Monthly Archives: September 2010

“I am the Alpha and the Omega.” Revelation 22:13

Revelation is hard in the details, but easy in the general message. Written during a time of great upheaval and threat to the church, God’s Revelation to John was a simple encouragement to persevere. Nero may reign in Rome, but God reigns from heaven. Therefore, every Christian should remain faithful and trust that God will work in spite of the very worst in the world.

One of the most familiar phrases from Revelation, “I am the Alpha and the Omega” takes us to the very heart of this challenging book. We find the phrase three times in the book (1:8, 21:6, and 22:13), the first two times from God, the third time from Jesus. Any of you that have had Sunday School 101 know that these two Greek letters are the first and last of the alphabet. What Jesus meant was that He was the A – Z, the first and last and all things in between. He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent How does this apply on a Monday morning?

First, you cannot leave Jesus on Sunday, or any other segmented time of the week or day. Good religion is concerned about the details of life and infuses the rhythm of grace into every hour and every task. If you want to be truly frustrated, just try relegating Jesus to a Sunday service and become more “practical” during the week. May God preserve us from this kind of practicality!

The abundant life Jesus came to give is precisely that: abundant and life. The Christian life is life in its totality, not just a set of practices and commitments designed to create a slight patina of spirituality or a religious addendum to a well-ordered life. Your challenge on a Monday morning is to view your work through your eyes of faith. In fact, that is your duty. Jesus is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end and all things in between. Don’t try to leave Him on Sunday only.

Second, the all-encompassing nature of Jesus means that He is already a part of every hour of your life. He is there with you. Right now.

Remember the old home movies families would make 40 or more years ago? This technology is hopelessly antiquated, but it operated on a very clever mechanical principle. Each frame captured a different moment in the action. Play the frames over a bright light and the figures appear to move.

Now your life is a movie, a series of frames depicting each moment. The fact that Jesus is the alpha and omega means that He is in every frame. Every frame. One reason so many people struggle with anxiety is that they imagine frames in the future in which Jesus is absent. That will never happen, and you cannot live in fear of an exception. You do not know what the frames of this week will contain, but you must trust that the Alpha and Omega is with you during each moment.

The gospel in its fullness is equal parts comfort and challenge, assurance and warning. The fact that Jesus is the alpha and omega is certainly not a call to simply relax and know that all will be well. It is a call to trust and maintain a muscular perseverance and tenacious trust no matter what comes.

I would often conclude worship services with the words, “Let what you do here on Sunday make a difference in the way you live on Monday and throughout the remainder of the week.” Jesus is the alpha and omega of Monday and every day. Live each moment in His comforting and challenging presence.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

September 27, 2010

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18

Two years ago Maria Chapman died. You might remember the story of how this little girl, the daughter of singer Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman, was killed accidentally in her driveway by a car driven by an older sibling. The pain of that kind of loss is beyond measure. All talk of heaven, joy, God’s purpose and providence, etc. risks sounding terribly empty, even offensive. Can darkness can become so deep that even light cannot penetrate?

All death is offensive because it never was a part of God’s plan. It is the result of The Breaking, the sin that broke God’s original intent and severed the closeness of the relationship Adam and Eve first enjoyed with God. While thankfully most of us will not experience the intense suffering of the death of a child, we all experience degrees of this darkness whenever someone we love dies.

In this week’s text Paul pointed to the future, to a time when the brightness of God’s glory will vanquish all thoughts of the present darkness. The specific promise is in the key phrase, “the glory that is to be revealed in us.”

Glory is a slippery word, but we can approach its meaning by substituting the word “personality.” When God reveals His glory, or when Jesus prayed that the Father would be glorified through Him, we are to understand that we will see more of God’s true nature at a particular time or in an event.

Now let’s look at another part of this week’s text. Most every translation has the final prepositional phrase translated as “to us” as in “God’s glory will be revealed to us.” I think the better translation, the one that reflects the full texture of the scripture, is that God’s glory will be revealed in us (completely likely in the Greek grammar and syntax, for the preposition means to, in, into, etc.). This translation emphasizes the personal and relational nature of God’s plan. Let me explain.

What attracts you to someone you love, or what you love about someone, is a reflection of God’s glory or His image that He has placed in every person. You love a child for the joy, laughter, or sweetness they bring. You are loving that reflection of God’s glory. When you love a spouse for their acceptance of you, or their faithfulness, etc. you are loving the reflection of God’s glory. A friend’s steadiness and easy companionship is a reflection of God’s glory.

In heaven God’s image or God’s glory in that loved one will be completely revealed. What you loved about him or her will be multiplied and clarified. The problem with God’s glory simply being revealed to us in heaven is that it makes us sound like tourists where we get to see God’s glory. Not exactly. You are God’s glory and will be so fully in heaven. So is the person you have lost. That’s why Paul wrote that His glory will be revealed in you. That is the personal nature of God’s glory.

A few months ago, my Aunt Ruby died at 100. I recalled the two-fold comfort I have at the funeral of every relative or friend: “she is whole, and I will see her again.” Everything I loved about Aunt Ruby is now completely burnished and brilliant. In fact, even the way I loved her here pales next to my ability to love her in heaven, for there God’s glory will be revealed fully in her and in me. We will be recreated and new. That is the practical aspect of God’s glory.

