1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Sometimes I feel as if I have been “lame from birth,” just like the beggar at the temple gate. My lameness has never been physical, but I have definitely felt handicapped on quite a few occasions. Sometimes it’s because of relationships. Sometimes it’s because of hard life transitions. Sometimes it’s because of emotional problems. Whatever the cause, I often feel like a beggar, pleading with God to make it right. Just like the lame man sat and asked for food or money to get him through the day, I want a quick fix to my problem, just something to get me through the situation. I want my feelings for someone to go away or I want God to just SHOW me where He wants me to go and what He wants me to do, or I want God to just make the sadness go away.
It’s easy to want God to just wave his magic wand and POOF, make our problems go away. If God is so powerful, why WOULDN’T He do that? Why wouldn’t He just make me into exactly who I think He wants me to be and fix my life up a little? He is GOD, after all.
I think when we ask for just enough food to get by for the day, or for just a few pennies so that we can scrape by, God wants our attention. He wants us to know that He has so much more he wants to give us. The passage says that when the man asked Peter and John for money, “Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.” But what Peter gave him was not what the man expected. He did not just give him some spare change. For his entire life, this man had never been able to work and make money, due to his being crippled. He had to be carried to the gate and beg for enough to survive every day. That was his life: Barely scraping by.
God wants so much more for you than to just scrape by. He wants to free you from whatever bondage is keeping you from experiencing true joy. What this man wanted was money, but that money would have only fulfilled him for maybe a day. However, the gift that God gave him freed him up for a lifetime of joy.
Are you asking for just pennies when God wants to lavish his abundant riches upon you? Are you asking for scraps of bread when God wants to give you the Bread of Life? I know I often think too small. I want God to fix certain situations in my life, while I ignore the root of the problem. In Colossians, we read that in Christ, we have been brought to fullness. I don’t need a quick fix. I need full restoration that leads to complete joy, and that can ONLY come from Christ.
When He takes me by the right hand and helps me to my feet, I hope that I will walk and jump and praise God. I hope that people will recognize me as the screwed up sinner who used to have a habit of messing up his life, but now his life proclaims the glory of God. I hope that my restoration and redemption will fill others with wonder and amazement at what happened to me.
Ephesians 4:22-24
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
I’m a creature of habit. I enjoy routine. It’s comfortable. It’s stable. It makes the spontaneous events that happen even more fun. I celebrate my Sabbath on Fridays, and there are two things that MUST happen on Friday mornings: isolation and routine. I start my day around 9:30 or so, waking up slowly and on my OWN terms for once. I call my puppy over and he hops into bed and snuggles with me for awhile. When I feel awake enough to climb out of the covers, I go get the coffee started. As it brews, I fire up my computer and bring up Hulu. For the next 2.5 hours, I watch all the NBC Thursday night comedies, drink coffee, and eat fruit. Then, when I’m all finished with my shows, I head to Subway for an oven-roasted chicken foot-long sub. Every. Single. Friday. If it doesn’t happen, it’s almost guaranteed that I will be grumpy and intolerable to be around by the end of the following week.
I have a routine. I enjoy it, and to a certain extent, I NEED it. It’s engrained in me. It’s a part of the rhythm of my life.
Our lives are full of habits. They can be either good or bad, but either way, we usually don’t think about them. Some of these habits can actually enable us to perform very complex, in-depth tasks without thinking extensively about it. Driving, for example, is an incredibly complex activity that, when you first start driving, takes a ton of stressful attention and awareness. However, after we’ve been driving for a few years, it becomes second nature and we go through the processes without REALLY thinking about it.
It is important that we realize that our sinfulness is not just an isolated event here or there, but it is a condition that pervades our lives. It is a habitual thought process that influences our understanding of the world, and the way we understand the world influences how we conduct ourselves as we live in this world.
We can have habits that either please or displease God. The word “habit” is derived from the Latin word habitus. A priest wears a habitus, which is a piece of clothing that represents a commitment to a holy life. In the same way, in Ephesians, we are called to “put off our old self” and to “put on the new self.”
We naturally acquire bad habits. In the next chapter of Ephesians, Paul specifically lists a few of those bad habits. Obscene language. Foolish talk. Dirty jokes. Bitterness. Quarrels. We really don’t even think about that stuff sometimes, do we? Our thinking about God and his demand for holiness has gotten warped and twisted to the point where we aren’t even convicted by the trash that we spew out of our mouths every day. Our hearts are hardened because of our ignorance to the point that we lose all sensitivity and “indulge in every kind of impurity.”
