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TerryLema

Can it be more simple?

by TerryLema

A new year. Seems like each new year lately has brought new social problems, new controversies, new debates, new political aspirations, and lots of other new “stuff.”  Seems like each new year I look to my own attitudes, my faith, my love, my desires to see if they have become more Christ-like or not. And every new year I am somewhat satisfied and at the same time somewhat disappointed in my spiritual life.

Someone asked me a question recently that brought my focus back to the simplicity of Jesus. Too often men complicate faith by adding their own sets of rules. The Pharisees did it to the commandments of God by adding rules and regulations that hampered the ability of people to live for God.

The church has been pretty good at that also. We like our details, our rules that bind our faith – even to the point of excluding others from it.  Yet, serving God is not complicated.

John tells us serving God is keeping His commands and doing what is pleasing. Then he takes it one step further and defines God’s commands (and surprise—they can be reduced to two). “…we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight. Now this is His command: that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us.” [1John 3:22b-23 HCSB]

Two commands: We are to have faith in Christ Jesus, and we are to love one another. Can it be more simple than that?

I sense that God is leading me to search and discover the simplicity of faith in Jesus this year – a straightforward faith bound up in two commands. I know God wants me to discover what really is pleasing in His sight, unfettered by the rules of men.

LORD, lead me by Your Spirit, change my heart to focus solely on You this year. Help me to discover depths of faith I have never know, and a love for mankind that never loses its passion. Amen.

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Disappointments

by TerryLema

I wonder how many people were hoping that 2021 would end better than 2020. If they were, they may have been a bit disappointed.

I know I entered 2021 anticipating that the v- and fear-pandemic would decline around the country and the world. Instead, it developed variant after variant, people I knew died, the media and science and politicians each tried to assert their own view. We were fed truths and falsehood and had to try to determine which was which. That was not easy. (Still isn’t!)

I also experienced a few personal disappointments that I need to reconcile in my heart. Suddenly, as I am beginning the new year, the first part of Romans 5 has become more vital for my life. Promises such as “declared righteous by faith” and “peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ” have become promises to cling to daily.

But it is those words in verses 3-6 that truly hit every day living “…we rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.”

Paul reminds us that “This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly.” [HCSB]

Our hope in God’s love does not disappoint us – unlike the events we experience in the world. God’s hope is a steady, secure, proven hope. It was proven at the cross … for while we were still helpless (and I don’t know about you, but I am still helpless apart from Christ Jesus) … Christ died for us (the ungodly).

Knowing that means that despite the disappointments found in this life, we can (and should) rejoice daily in the hope of God’s proven love! A great reminder for a new year!

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Feelings, nothing more than feelings …

by TerryLema

I am a bundle of feelings this morning, many left over from last month and some new ones from this month already. I used to be constantly overrun by my feelings, but over the years the LORD has taught me a few things. (Still there are times when it seems my emotions have control.)

One thing I have learned is that feelings are neither good nor bad, they just are. They are common to all people. How we handle our feelings, however, is what is really important.

Another thing about feelings is that feelings are not facts and don’t always express the truth. Many times they are far from what is true.

The third thing about feelings is that they are not to lead, they are to follow.  Scripture is quite clear that believers are to be led by God’s Spirit. “All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s [children.”  [Romans 8:14 HCSB]

Being led by the Spirit of God is the same thing as walking with the Spirit. That is not always easy because walking with the Spirit is not simply a matter of passive surrender. It means we actively and knowingly yield to His control. We follow His lead with purpose. We allow Him to exert His influence over our decisions, our choices, our activities, our attitudes, and yes, even our emotions.

Believers do not need to pray for the Spirit’s leading, because He is already doing that. What we need is to seek for willingness and obedience to follow His leading.

So, feelings, get in line with the Spirit’s leading!

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Goodness of the LORD

by TerryLema

Standing at the beginning of a new year, filled with questions about what this year will hold. I know I will spend some of the time looking back, wondering if I did all I could, wondering if I should have done something differently.

I know I will also spend time looking ahead, seeking for what the LORD has for me in this new time of life. Retirement is something I have not really done before. I did “retire” from an administrative role at St. Luke’s a while back, but somehow “retirement” and serving the LORD seem like an oxymoron.