Like the Chapmans, you may have lost someone you love dearly, or perhaps you are about to. Romans 8:18, and other passages, will never take away the present suffering. That’s not what Paul meant. Certainly what he did mean, however, is that we can only imagine how wonderful heaven and the ones we love will be.

At some point in my life, in my favorite Bible, I wrote the words “I choose to believe” in the margin next to Romans 8:18. That choice is the key. You must choose to believe that God will provide a future dawn brighter than the present night. In fact, there is no comparison.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

“Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:7

The text comes from the section on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus encouraged us to not be like unbelievers whose prayers were full of repetitive, empty phrases designed to get the attention of a god. “Do not be like them,” Jesus taught, and then added an explanation that Christians often misunderstand, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” What did Jesus mean?

First, this teaching is an encouragement to pray, not an excuse to remain silent. Many people say something along this line: “if God already knows what I need, then what is the use of praying and asking Him?” Pause for a moment and think about this. Do you really think Jesus would have taught anything that would discourage you from prayer? Of course not!

Jesus was contrasting the Gentiles’ gods and God your Father. The former are no gods at all, unable to hear, and unable to respond. By contrast, your Father is already aware of you and your needs. He wants to hear you. This text is an encouragement to pray to your Father who dearly loves and listens to you.

Second, this teaching highlights God’s nature. His nature is love, or as John wrote “God is love” (1 John 4:7 and 4:16). I’m not belaboring the obvious, but trying to help you get to the core of what grace is. God does not love reluctantly nor does He even have to decide to love. Love is God and all of His actions issue from that nature. He is the perfect coalescence of nature, purpose, and action.

Ironically, some people are a bit suspicious of “too much emphasis” on grace, as if to say that if we talk about grace then people are going to start manufacturing meth (i.e. sinning that grace may abound). Don’t go down that route! Grace never leads to licentiousness. It invites us to a more trusting relationship with God, not rebellion against Him. As hard as it is to understand, your actions do not alter God’s love for you, for you cannot alter God’s nature. Your best option is to simply accept grace and learn how it enables your devotion to God in ways that self-generated morality never can.

Finally, the fact that God knows what you need highlights His providence. Your prayers about your needs, worries, fears are not new to God. You have not informed Him of anything He did not already know, but the fact that He already knows means that He is already working to meet your need. He has already anticipated it.

Don’t be trite with providence by reducing it solely to an effort to get every material blessing you want. Providence works first at the micro level of the soul where God transforms and conforms you to the image of His Son, and then God moves out from there. So yes, God does delight in giving good gifts to His children (Matt. 7:11), and His knowledge enables Him to provide the very best to you.

Go ahead now and tell God what He already knows, but do it as a loving son or daughter. Talk to Him and trust Him. He wants to hear you, and He meets your prayers with His love and openness.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

“This is why I left you on Crete” (Titus 1:5)

Titus was not happy. Though he was a long-time and able assistant, Paul had given him the task of serving as pastor to the Christians on Crete. It was a tough assignment.

Even Paul acknowledged the long and sordid tradition of the Cretans. He quoted the proverb common in that day, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” Then he added, “This testimony is true.” (see Titus 1:12-13). That saying is from Epimenides, a Cretan poet. In fact, the ancients created a word “to Cretanize” that meant to be a liar.

This is where Titus was assigned. What a reward!! “Thanks a lot, Paul!” It was a genuinely tough place to be a Christian and to be a minister.

Have you ever lived in Crete? Not literally, of course, but in terms of being in a very tough place to be a Christian? Maybe where you are today is hard on your faith. You are not finding much encouragement or much appreciation. Maybe your environment is hostile to faith, or indifferent, or hypocritical. Maybe it’s simply the case that being a Christian where you are is not easy. Titus would understand.

And so would Paul. For this reason he wrote to Titus in the first chapter, “This is why I left you on Crete” (Titus 1:5). A tough place to be a Christian is often a good place for a Christian to be. You may not feel appreciated, but you never have to doubt your assignment. God needs a strong witness right where you are today.

Where is your Crete? Over the years I have observed a lot of “Cretes.” Your Crete may be the place where you work. Co-workers may not be hostile to your faith, in fact some of the folks giving you trouble Monday-Friday may be sitting in church on Sunday! But their gossipy habits, cutting remarks, and bad attitude is a drain. Remember, some Christians are not nice yet. You simply stay faithful.

Your Crete may be your family. Why is it that the people closest to us sometimes bring out the worst in us? Your task in this situation is probably not to be like John the Baptist, “You brood of vipers!!!” Your task is probably just to develop patience. Be faithful.

Being faithful in your tough assignment probably does not mean converting the masses. You simply need to be Christ. Be the salt and light by living honorably, serving others, blessing even when you are cursed. Resist the urge to try and measure your impact. Only God knows that.

Of course, it’s hard. Most of time it is. You take a great stride in your faith when you realize that the Christian life consists mainly of a long and trusting obedience. Be faithful where you are. God notices, and God honors. And trust me, God will use your faithfulness to bring His grace into someone’s life.

By the way, Titus apparently refused to give into disappointment and refused also to regard any man as hopeless. He labored faithfully, and the Christian church survives to this day on Crete, due in part to his long obedience to being faithful where God put him.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis