Lighting Up the World with Jesus
Imagine for a moment, that you are in a boat in the middle of the ocean with one other person and that person says, "I can't see any water." You might think they were a little crazy, but that is exactly what is happening today regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us John 1:10 that, "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him." The world is surrounded by the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus, like the water of a vast ocean, and yet people can't see him anywhere. His name is rarely referenced today in very many places. Even the church world is strangely quiet about Him.Where did our Lord go?Jesus told us that if He was lifted up the world would be drawn to Him (John 12:32). Of course that verse and prophecy was fulfilled when the Cross was lifted up. However, our Lord wasn't just talking about the physical lifting up of the Cross alone, but rather the lifting up of His Person and Life for the world to know experience and celebrate. Sadly, in today's world our Lord is a stranger to our society in everything from the family to political discourse. Many Christians rarely even talk about our Lord Jesus regularly apart from church related functions.
It's been an amazing week in politics. As of Tuesday, it looks like controversial businessman Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee for President after his main rival, Senator Ted Cruz dropped out of the race. Many of Senator Cruz's supporters and other Republicans don't feel Mr. Trump is a true conservative or conservative enough, triggering deep division within the Republican world. A similar battle is going on in the Democratic Party between Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. However, on the Democratic side, people seem to be fighting over who is more "liberal" and what it means to be a true "liberal." Invariably, all of this leads to an obvious question on whether or not people have the slightest idea of what the words "conservative" and "liberal" really mean.
If you ever wanted a barometer to measure how much trouble our society was in today you need look no further than people fighting over "who" can go to "what" bathroom. How much worse can it get? That, of course, is the lastest battle going on in America today regarding where transgendered individuals can go to the bathroom. This issue has now even begun to be talked about by presidential candidates and the media on a regular basis. There surely is no end in sight to this fight, as it has started to involve the federal government and our legal system. One day soon it may even move to the Supreme Court, with people being eventually told where they can and can't go to the bathroom.
Lately, it's been a little hard watching what is going on. It's been hard to watch our Nation being seduced by socialism in one form or another from politicians of both parties. It has been hard watching our young people being deceived with silly campaign speeches that imply stealing from a few billionaires will "save the world" and makes their lives better. It has been hard watching a majority of our tenured professors in academia relentlessly attacking this Country's foundations and our economic system that created their colleges and universities. It has been hard to watch people thinking they can create Heaven on Earth without God. So living in America these days has increasingly been hard with so many delusions and illusions that seem to define "reality" for increasing numbers of people.
Often time's truth seems stranger than fiction. That is surely what must be said regarding the opening of Noah's Ark in Williamstown, Kentucky starting July 7. The full scale, 510 foot model of the Ark will open this summer after a couple of years of legal battles about religious freedom, employment hiring practices and tax exemption issues. The Noah's Ark Theme Park will eventually employ about 400 workers, to manage everything from the Ark itself, to supporting gifts, exhibits and concessions. When finally opened in July, this park will be a major tourist attraction for Christians and curiosity seekers from all over the world. If you are interested in what is happening in Kentucky, you might like to check it out at www.arkencounter.com and maybe even plan a trip for the summer.
If there is one cry that comes from the heart of every true believer, it is to hear from the Lord. Such a cry is the desire to have a real and powerful opportunity to hear from Heaven and know what the Lord is saying to us. Such a desire comes from deep within our souls and is very much like a child crying for their father and saying, "Abba! Father!" as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians 4:6. Only the Lord Himself can meet the deepest need of being our Father, Lord and Savior by speaking tenderly and directly to His people through His Word.
While much of the Nation seems to be preoccupied with the "mud wrestling" going on today with the race for President, the story of greatest importance is being overlooked. Our current political chaos is only a symptom of a much deeper cause. The story everyone should be concerned with right now is the rapid secularization of the Nation and departure from the historic Christian Faith that helped to create it. This is the hidden story behind ever other story. It is THE story being suppressed by the media and largely ignored by many pastors and churches.
As we joyfully prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in a few days, it is exciting to see the Lord confirming this glorious truth to the world in an amazing way. The Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the 3rd Day, as He promised during His public ministry in Matthew 16:21. However, many have missed the Resurrection of Israel as THE greatest modern witness to our Lord's victory over sin, death and Hell since the apostolic age.
Do you remember where you were when you heard something about the Resurrection for the first time? The Resurrection is such an amazing event that it should be like a spiritual 9-11 that is unforgettable. How could we not be shaken by it? Surely that had to be the case for the Lord's disciples when they knew Jesus was alive. How do you forget something like that? It is the kind of thing that once heard it redefines your life and reality forever. Nothing else matters as much after hearing about it. Of course, that was the Lord's intent from the beginning.
America is angry tonight. Have you noticed? If you are not sure about that, all you have to do is watch the recent debates and rancor going on within the Republican Party. These debates are a good barometer of how many people are feeling......angry. Many Americans are surprised, shocked and troubled by what is going on and are fearful for the future.
One of the things that have recently emerged in American politics is the rise of Socialism. Before the election of President Obama in 2008, almost no one in the Nation even used the word. Socialism and its more radical cousin, Communism, were systems of government in places like Europe and Asia, but surely NOT in America.
One of the great questions that has been raised by many Christians and Bible students over the years is simply this, "Does America appear anywhere in the Bible?" Surely that has to be an important question if the Lord has a plan for the world and America is at the center of the world right now as THE major Super Power. Several books, sermons and articles have attempted to tackle this subject, but there seems to be little agreement about a possible answer.
Many of us will be watching the Super Bowl this weekend. Some people even attend "Super Bowl Parties" with family and friends that were planned for weeks or months. It is estimated that about 190 million people will be watching the game. Even the commercials are "super," costing about $5,000,000 for a 30 second spot. The Super Bowl has grown over the years to not only be one of the most watched events in history, but it has made legends and superstars out of some of the players. For some people, winning the Super Bowl is the stuff of dreams and reflects the ultimate glory of this life with regards to achievement and status.
All over the world tonight there seems to be a HUGE leadership vacuum that is building toward some sort of emerging crisis. In Europe, for example, the recent flood of unwanted immigrants from the Middle East, the growth of Islamic terrorism and a variety of unsolved political and economic problems with the European Union have created a great cry for new and decisive leadership. Few seem to have a clue about how to solve these growing problems and the failure to address them has spawned a variety of reactionary groups from ultranationalists to neo Nazis. Europe is in a deep leadership crisis it hasn't seen since the 1920's and 30's before World War II.
The central problem facing all of us today is how you establish truth. If truth ultimately depends on the individual and our "feelings" or personal experiences of "faith," you can see we have a problem. That, of course, is what is going on today. Our society has made the self a "god," with each person deciding what is right or wrong in their own eyes like the days of Judges 21:25. Perhaps that is why many Christians are unwilling to engage the world with the fact that Jesus is the truth and Lord of all. The Church knows our message is not well received and people fear rejection. Now when the Church loses its' confidence in sharing the truth, Christianity just becomes another special interest group like playing football or quilting. It is almost as if Pontius Pilate had been resurrected and is putting every Christian on trial again with his infamous question to our Lord in John 18:38, "What is truth?"
The greatest, single objection to the Christian Faith is its' exclusivity. That exclusivity is best defined by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in John 14:6, where our Lord says, "I am the way, and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me." That verse is either greatly misunderstood to mean a variety of things OR it means that Jesus is the only Savior and way to Heaven. There really are no other options. IF Jesus is the only Savior of the world, then all other faiths and belief systems are false and cannot save their followers in this life or the next.
Every January the President has given the traditional "State of the Union" message to the Nation. Historically speaking, it is a chance to look back over the past year and offer inspiring reflections of where the Nation has been and where it is going in the New Year. Instead of carefully reviewing the President's speech, as the media has done this week, it be might be a good time to reflect on the "State of the World" from the Lord's perspective. Have you recently asked yourself how things are going from the Lord's viewpoint? Can anyone really know?
One of the most interesting movies ever made was One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. It premiered in 1975, starring Jack Nicholson, and won 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The movie is a story about power, truth and control over people's lives. The movie is set in a mental institution and features a battle between the staff and patients over who is really "crazy." In the end, Jack Nicholson's character is deemed too "mentally ill" and given a lobotomy by the staff, thereby ending his functioning life and the threat he posed to the leadership. The movie leaves you with deep sadness over how power can be used and abused by those in authority.
As soon as Wall Street began its' New Year on Monday, January 4, the market fell about 450 points due to fears that stemmed from economic troubles in China. This opening day market loss cost the world's five richest people to lose 8.7 billion dollars of net worth in one day. The markets eventually "settled down," but the rapid rise and fall of the Stock Market in a day shows the vulnerability we are facing right now as we head into a New Year. Few seem to remember the most famous crash of the markets on October 29, 1929... known as "Black Tuesday" that triggered what is referred to as the Great Depression. Sadly, we are moving toward the same sort of economic unwinding of the country and few seem to have a clue and even fewer are doing much about it.
As another New Year dawns, the Bible would say there isn't really anything new about it. Sure, some different things will happen, but they are not really "new" things. No, if you stop and think about it, everything that will happen in 2016 has already happened before. All of our politics, all of our news items and top stories, already happened at some other time in history. The problem for many people today is that few seem to realize that life has been going on exactly the same way it has been from the beginning, long before we arrived on the scene. This replay of the past, under the label of "new," inspired King Solomon to write in Ecclesiastes 1:10, "Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is something new'? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time."
It's hard to think that some event might upstage Christmas this year, but it appears to have happened for some. There seems to be an amazing amount of "hype" out there today about the opening of the latest "Star Wars" movie, a week before Christmas. Hollywood has long used the Christmas season as a great time to get an audience out to the theatres. This year seems to be no exception.
If there is one area of our lives under attack today it is our sexuality. Our politically correct culture, media, government and progressive "churches" are working hard to destroy any concept of "male" and "female" and any attempt to define sexuality and marriage. If any pastor, parishioner, pundit, or member of the general public raises any clear Biblical standards about these issues you end up with a large target on your back. Of course at a deeper level, we see this battle as a continued war against the Lord and His Image in the world, as seen through "male" and "female" from Genesis 1:26-27.