In the same way that Paul directs us in Romans to “no longer conform to the patterns of this world.” But instead to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds,” he tells us in Ephesians to “put off the old self” and “be made new in the attitudes of our minds; and to put on the new self., created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” This is a direct call to action. It requires us to personally TAKE OFF the old. We have to dig out our bad habits at the root. Clean house. We can’t live like we used to. But it doesn’t stop there. There’s another direct call to action: We also have to personally replace what we have gotten rid of and put on the new. Paul goes into depth in Colossians 3 with a list of what “clothes” we are supposed to put on. Compassion. Kindness. Gentleness. Patience. Self-control. Forgiveness. Love.
How are you actively taking off the old? What are you doing to put on the new? This isn’t something that anyone else is going to do for you. It starts internally, with the renewing of your mind, and once you have been mentally renewed, that can only affect your outward actions. Don’t sit around waiting to change. Change your clothes.
Guilt, Grace, Gratitude. Growing up in the Reformed denomination, I have heard this succession of ideas for many, many years. I agreed with the concept of it all. After all, it’s a pretty logical, natural progression. The book of Romans pretty much follows the same outline. We do stupid things, we have a God who loves us anyway, and because of that love, we want to show our appreciation to that God. That makes sense. I like that idea.
However, even if I AGREED with the idea and I LIKED the idea and it made SENSE, I don’t think I completely understood the WHOLE equation because I hadn’t fully EXPERIENCED the whole equation (and I probably still don’t understand it completely, but whatever).
I DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY understood the “guilt” part. Oh buddy, do I ever understand my guilt. One does not have to convince me of the fact that I am messed up, screwed up, and overall a straight up sinful person. My life is so full of huge, dumb, life-altering mistakes that I still get nervous wondering if I am cursed to a lifetime of moronitude. So, yes. Check the box. Josh is a SINNER.
You know when you studied Native American culture in history class and you learned about the ladies grinding up corn with a big rock? Okay, think back to that and picture them crushing and grinding and pulverizing that corn between two rocks. Okay, that is how I feel that God has been driving His grace into my heart. Just crushing and grinding that grace right into my heart. It hasn’t been an easy or particularly pretty process. There has definitely been some pulverizing. But in the end, you end up with some awesome cornmeal that you can make delicious cornbread muffins out of and it’s all worth it. I love cornbread.
This brings us to gratitude. I truly believe this is not a naturally occurring part of the process. Guilt is pretty easy. Grace is a pretty crazy concept, but it’s relatively easy to swallow. Who wouldn’t want to believe that they are loved no matter how badly they mess up or how big of a failure they are? But GRATITUDE? Yeesh. You mean I am supposed to stop doing the things that I like to do? I thought you said that this gift of grace is FREE OF CHARGE!
Well here’s the crazy part. It ISSSS free of charge. You didn’t earn it. You can’t earn it. Don’t even try to think that you’ve earned it or can earn it because you’re going to fail. Badly. Often. Miserably.
However, I am beginning to find that when I realize how utterly incapable of earning that gift I am, I begin to DESIRE to be obedient. I want to change who I am and what I do. After all, didn’t Jesus do that for me in an even BIGGER way when he came to Earth in the form of man, leaving behind his pretty awesome living situation with God the Father? Yeah, maybe I can give a little bit of myself out of appreciation. In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, we read that the love of Christ “constrains” us to live for Him. Once I realize how Jesus changed himself for me and gave himself for me, I’m not so afraid of giving up my freedom, and therefore finding my freedom in Him (thanks to Tim Keller for putting that into better words than I could have).
It’s not a switch that gets flipped and now I behave and never want to do stupid things. However, it is a pretty RADICAL change, at least that’s what I feel it has been in my own life. Awesome. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for rescuing me from my own stupidity. Thank you for redeeming me of my depression. Thank you for giving me a gift so good that I willingly constrain myself to life of obedience and am therefore made free.
For the past couple months, I have been discussing American Reformed's liturgy on Sunday mornings with our church's 2nd-5th graders. Every week, during our church worship service, we go through a communal liturgy as a congregation. There are four parts to this liturgy: Call to Worship, Prayer of Confession, Words of Assurance, and Instructions for Living. As the children studied each part and why we do them, I had them write their own liturgies. On May 1, these 2nd-5th graders will be leading the congregation as "liturgists," using the very same liturgies that they have written themselves. I have been SO blessed by their beautiful words of TRUTH. I wanted to share them, so that you too could be blessed by these young Christ-followers. These words and scripture selections are 100% the work of the children. Here is the first draft of their liturgy:
CALL TO WORSHIP
Psalm 146:1-2
Leader: “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, my soul! I will praise the Lord all my life. I will sing praise to God for as long as I live!”
People: You are the only god worthy of worship. We love you very much. Come and worship, people of God. Come and praise the Lord. For God loves us and made us. He is our ruler, helper, and healer. God, you deserve our praise!
CONFESSION
(Silence)
People: We confess that we sin, O God and confess we haven’t listened to you. We love you with all of our hearts and all our soul. You do great things for us and we don’t see that. Please forgive us. We need you to help us in life. You are amazing. We thank you for being our God and dying for us. Please show mercy to us.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
Leader: Jesus Calms the Storm – Luke 8:22-25
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
Jesus assured his disciples that they would be okay during the storm. He told them he would calm the storm. This helps us know we can trust in Jesus to forgive our sins.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIVING
Leader: God tells us to take his advice and love him with all our hearts. Follow the 10 commandments. Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.
Where do you feel like you’re falling short? Not one of us is ever completely satisfied with ourselves. Maybe you aren’t doing as well in classes that you’re taking. Maybe you feel inadequate in your job. Maybe you don’t do as well in social situations as you’d like.
It’s pretty easy to feel like we suck… probably because we do. A lot. Worldly success is hard enough to obtain, and we fall short fairly often at that. But when it comes to spiritual success, on our own, we’re completely hopeless. Because of our helpless, sinful state, we are completely incapable of even reaching out to God to be saved. Romans 3 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God” and “…all have fallen short of the Glory of God.”
We fall short ALL THE TIME and it is so easy to get caught up in the legalism of the law. We kick ourselves and guilt ourselves into the ground because we think we aren’t doing enough or that we haven’t held up our end of the deal with God.
Well, here’s some good news: That’s kind of the point.
In Colossians 2, we read “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” The whole point of what Christ did for us by coming in human form, dying on the cross, and raising back to life, was to make us full. Where we fall short, Christ makes up that distance. Whether that’s spiritual, social, education, familial, or occupational, we are not defined by our successes and failures, but rather by our fullness in Christ.
Satan is called many things in the scriptures: “Angel of Light,” “God of this Age,” a “Roaring Lion.” He is known as “The Deceiver” and “The Father of Lies.” When it comes to our shortcomings, Satan wants to deceive us by luring us away from defining ourselves by our fullness in Christ, and blind us with our own failures and depravity. But seeing ourselves as failures and worthless is a lie straight from the Father of Lies.
It doesn’t matter if you’re depressed. It doesn’t matter if you’ve cheated. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in yourself. Christ makes you full. Christ’s love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on us. We will always fall short, but Christ’s resurrection will always make up for our shortcomings and make us full and complete.
Just last week, I thought winter would never end. It seemed as if the sub-zero temperatures had penetrated my bones and frozen me from the inside out. Nothing seemed more impossible or unlikely than the world ever warming up again.
It’s easy to give up hope in February. In fact, I think I do it every year. The weather, the short days, the lack of color and sunlight… It takes its toll on a person’s morale. But, obviously, spring returns every year. The grass turns green, the sunshine pours forth, the snow melts, and my Vitamin D supply is replenished.
The verse on the gorgeous banner at the front of the sanctuary during this epiphany season comes from Psalm 27. David starts this Psalm off with our beautiful theme verse, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, who shall I fear?” We all know of David’s troubles he was experiencing while writing this Psalm. He was constantly being pursued. He states his hope in the midst of a pretty rough season.
David ended his Psalm with 2 verses that I find very inspiring for this dreary February season. He declares, “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
Our life is lived in seasons: seasons of joy, seasons of sorrow, seasons of closeness to God, and seasons of what seems like great distance from God. However, just as we can be completely sure that February will end and the seasons will change from winter to spring, we can be sure that the goodness of the Lord will become apparent again.
The Bible is very clear that there will be dreary times. But over and over, we are told to be strong, take courage and wait for the Lord. Let this beautiful week of sunshine be a reminder: Spring is near! New life is coming! Remember the words from Psalm 16: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
