The Wrong Shall Fail.... the Right Prevail...

On Christmas day of 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received the news that his son Charles Appleton Longfellow had suffered wounds as a soldier in the Battle of New Hope Church Virginia during the Mine Run Campaign. On this day he penned the words of a poem titled “Christmas Bells”. Only two years prior he had also suffered the loss of his wife as a result of an accident by fire. The poem originally contained seven stanzas but was reduced to five when constructed into the carol we have come to know “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.

Below are but three of the stanzas of this beautiful poem......

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:

"There is no peace on earth," I said,

"For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men."

Equality..... by disempowerment...

There is a lot of talk today in Christian circles about social justice and the emancipation of the oppressed. We preach about the elimination of oppression and the empowerment of the down trodden. All of this seems to me to be a good thing and in keeping with the message of the Gospel, and yet I can’t help but wonder if we are sometimes so focused on the liberation of others, that we forget that often it is we who need liberating ourselves.
Jesus had an interesting take on the whole concept of emancipation. He seemed to speak more about becoming a servant than he did about trying to free oneself from being one. We put a huge emphasis on equality, on giving people back their rights and re-establishing their status in the attempt to make all men equal. But Jesus take was almost the reverse. He was effectively saying, “what if we all gave up our rights.? What if we all became slaves.? What if we all became willing to serve.? What if we all became dispossessed of our rights and power.? What if we all became indebted to one another.? Surely if we all became slaves, then would not all men be be equal.?
We focus on giving ourselves rights. Jesus focused on giving up his rights.We focus on having power. Jesus focused on letting go of power.We focus on stepping up. Jesus focused on stepping down.

Now don’t misunderstand me, I am not suggesting that we all become poverty stricken and put ourselves into positions where we are mercilessly oppressed by others. But I just can’t help but wonder if that in all of our worthy endeavours to “set the captives free”, that we often fail to realise that sometimes it is we who need liberating ourselves, and that by shifting our focus to that of becoming the servant, and by shifting our emphasis to that of one who is willing to let go of our right to power, that we might then not only be more effective at liberating others, but that we would also know the freedom of being liberated ourselves. And that we would begin to see as Jesus did, that there is a liberty to be found in stooping down, that is not always found by stepping up. And that sometimes the way to bring about equality is not in pulling others up to sit alongside us in our position of pride and power. But by stooping down ourselves, and sharing our abundance with the spirit of a servant, amongst those who often already have a better understanding of Jesus concept of freedom than we do ourselves. And in doing so, we just might find that we have brought about a little more of the kind of equality that Jesus was looking for.

John 13
Jesus rose up from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. He poured water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done for you?
You call me Master and Lord: and you speak correctly; for this is exactly who I am.
So if I then, being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; then you also should wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, and you should do the same as I have done to you.

Take these bones with you...

In the past 20 years or so, it seems to me that there has been a big emphasis particularly at church leadership conferences and the like, on setting goals and having short term and long term plans for the future. I’ve heard speakers say things like “if you want to be successful (their definitions of this word are often uncertain) then you need to have at least a 5 year plan and a 10 year plan”. Some have even suggested the need for a 20-25 year plan.
Now as much as there is an element of truth to all of this, I can’t help but wonder if it is much more important to have a 500 year plan.!!

I mean take Joseph for example, as he comes to the end of his life, he has already lived to the ripe old age of 110, and yet he is still looking several hundred years forward to the day when Israel leaves Egypt for good, and so he instructs his family that when that time comes, he wants them to carry his bones away with them. Now that’s what I call a long term plan.!!

Genesis 50:25 NIV
And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."

Joseph was looking forward and had plans for the future that went hundreds of years beyond his own lifetime.
There are a couple of things that strike me as being particularly pertinent about this concept.
Firstly, Joseph wasn’t just thinking about himself and his needs in the here and now. Most of our plans whether for the next 5 years or even 10 years are all about us. We are thinking ahead and making plans so that we will be better off in the years ahead. But Joseph wasn’t even going to be around to physically see his plans come to fruition. And even though he had commanded his family to take his bones with them, I don’t think it was just for his own benefit. It was for theirs. He knew that in order for his children to have a long term vision, they would also need to remember the past. They needed to remember where they came from. They needed to remember their roots, and not just look forward to what the future could give them. Looking back brings a balance to looking forward. It reminds us that it has cost something to get to where we are now. Others have gone before us and paid a price. It’s not all about us.
Secondly, Joseph understood the power of the prophetic. When he commanded his children to take his bones with them, he was prophesying into the future. He was encouraging his children and their children after them to believe and to trust. In effect, Joseph saw the future, and he was trying to get his sons to see it as well. He was trying to get his sons to see the bigger plan that was behind all that had taken place. There was more to their lives and their existence than just shearing sheep every day. God had a plan, a master plan, and it was not just a 5 year or a 10 year plan. God had an eternal plan, and they were an integral part of it. There was going to come a day when they would leave Egypt, and when they did it would be significant, and it would be momentous, and when that momentous day came, he wanted them to be as much a part of it as he intended to be himself.

