.

Hebrews 12:15

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.

There’s little debate in my mind about it: honey will certainly attract more flies than vinegar. But the carrot or the stick to motivate a stubborn mule? Now that’s another question. Maybe the issue is that vinegar drives the flies away, whereas honey will capture them when they are drawn. In any case we have two options: to be attracted or repelled by good or bad things.

In the case of our walk with God, better the grace of God than the threat of punishment. To be sure, there are times when the threat of punishment is sufficient and proper to prevent gross outbreaks of sin. But such threat is short lived. Consider Pharaoh. He was ultimately brought to compliance. He let the children of Israel go after the final plague. But he soon hardened his heart and sought to bring them back as slaves. Too bad for him.

We are called not only to escape from the wrath and just punishment of God, but to flee to God for mercy, grace, redemption, and salvation. God’s great work is to bring us to our knees in joy, praise, and delight because of his goodness; not to force us to our knees in compliant subjugation.

We must not miss the grace of God. That’s what Pharaoh did, abandoning God’s ways in anger and hardness of heart. God offers grace and mercy to all through Jesus Christ. It is sweet, life-changing, and the true north of our relationship with God. This is a gift we must not miss.
Mending the Fractures of our World

October 12, 2015

Psalm 60:2 (NIV)

God, you have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking.

John 3:17

God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

If God is a loving and kind God, why do bad things happen? If God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), why would we want to embrace his love? The list of hurts and pains in the world today are as long as the list of promises and the attributes of God’s goodness – perhaps more so in the minds of many. They conclude: the God of the Bible is not good; he is to be rejected.

But the terrible goodness of God is shown in Jesus on the cross. There the wrath of God was visited fully on God’s Son: The father even rejected and abandoned his Son in the time of his greatest need. But the Son did not abandon faith in the Father, for he knew and believed that God’s goodness, love, faithfulness, and mercy would be sustained. Three days later he was shown to be right.

The world is filled with signs of God’s judgment and man’s evil intent: people continue to be opposed to the way, truth, and life found only in Jesus; there are people in the world truly bent on destroying America; followers of Jesus Christ are being singled out for horrific torture, persecution, and death; mass suicide murders occur all too frequently; terribly bad things happen to genuinely good people.

But in the cross of Jesus all these injustices, all the evil, all the terrible tragedies of a fallen world were embraced by Jesus on the cross. God rules in his providential care and love over all people and all things. Not a bird drops to the ground apart from his will and knowledge. God is good and desires all people to be saved eternally and gloriously in the life of the world to come. God is just and punishes sin.

If we believe all this we will not only lament and weep at the terrible tragedies of life in this fallen world, we will call on God to mend the fractures of our lives as we strain ever forward to the life of the world to come, thanking God for his redemption, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Steadfast and Sincere Love

October 9, 2015

Hosea 6:6

The Lord says, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.”

Romans 12:9–10 (NIV)

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Jesus teaches us that if our brother or sister in Christ comes to us seventy-times-seven, repenting and asking for forgiveness, we are to forgive him or her. That is a difficult calling and challenging action to take. Anyone would become forgiveness weary after the sixth time with the same person – not to mention the seventieth, or the seventy-times-seventh time!

One alternative to forgiveness is based on a false notion regarding our need for forgiveness. Religious self-righteousness expressing itself in God-ordained ritual performance can become the true measure of righteousness. I don’t need to forgive you because I don’t sin like you do and I do all these religious things. This is what Hosea speaks of: Covering over our need for true forgiveness and hardening our hearts toward others is not what God desires.

Sincere love doesn’t offer fake religious formalism in place of kindness, humility, and compassion. Acknowledgement of our sin – the real and ugly cancer that invades our souls – and rejoicing that Christ has forgiven us from all our sin, leads us to hate evil, devote ourselves to that is good, offer steadfast love to others, and care for the welfare of others. This is Christ’s call and what God truly desires.

What will that look like when your lawn crew shows up today, or the driver needs to get into your lane, or your co-worker drops the ball…again!, or your husband is forgetful, or your neighbor’s dog dies? Could it be that those feet-on-the ground events are actually occasions to offer steadfast and sincere love?
A Good Place to Be

October 8, 2015

Isaiah 31:5

Like birds hovering overhead, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it, he will spare and rescue it.

Romans 8:31 (NIV)

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Several years ago, as I was driving out of a gas station, a man about my age gave me the proverbial one finger salute. I’m not certain it had to do with the fact that I was wearing a clerical collar at the time or not, that’s my guess. I was actually a bit surprised at his gesture; I had done nothing intentionally to provoke such an action. Whatever I had or had not done seemed not to be the issue. He simply expressed his contempt toward me.

There are many enemies committed to our destruction. ISIS terrorists, hard core Communists, North Korean dictators all wish to do us harm. Add to those enemies, the horde of Satan’s cabal. Consider the thief who steals, kills, and destroys. What of the human traffier who abuses people or the embezzler who wipes out people’s retirement accounts? Each of these are aligned against good decent people that we are.

Above all those, however, is the Lord God of angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. He protects his people. He delivers those who look to him. He will rescue us at the break of day.

Today I will have many opportunities to align myself with God and his purposes. I will have business dealings, work conversations, traffic interactions, and one-on-one conversations with friends and acquaintances. Through it all, I will seek to align myself with God’s purposes and will. I will do that not only so that I don’t become a target for God’s rebuke as he saves his people, but also because I have been saved, and wish to remain under the protection of the Lord of angel armies. When danger comes near, that is a good place to be!