Monthly Archives: April 2011

“Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He told you." Mark 16:7

I’ve never mocked folks who just show up to church on Easter and Christmas. Something has drawn them to the services, and it’s probably more than just guilt or a grandmother’s demands. There’s something there they want, and the “thin places” of our holiest days, when matters of the spirit are especially close, draw people to church. As a preacher, I don’t want to make them feel any more uncomfortable than they already are. I’m glad they’ve come.

Now I’m always interested mostly in the afterglow of such events. What do you do after you have drawn especially close to the truth? Here we are in the week after Easter. You heard a familiar story, perhaps packaged a little differently, but there were no surprises. Jesus really did walk out of the tomb. He secured forgiveness and conquered death. These two things are hard to wrap your mind around, but it seems reasonable to suggest that we should do something with such powerful truths. Life should somehow be different. What can you reasonably expect to do today and in the days to come that might make a more permanent difference in your life?

I believe that is the angel’s point when he told the disciples to “go back to Galilee.” They were all in Jerusalem at the time, holed up in a room darkened not only by tightly shuttered windows but also by fear. Why travel 60 miles or so back to Galilee?

Galilee was a place of beginnings. It was where Jesus began His public ministry, called disciples, taught huge crowds, exorcised demons, healed, and was almost universally acclaimed. By contrast, Jerusalem was a forbidding place of doubt, rejection, and death. Couldn’t the angel’s command for them to return to Galilee be a way of saying “it’s time to start over?” I think so. In that sense, the afterglow of Easter offers us the same opportunity. Life can be different this week from the way it was last week. What, then, should you strive for?

First, go ahead and give church another chance. I mean your church. Keep going. Hypocritical Christians and flawed churches are always cited by those who have left the church as reasons for their leaving. On behalf of all churches I plead guilty. Having been a pastor for nearly 30 years, I can well-attest that there are plenty of members who might be able to quote the Golden Rule but don’t even pretend to try to live by it. Churches can be messy.

But churches can be very good too, and I am a strong believer in the church. Frankly, I love the church and not simply because it is in my job description to do so. I find something endlessly appealing about a group of people who limp into a sanctuary together in the hope of finding some assurance of a good and loving God. Of course, there may be a lot of mean-spirited folks in the flock, but I was raised to look for the good and to overlook the bad. The church, your church, can be very good. That’s why you went on Easter. That’s why you need to go every week.

I think it would be a wonderful blessing to you and your church if you used this Easter as a time to begin again. You really do need the church, and your church needs you. Give it your best.

Second, let the goodness of the biblical message be a time for you to embrace that which is good and turn away from that which is bad. You do not have to keep making the same mistakes or holding on to the same old fears.

One of my favorite stories comes from one of Ken Chafin’s Easter sermons. After a series of Holy Week services he decided to spend 24 hours in prayer and Bible study, seeking a new personal message he could share with his Easter congregation. During that time he heard the Lord say to him, “Kenneth, you’re a little frightened; let me take your fear. Through the years, you’ve accumulated people that don’t like you. You’ve let that bother you. Let me take that away from you. Let me take away your defensiveness and insecurity and bring to you a sense of peace, of boldness, of love, of forgiveness, of openness, and the willingness to risk.” Chafin’s reply? “This is what I want at Easter, for the living Christ to come and take out of me everything that’s deadly; deadly to others and deadly to myself. You see, this is the kind of thing that Christ is trying to do in our lives, but sometimes we want to hold onto the things that are killing us.”

What are you holding on to that is killing you? Did you get a glimpse of how good life can be during Easter? That is part of your calling to return to Galilee. Take the opportunity.

Let Easter this year be more than one day. Let it be the beginning of a new and better life. Christ always calls us higher. Heed the call. May the afterglow of Easter be especially bright for you.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

April 24, 2011

“And He began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things, to be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed; and after three days to rise again.” Mark 8:31

I didn’t grow up with Good Friday. Literally. Part of the backwash in some segments of the Reformation was avoiding the Christian Year, and in my church we didn’t observe Holy Week or even Good Friday. Or Ash Wednesday or Advent or Epiphany, etc. And I didn’t know what a Maundy was. The cross was preached well and sometimes graphically, but we didn’t observe Good Friday.

