Good Friday

Good Friday services aren’t really done in the independent Christian Churches very often.  This year, I decided to do one.  We really didn’t know what to expect, but all in all it went pretty well.  One of the Elders said that at anything on a Friday night in the past would pull in maybe a dozen people.  We had about 80 for the service tonight.  We have been running in the 130’s the past several weeks, so I feel that was good response!

I tried to stay away from people after the service, because I didn’t want the empty platitudes, I wanted them to be meditating on what Jesus actually went through for them.

I stole the idea for the sermon from Terry Bowland at Ozark Christian College!  He had said in class one day that “There they crucified Him” would make a great 4 point sermon, and sure enough it does!

1. There – The most unholy place
2. They – The most unholy people
3. Crucified – The most unholy death
4. Him – The most Holy Person!

I gave each person a carpenter’s nail as a reminder of the spikes that were driven into the hands and feet of Jesus to take on our sin. 

I hope people encountered God!

As a Dog

I got to thinking last night!  Yes, it did hurt, but that is not the point.  I actually was thinking about my username and blog name.  I didn’t actually realize that I was putting my user name as cyclicalvomit, I thought I was naming the blog, but that is ok, it creates a buzz.  Anyway, yesterday I was called cynical vomit.  I thought, well, I hope I don’t always come across as cynical.

While I was thinking about the name, I realized that it fits on so many levels.  Not only is my daughter’s disease cyclical vomiting syndrome, and I will regurgitate thing over and over again, it is biblical.  I was thinking about the sin in our lives, and why we always seem to come back to it.  Of course, that got me thinking about Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”  A dog keeps going back to the his own vomit, the very thing that his body had expelled because it was vulgar to him, we keep going back to our sin despite its vulgarity to us.

Paul struggled with this when he said, “I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15)  We know it is wrong…we have already bowed our knee before God and called it sin just like he calls it, but we struggle with it, we keep going back to it.  I remember asking a group of adults in a Bible Study to share what their greatest sin struggle was.  I pointed to someone, and asked them to share.  The look on their face was priceless.  Of course, I was kidding, but the point was that each one of us struggles with sin in our life.  Why do we do it?  Why can’t we stop?  Does this give us license to continue in that sin?  Of course not!  Paul addresses that when he uses the strongest Greek negative, ‘may gnoita’, “By no means” in the NIV is probably a little weak.  “Heck no” (probably not heck) would be about as strong as it gets. 

I guess what it comes down to is this…no matter who you are, preacher, sunday school teacher, worship leader, pew warmer, person outside the church completely, we are lost without God!  We have nothing if we don’t have redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ.  His work on the cross took our sins, and forgiveness is offered. 

Praise God we are forgiven and free!

No Crosses?

    I’m not real sure what to do with this!  This week my wife was at McDonald’s in the play place, and she got to talking to a few of the moms sitting there.  Now, my wife is an incredibly smart woman, and she will hold off on telling people that I am a minister as long as possible so that she can have a real conversation.  If you are in ministry, you know that as soon as people hear you are a preacher, the dynamics completely change, and most people quit being themselves. 

     Somehow, without really bringing it up herself, she got to talking to these ladies about church.  One of these ladies was really struggling with where to go to church.  Her family had tried a few churches, but had various (legitimate) issues with most of them.  One of her issues with a popular church in our area has me a little concerned.  In the visitor pack for this church, she said that there was a whole section about the cross.  It said that it might be noticed that there are no crosses anywhere in the building.  They said that the cross has a tendency to make people feel uncomfortable, and since they are trying to bring in the unchurched, they don’t want anything that will make people feel uncomfortable.

     I kind of wanted to say, “Well Duh!”  I am pretty sure I heard some smart guy who wrote a bunch of stuff in a book say that the cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing. (1 Corinthians 1:20)  Of course it will make an unbeliever feel uncomfortable, but that is what it is supposed to do.  It certainly has a different meaning for those of us who are called by God!  To us, the cross is the power of God!

     I wonder if this doesn’t go along with what my friend sprocket has been blogging on http://insipidgarbage.wordpress.com.  There is a point that we have to recognize that even though we are trying to save the lost, and we are trying to win them to Christ, there is going to come a time that they will have to feel uncomfortable!  Being a disciple of Christ is not exactly supposed to be a comfortable thing.  Think about the statements that Jesus made; “Take up your cross daily and follow me.”  “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”  Think of a Jew living in the 1st century in a shame/honor society when you hear this: “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”  “Love your enemy.”  How about the psalmist cries out to God to be broken, melted, and molded? 

    Of course, if we aren’t telling people that they are sinners in need of God’s grace, then we probably don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable!  I would really hate for someone to be uncomfortable here on earth…better that they wait for eternity!