LABOR DAY

            As a child, Labor Day was a big deal. We lived blocks from the steel mills and in their nighttime illumination. It seemed most of the men worked in the steel mills and were members of a labor union. Labor Day celebrated working people with parades and speech filled gatherings. It was a really big deal.

            Today Labor Day is just another holiday. There are still a few parades and other activities. (In Tuscumbia you can go to the Coon Dog Cemetery celebration.) Most of society sees it as the last long weekend of summer.

            To us children, Labor Day meant other things. Labor Day was the day the local swimming pool in Ensley closed for the season, a real downer. But more of a downer was the beginning of school. School always commenced the day following Labor Day. Also, the minor leagues were winding up their seasons. Needless to say Labor Day was a melancholy time for us.         

             As we grew into adulthood, however, we recognized that every time and season had its own pluses. Still left in the year were football, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also we saw the changing seasons as a reminder of God’s promise, His assurance of the consistency in this world we occupy. God’s promise in Genesis 8:22 is , “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Winter and Summer, and day and night shall not cease.”

 

Grace and peace.

IN CHRIST ALONE

             A debate over the lyrics of a gospel song, “In Christ Alone,” was reflected editorially in the last two issues of The Alabama Baptist. The focus is over changing the words “Till on that cross as Jesus died/The wrath of God was satisfied” to “Till on that cross as Jesus died/The love of God was magnified.”  The basic question concerns the nature of God. Was God at the cross pouring out his wrath upon Jesus, who bore our sins, or was God at the cross manifesting his love for us, through giving Jesus to die to save us?

            We know in the Bible that God hates sin and sin will be punished. The wrath of God against sin is beyond doubt. And the Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) All of us deserve punishment.

            But the Bible also tells us that, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) The reason Jesus was on the cross was the love of God. Otherwise this passage would need to read, “for God was so angry at or wrathful toward the world that he gave his only begotten Son.”

            So the basic question is, what was on God’s mind as Jesus hung on the cross? Was He full of wrath or full of love? Or was it a combination of both. It does not challenge the truth that He is a wrathful God to imagine that at that particular time He was concentrating on His love for mankind and for Jesus who had become our sacrifice for sin.

            That people disagree on that question should not question anyone’s belief in the substitutionary atonement. Jesus died for us, as our substitute, to satisfy the holiness of God.

 

Grace and peace. 

JUST A LITTLE BABY

             The eyes and ears of the world were trained on Great Britain as a new prince, Prince George, was born. Prince George is now third in line for the throne, behind both his father, William, and grandfather, Charles. Coverage of his birth by the media exceeded any such coverage of any other birth, recent or ancient.Everyone knows his name, who he is and what he can become.

            How different this is than when Jesus came into the world. The angels announced his birth to the shepherds. The wise men knew of it in their readings of heavenly bodies and they informed Herod the King. Otherwise, Jesus snuck into the world unnoticed. Yet, He is the one who already was and has become Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. Because of his life, death and resurrection, and because of his followers spreading the gospel through the years, His name is now known in the entire world. Very few remote villages in remote jungles or isolated islands have not heard his name. With the advent of computers and the internet, more and more people have access to his story and his followers. This reality prevents nations who want to suppress Christianity from doing so. Anyone in their country with access to the internet can read of Him and His followers. Indeed, the gospel has been made known in all the world.

            But knowing His name and knowing the gospel are not sufficient. How we respond to this knowledge is of utmost importance.  A simplistic instruction is: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31) But a reading of the New Testament demonstrates that simple believism is not sufficient for salvation. A real and committed walk with Jesus is demanded. I hope your walk is going well.           

Grace and peace. 

WHO NEEDS PROOF?

I just finished a new book by neurosurgeon Eben Alexander. The name of the book is Proof of Heaven. Alexander is well trained, teaches neurosurgery and has operated on the brains of thousands of people. He formerly dismissed the idea of the “soul” as merely the product of brain chemistry. Near Death Experiences, although seeming real to the persons who are having them, are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress. This is what he believed until it happened to him.

In 2008 he suffered severe undiagnosed pain and seizures and lapsed into a coma. His brain was being attacked by an extremely rare illness. The part of his brain that controls thought and emotion, which in essence makes us human, shut down completely. It wasn’t that his brain was malfunctioning, it wasn’t functioning at all. He lay immobile, in a deep coma for seven days. The neurosurgeons who attended him concluded that he would not survive and after these seven days were preparing to pull the plug on all the systems which were helping his physical body survive. But then he awoke, a true medical miracle.

The greater miracle was his memory of those seven days. While in the coma his spirit journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence. He traveled with this angelic being between different realms of heaven.

Reading his story reminded me of someone who had a like experience, the apostle Paul. He claimed he knew a man (conceded by Bible scholars to have been Paul himself) “who was caught up to the third heaven.” (2 Corinthians 12:2) Interesting is the report of Dr. Alexander that he experienced three levels of heaven.

His is a marvelous account, but those of us who believe the Bible need no proof of heaven. 

Grace and peace. 

ON BEING A FANATIC

            An article in the newspaper a few weeks ago noted the passing of Dick Coffee, Jr. of Birmingham at age 91. He merited an article in the newspaper because as a University of Alabama graduate and football fan, he had not missed a single Alabama football game since November 1946, both home and away games, for a total of 781 consecutive games. Now he was a truly dedicated fan.

            I noted also that he was an active member of the Methodist church. The thought occurred to me; was he as faithful to his church as he was to Alabama football? I remember some Sunday Schools which awarded “Perfect Attendance” pins to those who didn’t miss a Sunday all year and would award bars to fasten under the pin for each additional year of perfect attendance. I remember seeing photos of people with perfect attendance pins for 20 or 30 straight years.

            I could list dozens of reasons a person needs to be a consistent, if not perfect, attender at Sunday School or church worship. But I’ll name only one. By doing so we declare that we are a dedicated fan of Jesus Christ. By being regular at church/Sunday School, we demonstrate who we are. In fact, it would be nice to be known as a “fanatic.”  The dictionary defines a fanatic as “one marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion.” Truly, I would welcome being remembered as a fanatic for Jesus.

            So, “let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Grace and peace. 

LOVE THAT FLAG

From to time I hear or read of a Baptist pastor removing the flag of the United States from a church’s worship center. They sometimes declare their motive. A Christian church worships Jesus and not the United States. Or they rationalize an overzealous understanding of the separation of church and state.

Seventy years ago in Vacation Bible School we pledged allegiance to the United States flag, to the Christian flag and to the Bible. No one of my limited knowledge challenged the appropriateness of the practice. And in our minds there was not a problem. We knew Jesus was Lord, and allegiance to our nation was important, particularly in those years of the Second World War.

We sing the “Star Spangled Banner” at sporting events and pledge allegiance to the flag at various clubs, conferences and other gatherings. Doing so in church mimics the patriotism of the society and does not compromise the core meaning of the service. The focus is still on Jesus Christ.

We live in a country where we have freedom to worship as we please. This is a privilege people in many parts of the world do not have. A flag in the room where we worship should remind us of the freedom the church enjoys because we live in the United States.

We are indeed blessed to live in a nation where we can worship freely. And all who worship are a blessing to our nation because “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm 33:12) 

Grace and peace. 

DRIVING ALERT

            Oldest grandson, Graham, celebrated his fifteenth birthday June 22^nd. As all other children of this generation, the first order of business was to secure his learner’s permit which will allow him to legally drive the roadways in Alabama. In our day there was no such thing as a learner’s permit. And today’s kids find it amazing that I was eighteen and a high school graduate when I finally got a driver’s license. (Big family and one automobile.)

            I rejoice in seeing Graham mature and move into more liberties and responsibilities. But I am also quite concerned with this new step. Traffic accidents are the leading cause of teen age deaths. Seven teens ages 16 to 19 die every day from motor vehicle injuries.

            I trust Graham completely. He is responsible, he does not use drugs or alcohol and, I think, he has enough sense to not let his smart phone distract him. But your experience and my experience teach us that the roadways are treacherous. We can’t control what other drivers do and there are plenty out there who are not responsible.

 So I will pray an umbrella of divine protection for him, as I have always prayed, but particularly now when he is behind the wheel. And we have the biblical promise, “He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:11)  As I write this I remember an old rhyme from the “Burma Shave” signs along the highways: “The angels who guard you while you drive usually retire at fifty five.” I guess in this day of the interstates we need to revise it to “seventy five.”

Grace and peace.