During seminary, in my worship studies, I learned about the rhythm of Holy Week and came to deeply appreciate the need for observing certain days. Looking back on my early Christian years I think we were in a rush to celebrate Easter and we didn’t pause to truly consider the last week before the crucifixion. We knew the facts, but celebration was paramount.

The focus in the gospels is precisely the opposite. The verse for this week’s Gracewaves is the first prediction Jesus made of His death and resurrection, and it comes about midway in the Gospel. Mark records three such predictions, each one increasingly graphic (see Mark 9:31 and 10:33-34). Jesus intensely taught the disciples about His death knowing they would be reluctant to hear it. All disciples tend to rush past the uncomfortable details of Jesus’ death.

Not so in the gospels. All four pause for the last week of His life. Narrative time slows down. Details emerge. They focused on His death, and frankly recorded only a few of His post-resurrection appearances. In the very arrangement of the Gospels we see God’s intent for us to pause, watch, and reflect. Yet we are reluctant.

Take a moment to google Caravaggio’s The Deposition, and you’ll see what I mean. I’m not qualified in the least to appraise his artistic ability which is immense, but I do feel qualified to evaluate his theology in the painting. It is lacking, but familiar. The scene depicts several disciples taking Jesus’ body from the cross. Typical of his style, Caravaggio uses light and shadow to highlight the anguish of the disciples and the lifeless body of Jesus.

Now look carefully at Jesus’ body. What do you notice? No blood. No wounds on the feet or head. Perhaps a slight mark on His right hand. No wound on His side. The body is well-muscled, rather athletic. He looks as if He fell gently asleep. And that’s the way we like to think about His death, and that’s why we don’t like to pause during Holy Week.

But we must. We really must. We have to pause and think about the fact that He died a horribly cruel and brutal death. In the words of the prophet, we would not want to look upon Him. We have to slow down, like the gospels, and move carefully through the days of Holy Week. We need to think about the weighty meaning of a little three-letter Greek word that is usually translated as “it was necessary.” It was necessary for Jesus to die for my sins. Somehow, in ways no atonement theory can fully describe, Jesus had to die so that I might have eternal life.

When I pause during this week, I am sure that I will again be impressed with this thought: “I’m so sorry You had to die, but I am so thankful You did.” I believe Jesus’ response would be that He was glad to give His life for me.

One of my favorite Holy Week hymns is When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. To survey something takes time. We’re not to glance at the cross, and we’re certainly not to rush by it.

I urge you to take time this week. Pause. Survey. Give to Him your soul, your life, your all. That way you will be ready for Easter.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

April 17, 2011

“No test has overtaken you that is not common to all people. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the test will provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

We are more familiar with the translation that reads “no temptation.” The word Paul used, however, means any kind of test. If we limit the word only to a temptation to sin, then we miss the larger context Paul intended. Yes we all struggle with sin to a certain degree, but the tests come in all shapes and sizes, and they certainly appear to overtake us at times.

With this broader understanding of what Paul meant in this passage we can draw out some important lessons about the tests we face.

First, tests are the common experience of all people. Paul faced countless tests. Jesus did also. The tests are simply a part of life. Crying that they are unfair may be inevitable, but ultimately useless. Harold Kushner wrote, “expecting life to be fair to you because you are good is like expecting a bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian.”

You will have tests today. They are either continuations of tests you have been facing for a long time, or brand new tests. You also know that once a test is completed another, or two, will likely rise to the surface. Tests are part of the shared human experience. They are “common to all people.”

The second lesson is you do not know how far you can be stretched. Your estimation of your limits is vastly insufficient. Think about this carefully. You have probably already faced tests of such magnitude that if someone were to have asked you a few weeks ahead of the test if you could survive you would have said, “I cannot.” Yet you did survive it, and you will survive the next one.

Oswald Chambers provides a wonderful illustration. “A saint’s life in the hands of God is like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says—‘I cannot stand anymore!’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly.”