I woke up recently with the opening verse of Psalm 27 going through my mind.  “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom should I be afraid?” [vs 1 HCSB]

As I read through the Psalm, I was drawn to verse 13.  “I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.”  [HCSB]

I am certain that I have repeatedly seen the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Perhaps looking ahead to not only a new year but a new chapter, I should turn that verse into my prayer this year.

“LORD, show me your goodness this year. Show me, while I still have breath in this old body, how to acknowledge Your goodness and lead others to Your goodness. My life has changed, but You have not. My desire remains to serve You as long and as strong as I can. Grant me that promise, to see and share Your goodness in this land. I wait expectantly. Amen.”

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by TerryLema

After the last few chapters of Luke, this chapter awakens the soul to joy!

What must it have been like when the women went to the tomb that Sunday morning and found the stone rolled away and heard the greatest announcement? “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” [vs 5 HCSB]

Why, indeed!  Jesus was not in that tomb. The women were reminded that this was exactly what Jesus had said must happen.  Then the women … yes women … ran to the disciples to announce that Jesus was alive! “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things.” [vs 10 HCSB]

I find that most amazing. God used women to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. This was at a time when the word of women carried no weight. In Jesus’ day their testimony was even considered inadmissible in a court of law.

But no matter the gender of the messenger, it is the message which brings peace and comfort to the soul. Our LORD Christ Jesus is not in the tomb. He is Risen! And now He brings that Resurrection Life to us.

Christmas is about so much more than a simple story of a couple that could not find lodging and ended up having their baby born in a shelter for animals. Christmas without the cross would not exist. And the cross without Christmas would just be another case of capital punishment in the Roman era. Christmas and the Cross need each other.

And God’s magnificent exclamation point is the Resurrection! Without that, we would never celebrate Christmas or Easter!

Our LORD Christ Jesus, Immanuel (God with us!) came to seek and save the lost. Us. He became a helpless babe born in humble circumstances. He died on a Roman Cross and was buried. And then, rose from the grave. “Why seek the living among the dead!”

Why, indeed!

 

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Today (Luke 23)

by TerryLema

Today we read of the trial before Pilate, the crucifixion, death, and burial of our Lord Jesus. It is a sad chapter with very little to rejoice in, except for a wonderful promise found in verse 43.

Jesus was crucified between two criminals.  One of the criminals yelled insults at Him. “Aren’t You the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!”, while the other rebuked the first. “Don’t you even fear God since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” [vs 40-42]

Then this second criminal did something amazing, he turned to Jesus and made a request. “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom,” and Jesus did something even more amazing! He made that criminal a promise. “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.” [vs 42-43]

My grandfather was an atheist. My grandfather also loved me. He would take me to the “French Club,” the neighborhood bar in Charleroi, PA, buy me a soda and set me on the bar’s counter while he drank beer with his buddies.

My parents moved out of Charleroi, and I started school in a Catholic school in Sewickly, PA. There I learned about God. I began to send letters to my grandfather about faith—about salvation as a first and second grader knew it.

When my grandfather lay dying, he asked my aunt to call the priest, which she did. The priest led him through the sinner’s prayer where my grandfather renounced his sins and accepted Jesus as his Savior. He died shortly after. When they cleaned his room, they found all my letters under his mattress.

My grandfather made heaven just like that criminal on the cross next to Jesus. He did nothing to earn salvation, he didn’t understand faith and salvation probably much more than I did … but Christ Jesus saw his heart and brought him into the kingdom. I so look forward to meeting him again when we all gather around the throne.

Praise His Wondrous Name, Amen.

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The Final Days (Luke 22)

by TerryLema

Luke 22 begins the final days of the life of Christ Jesus on earth in His first coming. What Jesus had to deal with in this chapter alone is almost beyond belief.

Judas meets with the religious leaders to plot to betray his friend and teacher.

At His last supper with His disciples, the disciples are arguing over who is going to be the greatest.

Jesus tells Peter that he is going to deny his LORD three times before the night is over.

He sweats great drops of blood in Gethsemane as He wrestles with the plan of God and drinking the cup of wrath filled with the sins of the world, all the while His disciples catch up on their sleep.