Pedro's onions....

In the shady corner of the great market in Mexico City sits an old Indian man named Pedro. He has twenty strings of onions hanging in front of him for sale. An American businessman from Chicago comes up to him and says: “How much for a string of onions.?”
“Ten cents” says Pedro.

“How much for two strings.?”
“Twenty cents” is the reply.
“Well, how much for three strings” asks the American.
“Thirty cents” Pedro answers.
“Not much reduction in that” says the American, “would you take twenty five cents.?”
“No” says Pedro.
“How much for the whole twenty strings” says the businessman.
“I will not sell you my twenty strings” says the old Indian.
“Why not” says the American, “aren’t you here to sell your onions.?”
“No, I am not here to sell my onions” says Pedro, “I am here to live my life. I love the market, I love the sounds, I love the smells. I love to have Chico and Luis come by and call out “Buenas dias” and I love to listen as they tell me about their lives, about how their crops are doing and how their families are managing. I love to speak with my friends, I love to listen as Maria comes by to tell me about her children while they laugh and play around me, for this is my life and this is why I sit here all day and sell my twenty strings of onions. But if I sell all of my onions to one customer, then is my day come to an end and I will have sold my means to living the life that I love. I would not be selling you my onions, I would be selling you my life, and that I just will not do.”
(Erwin McManus)

This story says a lot about living life in such a way as to value community over commerce, and to value the sacred over the secular.
Sometimes we are so busy getting to where we want to be, that we forget to enjoy where we are right in the here and now.
But it also says something about knowing and understanding that “mission” is more important than “vision”.
It is always very helpful for us to have direction in life, to know just where exactly we are headed and how we are going to get there. But what is far more important than knowing where we are going, is knowing the reason for our existence in the first place.
This is the difference between “mission” and “vision”.

Most of us find it relatively easy to know where we are going in the short term, but we struggle to know where we are going in the longer term.
And one of the main reasons for this, is that most of us understand what it is to have "vision", but all too often we mistake "vision" for "mission".!!
But "vision" and "mission" are two totally different things.
Mission is not so much about where we are going, as it is about why we exist. For Pedro….vision was about selling onions, but mission was about living life in community.
Vision comes and vision goes.
Mission never changes.
Vision gives us new directions to take, and enables us to achieve many great things, but mission gives us reason and purpose for being involved in the visions of our life and gives us the strength and passion to complete them and find a sense of fulfilment in them.
You can have vision and still be completely void of mission.
Vision is about knowing where we are going, but mission is about knowing why we are going where we are going, and why we are doing what we are doing. The mistake we usually make often without realising it, is to define our mission by our vision. We get all excited about some new venture or some new project that we are taking on, it may be a new house, a new car, a new job, a new baby or a new ministry, and then what tends to happen all too often is we begin to define our mission by whatever direction that new venture is taking us.
We change our priorities and redefine our lives around the new vision that we have, when what we should be doing is defining our Vision around our Mission in life.
What’s your reason and purpose for selling onions..?

Of funerals and baptisms....