I do not embrace Chambers’ notion that God is the one doing the stretching. I think God allows the stretching without being the author of it, but the point is the same. God does not protect you from all tests, but He does transform the test. Your test serves God’s purpose of making you complete. God will not let you be stretched beyond your strength. Your single task in life is to trust Him. Trust that He will make you stronger than you are presently. Trust that He knows what your finished life should be. Trust that He will enable you to endure the strain you presently feel. You must trust God to know your present limit and your future purpose.

A final lesson we glean from Paul’s writing is that the test does not prove God’s impotency, but rather proves His necessity. Some people see tests as evidence God is either unable or uninterested in helping us. They turn away from God and from the very spiritual resources that would help them survive and grow. I urge you to see the ultimate folly in that decision.

Unless you believe you are somehow exempt from tests then you simply must move beyond the idea that the test is stronger than God’s providence. The greatest saints have been trying to tell us for thousands of years that God is especially present in suffering, not absent from it. No He does not preserve you from the test, but neither does He ordain that you face it alone. As Paul wrote, “God is faithful.” He is faithful to you. He has been with you through every test and is with you in today’s test providing a way forward. I need God when I stumble. So do you.

My recent experience of my brother’s senseless and untimely death has been one of the greatest tests I have faced. It has stretched me beyond my previous limit. I want you to know that the truth I have learned and been taught about God over many years has been confirmed in this experience. Without any shallow triumphalism, but with a quiet confidence I can affirm God has enabled me to endure. He has been faithful. I can bear this test. You can bear yours also.

Dr. Terry Ellis

April 11, 2011

“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

We find various forms of “do not be anxious” sprinkled throughout the Bible. Jesus devoted a great deal of the Sermon on the Mount to the crippling effects of anxiety and His solution to it (Matt. 6:25-34). In the passage for today’s Gracewaves, Paul again reminded us to “be anxious for nothing,” and he provided an important insight into neutralizing anxiety.

First, let’s focus on “let your requests be made known to God” (4:6). You need to embrace this call to pray about everything. God invites you to bring your burdens to Him. He is not wearied by them. He will not chide you for them. He understands them. One of the prophecies concerning Jesus was the He would be a “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). Because of what Jesus faced here on earth, God knows what you are facing each day. He is not surprised or disappointed by prayers about your burdens. Don’t hesitate or worry if your request is appropriate. Let it be known to God. He will sort it out.

Once God has heard your request in prayer He begins to work that request into the great equation of His providence. Please understand, God’s willingness to give you good things does not mean He will give you everything you want. God loves us too much to grant us the power to get anything we want. That kind of power would corrupt every last one of us. Only God can handle omnipotence. However, I can assure you I have never asked for anything I wanted and not received what I needed. So go ahead and let your request be known, but trust God for the form of answer.

Second, we find an overlooked gem in the scripture. We are to pray and ask “with thanksgiving.” This neglected quality of a rich life of prayer is infinitely important. Thanksgiving means we are surveying our lives to see what God has done already. As we review His multiple blessings and express gratitude for them, we realize anxiety about life is not our sole experience. Loss screams. Blessings sing. You can be so overwhelmed by the screeching losses that you begin to believe that loss defines you. That is never true.

Letting your requests be made known to God with thanksgiving provides a very important spiritual balance in your life. You begin to realize God has taken care of you each day. He has provided resources you would never imagine. You have survived and grown through experiences you thought would have crippled you forever. Then you rediscover a sublime truth: as God has acted in the past, He will act in the present and the future. God has a great track record. Trust Him with today and tomorrow.

I often come to God with specific requests. He wants us to be involved in His providence in specific ways, so discerning and praying for specific requests leads me more deeply into His heart and purpose. But I have also prayed often with no requests whatsoever. I may thank God for being faithful to me, and that I trust Him to give whatever He desires. God knows so much better what brings me joy.

So develop the habit of praying with thanksgiving. When you do, prayer will have its full effect. Like all spiritual disciplines it will bring you peace. As Paul wrote, “the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (4:7). Let His peace guard your heart. Nothing will get by. Nothing will take away your peace.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

April 4, 2011