He is betrayed by a kiss as a mob comes to capture Him.

He hears Peter’s three denials.

He is blindfolded, mocked, and beaten.

He is condemned to death by the religious leaders.

As I read this chapter, my heart aches. Most of this chapter happens at night and the words Jesus speaks in verse 53 stop me every time I read them. “…But this is your hour—and the dominion of darkness.”

The Booth Brothers sing a medley called, “In Christ Alone,” and some of the words from that medley always break my heart. “There in the ground His body lay/Light of the world by darkness slain….”

This truly was the hour of darkness, the hour of judgment and wrath. And my precious LORD Christ Jesus faced it all—endured it all—for me, for you, for us.

The Booth Brothers - In Christ Alone (Medley) [Live] - Bing video
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A Gift (Luke 21)

by TerryLema

Luke 21 is primarily a prophetic chapter. Jesus tells His listeners about the Destruction of the Temple, Signs of the End of the Age, the Destruction of Jerusalem, The Coming of the Son of Man, a Parable about a Fig Tree, and finally the need for Watchfulness.

Whew! By the time you get through reading all those heavy prophecies, you almost forget how the chapter begins, with the Widow’s Gift. [vs 1-4]

While in the temple, Jesus spotted a poor widow. She brought an offering to the temple treasury located in the Court of the Women. She brought two tiny coins and dropped them into chests called “trumpets.” The chests were called trumpets because they were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.

Jesus witnessed her gift and noted that “This poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

I remember an event that changed my life decades ago. I was Associate Pastor at Loomis First Assembly. I was in my office working on a Sunday School lesson. I was also drinking a lot of coffee! The restrooms were located on the other side of the foyer, and I made many trips across it that morning. As I did so I repeatedly ignored the trash on the floor left over from Sunday.

On one of my last trips across I saw an older woman, a very sweet simple lady who loved the LORD and did not hesitate to tell people of that love. She was bent over picking up the trash that I had walked past all morning. I heard the LORD speak to my spirit. “She has done more for me with her simple act than you have done with all your preparations and lesson plans.”

I will never forget His Words. I realized that like that poor widow, this woman had put her gift, all she had, before the LORD that morning out of her love for Him, while my heart had been far from Him in my arrogance thinking that my lessons for Sunday were too important to stop and pick up the trash.

I never forget that—ever. It is not the size or importance of the act before men, it is the attitude of the heart that pleases the LORD.

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The Chief Cornerstone (Luke 20)

by TerryLema

Jesus gives us the Parable of the Vineyard Owner in Luke 20:9-19. It is a parable about a man who leased a vineyard to tenant farmers, a common practice of His day. The owner expected a portion of the harvest, but the tenant farmers treated shamefully each of the servants he sent to collect some of the fruit. Eventually the owner decides to send his “beloved son” expecting him to be treated with respect.

Instead, the tenant farmers plot to kill the owner’s son. When the owner of the vineyard hears his son has been killed, he decides to come and destroy the tenant farmers. The scribes and chief priests who hear this parable know that it has been spoke about them.

Jesus then quotes Psalm 118:22: “The stone that the builders rejected—this has become the cornerstone.”

The Jewish leaders had no place in their plans for the Son of God. God, however, will vindicate His Son, who is the “Stone. He will give him the place of preeminence by making Him the “Chief Cornerstone,” a stone which carries the key foundational role. That “Chief Cornerstone” is indispensable and holds the place of greatest honor

Not only will God vindicate His Son, but all those who oppose Him will meet destruction. It is risky business to stand in opposition to the precious stone whom God has exalted.

The scribes and chief priests who were listening acknowledged the truth of Jesus’ statement by their reaction. “Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on Him that very hour, because they knew He had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.” [vs 19 HCSB]

Opposition to Jesus grows more intense. The scribes and chief priests know that their position is being challenged. They seek ways to arrest Jesus, but for now He is still too popular with the people. They need to seek a way to discredit Him and reverse His popularity.

It is not easy to surrender everything to Jesus the Chief Cornerstone but considering the alternative (having that Stone crush any who refuse to), it is a splendid choice.

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