I haven’t been to too many funerals, but I’ve been to enough to know that no matter how terrible a life the deceased person has lived, nonetheless, when it is time for the eulogy, only nice things are said about even the most nasty of people. What they always leave out during the eulogy at the funerals that I have attended, are the skeletons in the closet. (excuse the pun)
They never seem to tell us about the problem that the deceased had had in their lifetime with this thing called sin. I have never heard a friend or family member stand up at a funeral and declare that no matter how hard the deceased had tried, they just never seemed to be able to be the kind of person they really wanted to be because of the problem of sin. They always leave out the bit about, how, that during the deceased lifetime, they knew that they constantly struggled with evil thoughts and bad attitudes. They never seem to mention how that they were unable to control their temper or come to terms with the bitterness that everyone knew they had nurtured towards anyone that had ever let them down.
And they never mention that even when the deceased had done good deeds for other people, they never really did it out of a pure motive, but rather because they loved to be recognised for what they did and took great pride in their own ability and in their own achievements. At funerals it seems that regardless of the kind of life one has lived, the dead are praised, their lives are lauded as glorious and righteous. Sometimes they may make brief mention of the bodily sickness or disease that may have struck them down, but I have never heard mention made about that terrible cancer called sin, which is the real cause of every mans demise.
But last night as I was meditating on just what Water Baptism is all about, I began to wonder what the eulogy would sound like if just before a person entered the waters of Baptism, we held a funeral service for the body. Not the physical body, but that body of sin that is forever working against us and forever resisting the passionate call of God.
That old nature that ruled us before Jesus came into our lives.
Because this is really what water Baptism is all about.
Water Baptism is about a funeral, a disposing of the body.!!
It’s about burying once and for all that fallen nature, that “old man” with all of its wrong desires and lusts. It’s about doing away with that old carnal nature that constantly trips us up and causes us to do that which we do not want to do.
It’s about burying that body of corruption, that body of flesh that keeps us tied to the world and all of its attractions. That body of sin that keeps us from loving our enemies. That body of sin that refuses to let others go first and instead always demands its own way.
Water Baptism is about disposing of that body of sin that always takes confidence in self. That body of sin that is riddled with pride and self righteousness. That body of sin that keeps an account of every wrong done to itself but never seems to keep tally of the wrongs it does to others.
Water Baptism is about putting an end to that body of sin that is controlled by habits and by addictions. It’s about burying once and for all that body of sin that is utterly lost and broken and without hope, and yet in its arrogance and rebellion attempts to pull others down that same road that offers no hope and no future.

But Water Baptism is not only about death and funerals, it’s also about resurrection.
And in scripture Water Baptism is likened not just to any kind of resurrection, but to the very resurrection of Christ Himself. Baptism is not likened to the kind of resurrection that Lazarus experienced, a man who died and came back to life in the same state as he was before, only to have to die once more all over again. But Water Baptism in scripture is likened to the very resurrection of Christ Himself, a man who came back to life totally transformed into a glorified body and never had to face death again.
And that is the spiritual picture of what takes place through the act of Water Baptism. It’s about a resurrection, and resurrection is about a fresh start and a new beginning. It’s about a metamorphosis of the spirit and the soul.
Once the spirit was dead in trespasses and sins, but now it is quickened and made alive in Christ. Baptism is about rising again into a newness of life, a radical transformation that exchanges the old for something new. It’s about coming up out of the water with a new bias, a bias toward righteousness, a bias towards peace, and a bias that is helplessly bent towards the Holy Ghost.
Baptism is about the resurrection of our character and a bringing forth of the fruit of the Spirit. It’s about a resurrection of purpose, a change in direction, a change in lifestyle and a change in culture. It’s leaving the old behind to embrace the new. It’s about taking a hold of our inheritance in Christ and experiencing what it is to be truly free indeed. It’s about a restoration, a restoration of the soul and the renewing of the mind.
It’s about experiencing the life changing power of Gods DNA which has been impregnated into our very spirit by the supernatural power of God.
And finally.....Water Baptism is about a resurrection from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. It’s about the manifestation of the sons of God, it’s about a return to Eden, and it’s about Paradise found.
Water Baptism is about burying the person you once knew, but know no more, to become the person God always intended you to be forevermore.

Outside these walls...

This past year my wife and I were privileged to stay a few nights in the city of San Francisco, and while we were there we made a visit to Alcatraz.
After a short ferry ride, a steep hike up the hill brings you to the main prison cell block where one can take a tour through the corridors and cells of notorious prisoners like Al Capone and “Machine Gun Kelly”.
Alcatraz was made famous in the movies with the story of the escape of Frank Norris and John and Clarence Anglin. These three resourceful characters placed dummy heads made out of soap, cement and paint under their blankets, and in the middle of the night they made their escape through the air-vents of their cells and crawled into the utility corridor that lay between two rows of cells. Climbing up to the roof, they slid down a drain pipe and made their way down to the shoreline where they put together a raft made out of raincoats. They were never seen again and no-one knows to this day if they actually survived the icy waters or drowned in the attempt.
As we walked about the corridors of Alcatraz listening to the many stories that were being told through the tourist headsets, one of the things that left an impression on me was just how close the island actually was from the mainland and the city of San Francisco. Only one and a quarter miles in fact. The view of the city skyline and Golden Gate Bridge are truly impressive, and apparently, this was one of the greatest mental tortures for a prisoner locked away on Alcatraz. From the prison exercise yard a prisoner could see the whole city of San Francisco going about its business in total freedom. On still days, voices would travel across the water. Sometimes, the prisoners could hear the laughter of people partying. Some prisoners had even written down on paper some of the actual conversations that they had heard as the words had come floating across the water. Freedom always seemed so close, and yet it was a lifetime away. Every day they were faced with a visual picture of what it was like to be free if they could only just get outside the walls. To those who were locked up inside for many years, any prisoner that managed to get out or break out, no matter for how short a period of time, was the envy of all inside because the rule of thumb was “if you can get outside the walls, you’re a free man”.
And this is the simple truth that struck me......for the prisoners to be free, they didn’t have to BREAK IN, they had to BREAK OUT.!!
The free world was all around them...... it was the prison walls that kept them bound and locked inside. The walls weren’t there to keep people out, they were there to keep people in. And it seems to me that this is a truth that we so often seem to fail to realise. Gods kingdom is the universal set. Satans is not. The kingdom of darkness is a subset, the Kingdom of God is the superset. To become a part of Gods Kingdom, you don’t have to break in.... you have to break out... of Satans Kingdom. The walls are there to keep people in, not to keep people out. So if you break out, you’re free.!! Get outside the walls of Satans compound and you’re in the kingdom of God where true freedom reigns.!!
Why then, do we so often seem to live as if Gods Kingdom has walls and parapets that are designed to keep us out.? And why is it that we live as if the only people who can get in to Gods Kingdom are the chosen few like Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and our local Pastor.!! The truth is, that every day, the walls of Satans Kingdom are crumbling, they’re falling down, and prisoners are being set free and released into the Kingdom of God. Gods Kingdom has no walls..... and if you’re outside the walls, you’re a free man.!!

No need to clap your hands....

I came across this quote the other day and instantly fell in love with it. "If you're happy and you know it, you don't need to clap your hands".

It is of course a twist on what used to be a great Sunday School song.... "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands", and if my memory serves me correct, I can remember singing this song as a child and readily clapping my hands along with all the other children in my Sunday School class just as instructed, even though the happiness that I was supposed to be expressing was perhaps not of the most authentic kind due to my preference to being off somewhere else, perhaps with my mates playing in the park rather than having to attend Sunday School.
Years later when I became a Sunday School teacher myself, and then a so called leader in the "childrens church" movement, I can recall having to lead children in the singing of this song, and knowing some of the situations these children were facing in their lives at home and at school, I sometimes wondered just how authentic their own happiness really was as they too clapped their hands to this song.

Many years on, I have of course come to realise that happiness is by and large a rather fleeting kind of thing at the best, and is a poor substitute for an inner confidence and contentment regardless of whether one is facing good times or bad. The act of "clapping ones hands", or deliberately exhibiting any form of outward behaviour in order to demonstrate or convince others that you are in fact happy is in most cases going to be the undeniable proof that you are not.
If I am truly secure in who I am, safe in the realisation that I am loved, content in the understanding that God holds my life in His hands, then it is far more likely that there is no need, no requirement and no hunger to have to demonstrate to anyone else that I am in this particular state. I simply rest in it and if it shows, it shows, but there exists no pressure from within to have to prove that I am in fact "happy".
This concept seems to have evaded many “leaders” that I have encountered in church life over the years. I can recall far too many who were always prodding and pressing for people to be participants in their own particular brand of “hand clapping”.
It’s as if they had convinced themselves that if you will just “clap” when instructed, if you will just “repeat after me” or respond to what I am saying by shouting, standing, sitting, raising your hands or waving a flag, then I can assume that you must strongly agree with me and I must therefore be saying something important and this reassures me that I have value as a person.
The prophet Isaiah said... "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength"
Now, I am not suggesting that there is never a time to clap or express some form of joy or happiness, quite the opposite. I believe that if a person is truly content and at peace in themselves, there is bound to be many outward expressions of that joy that will be expressed from time to time. But I also believe that an authentic expression of joy or happiness cannot and should not be measured by ones willingness to “clap” their hands in response to anothers request to do so and neither will it ever be credible evidence that they are in fact happy.
If you’re happy and you know it, you don’t NEED to clap your hands.!!