March 26th, 2001
The Church exists to make a difference. In the letter to Christians, scattered and under actual or threatened persecution, (he calls them "suffering various trials".) 1st Peter tells us, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people," This is enough to puff us all up and fill us with pride and run around with an ego halo, BUT that’s not the end of the sentence. It goes on, "in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1st Peter 2:9
This darkness is addressed in the recently current popular hit song "Flood" by the group, Jars of Clay. Some of the words, "Rain rain on my face, it hasn’t stopped raining for days, My world is a flood, slowly I become one with the mud." And the solution is also in the song, "Lift me up, lift me up-when I’m falling, lift me up when I’m weak and I’m dying, Lift me up I need YOU to hold me, Lift me up, keep me from drowning again."
The four gospels of our New Testament describe mighty act after mighty act, of the him of 1st Peter, that is Jesus of Nazareth the Christ. And it seems quite clear to me that these mighty acts sprang from a compassionate Jesus trying to meet the needs of the people with whom he came in contact, so that they too could become whole people. When this kind of goodness was too much for the religious authorities of the day, he denounced their adherence to the form of religion while they paid little attention to the people becoming "one with the mud." The religious leaders then of course denounced him with the resulting palm waving parade, the last dinner, the final agonizing prayer and commitment, the cross and then the glorious resurrection.
Peter said to the Christians of his day, proclaim the mighty acts despite the threat of continuing persecution and death. At First Baptist we continue to challenge ourselves to become increasingly active in also proclaiming HIS mighty acts to those in the mud and also to those who don’t even recognize the mud they are in, or who think that mud is everywhere else but not in my backyard. Jesus will lift all of us up to a higher level if we let him. As we experience his Love together, the curtains will open and his light will shine in. And TOGETHER is the operative word. We are lifted up together or we are not lifted up at all. If we don’t understand your mud, you have to help us so his mighty acts can be meaningfully proclaimed.
Past Weeks Thoughts: