Focus our Lives Around the Cross

 

First, Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again. Secondly, that he needed to refocus his life around the cross. Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”  Jesus was talking about refocusing our lives around the cross.  Only what Christ does on the cross will last.  When we die, only the cross of Christ will make the difference between heaven and hell.

         

Nicodemus knew the story of Moses and the bronze snake he held up for the disobedient people to look at and be healed. (Numbers 21:8-9)  Moses told the disobedient Jews in the wilderness to look up at the bronze serpent he held on a pole.  “Look up and be healed,” he said.  “Look up and live.”  To this day the symbol of the profession of medicine is a snake on a pole. 

 

 

 

 

Nicodemus did not know that Jesus would be crucified, but Jesus knew it.  Jesus spoke this eternal truth:  “Look up at the Son of Man on the cross and you will be healed and forgiven.  Look up and find real life.”

 

Elsewhere Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a wealthy man to enter the kingdom of God.”  (Matthew 19:24)  The eye of the needle was a very low gate in the wall of Jerusalem.  In order to get in, you had to get down and crawl through the low opening. That isn’t easy for a camel; neither is it easy for human beings, especially rich ones.  In order to be born again of the Spirit, we must be humbled by what Jesus did for us on the cross. The cross must be the center of our attention.

 

E. Stanley Jones, a great theologian, once said, “What gets your attention; gets you.”  If you gaze at money, money will get you.  If you gaze at power, power will get you.  If you gaze at the world’s values, the world will get you.  If you gaze at God, God will get you.

“I Will Give You a New Heart and Put a New Spirit in You…”

 

There are times when life gets a little stale, boring, and empty, when you do the same things over and over and over and over again. You go through the motions, but that inner motivation is not there. It happens to us in so many different aspects of our lives-in our jobs, in our marriages, in our religious life, and in our relationship with God. We become stale. We are washed out, worn out, burnt out. We all know that feeling. This was the same for Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a man who was going through the motions of religion without the inner motivation of God.

 

He needed to reorient his life to God's way. Now, I imagine that Nicodemus was a man in his mid-fifties or mid-sixties, gray haired, physically distinguished, accomplished, successful in his work. He was a teacher of the law, a professor of religion at the temple in Jerusalem. He was one of the primary teachers of the law. Now, according to the story in the Bible, he is "older in life," that is, an older man. That means he probably had about twelve children, all gone from home. He probably had fifty grandchildren plus ten great grandchildren. He probably heard that the eleventh great grandchild was to be born and he thinks to himself, "Another great grandchild. I can't keep track of all of their names. Nicodemus was a man who had pretty much seen it all.

 

In his relationship with God, Nicodemus was a man who was going through the motions. He knew the law; he was a teacher of the law, but his inner enthusiasm for God wasn't there anymore. It was not quite right in his relationship with God anymore.

 

So Jesus of Nazareth showed up in town, and Nicodemus had gone to hear Jesus preach in the temple. Nicodemus sensed that Jesus had something inside of him that Nicodemus no longer had. Nicodemus was touched by Jesus' preaching and decided to talk to Jesus.

 

He went in the evening so no one would see him and said to Jesus something like this. "Things are not quite right with me. I sense that you have something that I don't' have anymore. I am tired. My lectures are stale. I am getting old and slow. I am interested in what advice you would have for me?"

Jesus, of course, had this uncanny ability to look right into a person's heart, and he said, "I know the problem that you are having Nicodemus. It is not that you are old; it is not that you are tired, it is not that you are worn out. The problem is that you are no longer close to God. You have drifted away from God. God is no longer living in the center of your heart. Nicodemus, you need to be born again."

Nicodemus replied, "Born again? Take and push me back into my mother's womb? Come on, now?

Jesus said, "You don't understand Nicodemus. You need to be born anew, to experience a rebirth in your relationship with God. You need to be born of the water, the cleansing waters of God. You need to be born of the Spirit, you need to be born from above."

He is saying to Nicodemus, there is this kingdom, my kingdom, a kingdom of the heart, a kingdom of the spirit. In order to enter that kingdom you need to experience some profound change in the way you think and the way you feel. You need to open yourself to a new level of devotion, a new capacity for love, and a new set of eyes by which to see the world-eyes filled with compassion and acceptance and forgiveness. He is saying to Nicodemus what God said through Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you ..."

In the waters of baptism we are recipients of God's grace. We are born anew and our relationship with God is allowed to grow as allow God to have His way with us.

It is why we love the song, "Have Thine own way Lord, have thine own way, thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting, yielded and still.

Jesus wanted Nicodemus to wake up and to be aware that God's Spirit was alive and at work in the world.

 

Go with God

Pastor Qualley

We Can Take our Failures and Turn Them into Stepping Stones for the Future

 

The cross and the empty tomb are all about taking our failures and turning them into stepping stones. The disciples knew that the resurrection that really mattered took place not only in the garden that first Easter morning, but also in their own dejected hearts and sins in the days that followed. We see Thomas with his doubt and Peter with his denial. They had failed. They had been afraid. They had forsaken Christ when He needed them most. But God will not allow His people to be failures. Christ came to them and began a reconstruction project in their minds and souls. Out of the ashes of their failures came the most dynamic group of men and women the world has ever known. Now, with joy, boldness, courage and purpose, the disciples move out from behind locked doors. From all the accounts of the gift-spirit, it is quite apparent that this gift means action. This is not a gift to place on the mantel, or in a trophy case, or to hang on a wall with the other symbols of specialness. This is not a gift to preserve and protect, grateful for having been so blessed to receive. Rather, this gift sends us out as Christ’s representatives in the world. We are sent out as modern day disciples. We go with the strength and power of God. We go with His commission, “I send you.” And he follows it with the task to be about the work of forgiveness and the ministry of reconciliation and the word of grace. We are empowered to breathe new life into a stale world that yearns for a breath of fresh air, the hope of new action and new life for the 21st century.

 
God provides us with a foundation that will not crumble. About 80 years ago, Japan asked the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be capable of surviving an earthquake. When Wright visited Japan to inspect the site where the Imperial Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find that the soil there was only about eight feet deep. Beneath that was 60 feet of soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole he dug filled up immediately with water. Now a lesser individual probably would have given up right there. But not Wright, since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright decided to build it like a ship. So instead of trying to keep the structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated features that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock without damage. Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an earthquake was fire, because water lines would break and there would be o way to put out the fire. So he insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard of this hotel, “just in case.”

 

On September 1, 1923, Tokyo had another great earthquake. There were fires all over the city, and 140,000 people died. News reports were slow in getting to the U.S. One newspaper wanted to print the story that the Imperial Hotel had been destroyed, as rumor had it. But when a reporter phoned Frank Lloyd Wright about it, he said that they could print the story if they liked, but they would only have to retract it later. He knew the hotel would not collapse. Shortly afterward, Wright got a telegram from Japan. The Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged. And when the fires that raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket brigades kept the structure wetted down with water from the hotel’s pool. Frank Lloyd Wright knew about foundations. So does Jesus. He wants his followers equipped with the gift of the Holy Spirit: the Power of God. With that power, we can turn pain into pearls, problems into possibilities, and failures into stepping stones for the future.

 

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

He Can Turn Our Problems into Possibilities

 

In the book of Numbers, when the children of Israel finally made it to the Promised Land, God had delivered them from slavery, destroyed the armies of Pharaoh and parted the Red Sea for them. He brought them across the wilderness and made sure they were fed and had plenty to drink. He led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He led them to the edge of the Promised Land and said, “There. Go take it for yourselves. It is yours.” But first they sent a dozen spies in to check out the land. Ten of them came back and said, “They are giants! And we are so small! We are like grasshoppers compared to them.” This caused the people to tremble in fear. Because of their fear they went back and stayed in the wilderness for 38 years. They had to wander there until every last one of the original group died before returning to claim the Promised Land.

Far too often we see only the problems and not the great problem solver who is right there with us. Nothing is beyond Him, and yet we tend to focus on the problem at hand. We focus on the giants infesting the land, and allow our fears to take over. We forget this great God who has led us through the desert: this God who stands with us as pillar of fire; this God who tells us we can do anything. He will give us the victory!

One of the power tools that I enjoy is the chain saw. I’ve cut many trees and branches over the years with this incredible little power tool. I recently had to a repair that required taking the chain off. After putting it back on, someone borrowed it and returned it saying, “This just doesn’t work on the tree I’m trying to cut. I need to get someone to come and cut it themselves.” I was surprised by the conversation. This past week, I had the occasion to use the chain saw again. I started it up and proceeded to try and cut the tree. The saw didn’t  work. I turned it off to take a look at the problem. There it was: the blade was on backwards. Let me tell you what a difference it makes to have the blade on correctly. Now it worked like a charm. That is what I mean about turning problems into possibilities!

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

He Can Turn Our Pain into a Pearl

 

 

There’s a legend from the Middle East in which a sultan had his grand scribe compile a history of the human race. The scribe worked for ten years, and when the task was finally accomplished he went to the Sultan with 100 donkeys loaded down 500 years of historic lore. When the sultan saw this mountain of material, he was very displeased. He wanted something more accessible, so he told the historian to reduce the amount of material. The scholar went back to work, and returned a year later with ten volumes of revised history. It was still too much for the sultan to read. He finally told the historian that he wanted to be able to read the work in one afternoon. The scholar then went off into a corner of the throne room and scribbled something onto a sheet of paper. He returned and handed it to the sultan, who read these words, “They were born, they suffered, they died.”

 

They were born, they suffered, they died. Is that the whole story? No doubt life is difficult but you cannot leave out the presence of the One who gives strength for each moment of life. We can learn from the oyster who one day discovers a tiny grain of sand in its shell. Grumbling about it and rebelling won’t do any good, for after all the protests and complaints, the grain of sand would still be there. No, the oyster recognizes the intruder’s presence, and right away begins to do something. Slowly and patiently, with infinite care, the oyster builds upon the grain of sand—layer after layer of a plastic, milky substance that covers each sharp corner and coats every cutting edge, and gradually, slowly, a pear is made. A thing of wondrous beauty wrapped around trouble. The oyster has learned by God’s will, to turn grains of sand into pearls, cruel misfortunes into blessings, pain and distress into beauty.

 

The power of the Holy Spirit was set loose and gives us strength to endure whatever comes our way. Paul puts it this way, “All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me… In this world you will have much tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world… Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings of an eagle, they say run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Luther puts it this way, “Did we in our own strength confide. Our striving would be losing. But now a champion comes to fight, whom God Himself elected. Ask who this may be: Lord of hosts is he! Christ Jesus our lord, God’s only Son, adored. He holds the field victorious.”

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

 

A Matter of Life and Breath

One of the several things we all have in common is the sheer enjoyment of receiving gifts. While we may not always say so, our feelings are at least slightly wounded if our birthday is forgotten. Christmas is not memorable if, because of economic conditions, or because we were extravagant with gifts for others, our gifts were fewer in number. I’ve also observed that as many of us add years to our lives, the gifts we do receive are more predictable and much more practical. Gifts have a way of making us feel important. When we receive gifts we feel loved and accepted and affirmed and appreciated. All of those are feelings without which none of us could live for very long. To be the recipient of a gift, to be a “gifted” person, is to acknowledge that we are special; it is to acknowledge our uniqueness and worth as members of the human family.  Such gifts have a way of adding quality to our lives.

On the evening of the day of resurrection, the disciples are still, some 12 hours later, bewildered, confused and uncertain about the news which had been whispered to them by the women. They have gathered on this evening behind locked doors. And it is in that room, filled with fear, with doors and window pulled tight, that the risen Jesus appears. In the beginning, his appearing simply adds to their fear and increases their confusion. But Jesus says to them, “I want to give you something. Just a little something to remember me by: a parting gift, if you will!”

 

Notice what Jesus does not say about this parting gift for his friends, for the church. He does not say, “Well now, since the resurrection is in the books, and my ascension is not far away, I would like to give you something. So what would you like? You name it and I’ll see what I can do!” Neither does Jesus spin a glittering stage with flashing lights, filled with glamorous prizes with inflated prices and say, “Take your pick.” Neither does he take his leave with these parting words, “If you do not like it, you may return it; if it doesn’t fit, and you may exchange it. And it will not hurt my feelings in the least if you want to take it back and find something that is more you.” Rather, John’s recording of what transpired in that room is brief and straight to the point: “He breathed on them” and then he said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” It is the gift of the Holy Spirit. What a marvelous word-picture that captures the nature of the “giftedness” of the Holy Spirit. The very breath of Christ is the life of the Holy Spirit. The breath of Christ becomes the wind of the Spirit. The energy and warmth of the very being of Christ is the fire of the Spirit.

 

It is the same breath that moved over the storms of chaos, and brought order to creation. It is the same breath that moved over a valley filled with dried, scorched bones in order to restore life to a people before the eyes of Ezekiel. Now, on this night, it is the same breath which moves over a group of fear-filled disciples, huddling in a room of uncertainty, and transforms them into the dynamic, energy-filled servants we call the church. Life and breath go together. The common saying is that if you are not breathing, you are dead. One must breathe to live. This is also true in the spiritual sense. The breath of God gives life. Just a few verses later, John writes, “These things are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believe you may have life in his name.” (vs. 20)

 

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

 

Finding Your Joy

 

 

Jesus' prayer for us is that we find unity in purpose. He says, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. To be captured by Christ throughout your years on this planet and for eternity is to know joy. To believe that nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord is to know joy. You believe that as the basic underpinning for your existence and you can only be flooded with joy!

Even when your body is aching and even when you have had bad news and even when you are depressed, you grab hold of that promise, it doesn’t wipe away all of the darkness of life, but it enables you to know that a light shines brightly in the darkness. Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark: sometime, when you haven’t anything else to do, think back to the times when things went wrong, yet came out right.

There was once a man so despondent, his spirit so torn up by care and worry that he decided to end it all. He started to walk across the city to a bridge, from which he planned to jump. However, as he walked, he made another decision. He said to himself, “If, on the way, I should meet someone with a friendly disposition, someone whose manner would bring a ray of hope into my life, I will turn back.” End of story. We don’t know whether the poor man jumped or not. But the story begs this question: If, while walking toward the bridge, that man had met you, what would he have done? Would he have found joy in you? That is the question.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

The Joy in Service

 

 

There is Joy in service. Charles Spurgeon once said, “I cannot be happy unless I am doing something for God.” We’ve heard the text “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” A healthy tree is a fruit-bearing tree, and the only happy tree is a healthy tree. A healthy tree is a tree that does what a tree ought to do, which is bear fruit, and the same thing is true of a Christian. If you are healthy you will bear fruit; the fruit of good works.

A psychologist at Stanford University tried to show that real joy only comes when we are productive in our lives, or, bearing fruit. This researcher hired a man who was a logger by profession. He said, “I will pay you double what you get paid in the logging camp if you will simply take the blunt end of this ax and just pound this log all day. You never have to cut one piece of wood. Just take the end that is blunt and hit it as hard as you can, just as you would if you were logging, and you will get double the money you’ve been making. The man worked for half a day and he quit. The psychologist asked him: “Why did you quit?” The logger said, “Because every time I move an ax I have to see the chips fly. If I don’t see the chips fly it’s no fun.”

St. Paul writes, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Here in a tiny capsule is the answer to the questions of who we are and why we are here, “We are God’s workmanship” and we were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Deep in our hearts we know this is true. There are pleasures we can engage in that give us a temporary high, but the pleasure is fleeting and afterward all we feel is emptiness. But when we do something good, something noble and something sacrificial for someone else or for Christ, we have a good feeling that does not leave us. 

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

The Joy in Suffering

There is joy in suffering. Now I admit this is very hard to explain. It is very hard to understand but the light of God’s joy shines even in the midst of the darkness of suffering. You read through the Bible you will find this was the common experience of every disciple. Paul said in II Cor. 7:4, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. James said, “My friends, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Joy can swim in the stormy waves of suffering long after happiness has drowned. You see, joy cannot be taken from you by what happens to you. But joy can be taken from you by how you respond to what happens to you.

It is often possible for persons to be more clear-eyed in disaster than in prosperity. Isn’t it remarkable that some of the noblest literature of the ancient Hebrew was produced during the Babylonian captivity? Isn’t it remarkable that Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, often called the noblest speech ever made in America, came in the darkness of the Civil War? There is something about dark times that can inspire our most profound thoughts on the really important questions about life. The Apostle Paul expressed his firm belief in this reality in his letter to the Romans, “We rejoice in our suffering because suffering produces perseverance and perseverance produces character and character produces hope, and hope doesn’t disappoint us.” (Romans 5:2-5)

 

 

Psychologist Erich Fromm says that people are distinguished by whether they are death-oriented or life-oriented. But the roots of the difference are more than psychological. They spring from that deep level of our being where we decide either to adjust as comfortably as possible to things as they are (death-oriented) or to work as wholeheartedly as possible for things as they ought to be (life-oriented). We can take a lesson in this from nature. We have seen cocoons hanging from trees and bushes in the spring. The cocoon provides protection for a wormy creature which is in process of maturing into a butterfly. The beauty and grace of a butterfly is wondrous to behold, but full maturity does not come without a struggle. Biologists have discovered that the struggle to break through the cocoon of old life into new life is absolutely necessary for the butterfly’s survival. Without the struggle, the butterfly would die in the cocoon. Without the struggle, the tiny wing-muscles would not develop the strength required to fly free.
 

This world can take many things away from you. It can take not only your most precious possessions; it can also take your dearest relationships. But there is one possession it cannot take from you, and that is eternal life. There is one relationship it cannot take away from you and this is your relationship to Jesus Christ.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley