Actively Seeking Rest

 Hebrews 3: 7-4: 11

            Parenting can be hard, especially when the children are small. Here is some advice that might help.

            Mary’s three small children were stressing her out. She complained to her best friend, “My kids are driving me crazy! They are relentless! I can’t catch a break! I’m exhausted!”

            Mary’s loving friend advised her, “What you need is a playpen to separate the kids from yourself.”

            “Great idea!” Mary said.

            Mary went to the store and bought a playpen. A few days later, her friend called to ask how she was doing.

            “Fantastic! I can’t believe how relaxed I feel,” Mary answered. “I get in that pen with a good book, and the kids don’t bother me one bit.”

            All of us need rest.

            Here is another image courtesy of a sister-in-Christ. Have you noticed the plethora of businesses offering manicures and pedicures? Have you noticed the high volume of business they receive?

            I know of wealthy matrons who love nothing more to get their nails done. I know of junior high girls who are working minimum wage jobs, and still they set aside enough cash to drop by the salon. (I have even known a few men who have gone with their wives or kids to receive pedicures!)

            Why do so many go? Why do some ladies even make sacrifices to get their nails done?

            This sister told me that it is not simply a case of getting ones nails cut. There is often a lot of conversation. The “salonista” is asking questions and finding out about her client. There is the element of the human touch. A connection is taking place. These females are finding—community.

            All of us need community.

            Ironically, we live in a day and age when people can find association in more places of the world than any other time in history. Thanks to the Internet, someone India can read my words moments after I push a button on my computer. Before the day is out, we could be having a conversation.  

            Clearly, communication would be taking place. I could literally make dozens of links like this before the day is out, but it would not be a connection. The contact would be sterile—machine like. They alone could not nurture a soul.

            Today, we have computers and smart phones. We have Internet by Ethernet; we have Wi-Fi. Clearly, in this world today, we are wired; but we are not connected.

            The preacher in Hebrews addressed these needs 2000 years ago. He proclaimed—we need rest, and we need community.

            This passage is going to teach us that spiritual fatigue comes from disobedience, disobedience comes from distraction, distraction comes from unbelief, unbelief comes from misplaced faith, and misplaced faith leads to disconnection.

            The preacher’s words are strong:

7 That is why the Holy Spirit says,

   “Today when you hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness.


9 There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years. 10 So I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from me. 
 They refuse to do what I tell them.’ 
 11 So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

It is an interesting phrase that the Preacher uses: THAT IS WHY THE HOLY SPIRIT SAYS… He is summarizing a statement we looked at last week. I might paraphrase his previous words in this way, “Because Jesus is God, and because he became a human, suffered, was faithful, and endured, let’s pay careful attention so that we don’t drift away; let’s fix our thoughts on Jesus. After all, we are his community. Consequently, let us TODAY listen to his voice. Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

What rebellion? He is talking about the rebellion that occurred in the Wilderness centuries before. He specifically refers to Psalm 95. You have probably sung part of that Psalm before. It starts out, “Come let us sing with joy to the Lord...”

Pretty joyful, right? However, it ends, like this:

Today, if you hear his voice,  8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, 
9 where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. 
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; 
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.” 
11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 
“They shall never enter my rest” (Psalm 95:7b-11.) NIV 1984

            (Try adding that verse to the devotional song. Trust me, it does not have a good beat, and you cannot dance to it!)

            Playing off that story, the Preacher writes, Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God (Heb. 3:12.)

            What is the connection with rest and obedience? Have you ever seen a child really cranky? What's wrong? Often, it is a lack of rest.

            How many times has your child whined and cried, and you said, “What you need is a good nap.”

            To which your child, with great tears and emotion said, “I don’t need a nap!” Yet, a nap was precisely what was needed—rest. However, your child did not trust your leadership, so he complained. This was active rebellion.

            That happened in the wilderness with the children of Israel. They were not trusting in God. Instead, they rebelled. Their lives were in chaos. Consequently, they were finding no rest.

            Another manifestation of a lack of trust in children is passive aggressive rebellion. You tell your child to go to bed and go to sleep. Instead, he-depending on the era-played games on his iPod, played games on his game boy, played games on his game board, or played games with his rocks. When you attempted to wake him up in the morning, how did he arise? Rested and refreshed? No. Tired.

            I see a parallel here. Sometimes, we don’t like where God’s leadership has taken us in life, so we cram our lives with as many activities as possible. (Perhaps all of them are good activities.)

            These can occur in those times that God tells us to rest; we can’t because we have too many things going. We have not trusted his leadership; therefore, we enjoy no rest.

            The children of Israel were guilty of this as well. God invited them from time to time to rest and wait upon him. Instead, they crammed their lives full of activities. These ranged from building a golden calf to picking up food on the Sabbath. Whereupon they knew not peace; they knew not rest.

            A heart that seeks to rebel against God actively or passively is a heart that is evil, because it is a heart that distrusts God. It is an unbelieving heart, and it will turn away from a LIVING God. That heart will not know connection, community, or rest.

            13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 15 Remember what it says:

   “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts 
as Israel did when they rebelled” (Heb. 3:13-15.)

             How do you keep from getting a hardened heart? You look out for each other. This is where connection and community come into play.

            Remember that talking earlier about how we live in a world that is wired but not connected? Let me offer you another image of that.

            Recently, I was attending a basketball game. I saw a young couple sitting in the stands.

            Back in the day, when a couple sat in the stands together, they would often squeeze together, touching each other, and you could hear them whispering words like “lovey-dovey” and “honey-bunny.” It would make you sick!

            This couple was not doing that. They were sitting side by side, each with his or her own cell phone in hand, and they were calmly texting their friends. It was as if neither existed in the other’s world. They were wired, but they were not connected.

            This can happen in churches too. Congregations can morph into a confederation of individuals instead of a close community. We are not called to be “isolationists for Jesus.” Instead, our lives connect, and we encourage and admonish each other to faithfully follow Christ. We may not be wired, but we are connected.

            We are willing to speak the truth in love, like this: “16 And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? 19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.

            The Preacher is warning these Christians, “You’re not hearing! The Israelites hardened their hearts in revolt. You’re heading that way!”

            It is like he is giving them a verse-by-verse commentary. He is proclaiming, “The God who pronounced judgment on Israel also warns us. History tells us we too can fall away (so did Paul, see I Cor. 10:12.) They were not able to enter into the land of promise because of unbelief!”

            I know this is not a popular sermon he is preaching, but the Preacher sees it as vital. It may be confrontational to us, but we need to hear it.

            I have in my notes a question I heard someone ask years ago, “Do you find yourself ignoring the parts of the Bible you don’t like? Herod did that.”

            Ouch!

THE HISTORY LESSON

Now, we can still enter his rest…

1 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God (Heb. 4:1-2.) NLT

The Christians of Hebrews received the same message as the Israelites: good news—rest was available. It is the same for us today. All we have to do is trust God’s leadership.

            You ever have kids that complained in the car?

            “Where are we going?”

            “To Mel’s Diner and then home.”

            “Mel’s Diner! Can’t we go to McDonalds!?”

            What is the problem? The problem is the kids don’t like the direction you are headed in. They think they know something better. They express this through complaining. (Of course, my kids would never do that!) The problem is—they do not trust your leadership.

            The problem with the children of Israel, and too often, with us, is that we do not like the direction God is headed.

            Okay, watch this, watch this, watch this: 6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

   “Today when you hear his voice, 
don’t harden your hearts.” NLT

            God is inviting his community to connect and encourage one another to access the rest that he offers—it is there for the taking. Remember this though:

There is a link between salvation and attitude,

and there is a link between salvation and behavior.

            Remember what this preacher has told us in earlier sections: hunger for God… fix your thoughts on Christ. Now he tells us that there is a correlation between our attitude, our behavior, and our salvation. Bad behavior does not condemn us; bad behavior betrays a disbelieving heart. A disbelieving heart condemns.

            A disbelieving heart was revealed in Hebrews by the Christians bailing out on Jesus. The Preacher is telling the Christians, “When you abandon the community of faith, you are demonstrating that your attitude is not right with God. Your attitude is showing you don’t believe what God says. You have put your trust in he words of people.”

            In Hebrews, the situation was rapidly turning into every man for himself! Because of the persecution, they were losing sight of what was important.

   The symptom was fear. The disease was abandoning the church.

   Now, let’s transition to today. What are the symptoms of hearts not trusting in God?

   For some of us, perhaps, the symptom is a jammed schedule. A life crammed with activity to conceal the emptiness we feel. This robs us of rest; this disconnects us from the community of faith.

Remember, even too many good things is a bad thing.

Have you heard about the python problems they are having in Florida? People have imported pythons from other countries for pets. Some of these pythons are escaping into the Everglades. In other cases, the owners are releasing them into the wild. Ultimately, these pythons are reproducing and multiplying exponentially. The problem is that they are feeding on the other wildlife at such a rapid pace, they are destroying the ecosystem.

I appreciate snakes. Pythons are good animals. A few pythons in the Everglades is fine, but too many of them kills off life.

It is the same in our daily lives. A few good things-is fine. Too many good things can kill off a Christian’s spiritual life, which in turn will harm the community of faith. Beware: a life jammed full of activities can ultimately lead to a hard heart.

REST FOR THE WEARY

            Are you tired? Are you stressed? You can find rest…because of heaven: 4:9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world.

            John, in I John, teaches that God’s people can enjoy a quality of eternal life here on this earth. It is a taste of what is to come, but it is a good taste.

            When we view this world through heavenly glasses, we best deal with the stress, pain, or even persecution that comes with a fallen world. Victor Frankel, who wrote about the lessons he learned in surviving the Holocaust, wrote that belief in a strong future means surviving a tough present. That is what the Preacher is attempting to do in this letter—offer an imaginative vision of a strong future in God.

4:11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

            This is the Preacher’s invitation before he announces, “Let’s stand and sing.” Do you know there was a song from the brush arbor days of gospel meetings? It was based on this passage in Hebrews, especially 3:15 (don’t harden your hearts 
as Israel did when they rebelled)

            It was sung at night because that was when everybody from town could meet. The words go like this:

Oh, do not let the Word depart, And close thine eyes against the light;


Poor sinner, harden not your heart,
Be saved, oh, tonight.

(Refrain) Oh, why not tonight?
Oh, why not tonight?
Wilt thou be saved?
Then why not tonight?

            This Preacher is calling for his members to respond. How about us? Let’s say our hearts truly yearn for God, how can we enjoy this rest today?

            On an individual level, I would suggest selling out to Christ, and, out of that commitment, selling out to his Body—the Church. His body becomes our body. His community becomes our community. We love his church like he loves his church. We prioritize to meet with them and encourage them.

            Second, again on the individual level, I suggest we program into our schedule each day spiritual disciplines that will help us keep the “pythons” from crowding out our lives. Prayer, meditation, Bible reading, fasting, individual hymn singing, and Bible study are all ways we can regulate our spiritual ecosystem. These practices can help us keep our hearts soft before God.

            Third, is communal. Your congregation can do what ours does. We have programmed into our assembly ever week a pause button for rest.

            Do you know what a pause button is? On your DVR, or DVD player, or VCR you have a pause button. That allows you to put all of the action on pause.

            We do the same each week. We got it from the early church 2000 years ago. It is the Lord’s Supper.

            At our church, you can count on one time each week, at least for a few minutes, where you can enjoy God’s rest in the community of faith. We mediate on Jesus and the cross. We ponder his death and resurrection… and the implications these ever-living actions have on our lives today. This, if we allow it, can truly be the pause that refreshes.

            May you, this week, enjoy the rest of God.

           

  

GLEE

            Have you ever seen the TV show GLEE? Well, I would not recommend it. There is too much in there that, as you would clearly see, I disagree with. However, I recognize that this show is extremely popular with high school kids. I realize this show is somewhat popular with college students.

            Millions paid attention when Chevrolet paid millions of dollars to produce and run a commercial with the cast of GLEE during the Super Bowl. Moreover, I take notice when a TV show takes the songs of my youth and makes them popular with my children's generation.

            GLEE is about misfits in high school who initially cannot find their place. Other students are mean to them–even cruel to them. And they somehow find themselves banding together in a singing club. Under the direction of a gifted director, these misfits use their talents to make beautiful music.

            GLEE asks a very important spiritual question, or better yet, expresses a very important spiritual wish. Wouldn't it be great if there were some way for misfits to join together and offer their abilities and skills to make beautiful music for the world to hear? And wouldn’t it be great if, through this process, despite their diverse backgrounds, somehow this group of misfits could find unity and, yes, even love?

            Guess what? God has the same dream too. He calls it--the church.

            The church is the place where God calls misfits from all over the world and empowers them to use their gifts to create beautiful music for the world to hear—to bless the world with the beauty of God’s love.

            I prefer to think of GLEE in this way:

G–God's

L–love

E–expressed

E–everywhere

           (This painting was done for a sermon by one of our college students, Calep Gonzalez. My iPhone photo does not know do Calep's work justice.)           

           Let the apostle John illustrate this in John 4. You have this woman at a well. She is an outcast. Jesus is with—what the Jews called—a sinner. She is a misfit. She comes to the well alone—even her Samaritan town has ostracized her.

            Jesus sits down with her. He begins talking with her. During this conversation, she begins to sense that this man is different. There is an insight that this man is real.

            When Jesus asks about her husband, she hedges a little bit. He responds with the truth: she has had six husbands, and the man she is now living is not her husband.           

            Now, she gets a glimpse of who Jesus is—God. As a result, she sees her own sin. Something is wrong here. She becomes very self-conscious. All she can think of is the need to sacrifice for her sins. Ultimately, Jesus points toward himself as the ultimate source of forgiveness for sins.

            At last, she begins to realize: "Here is a man, the Messiah, who sees me as I really am, and he still loves me."

            People yearn for that.

            So she goes and she expresses that she has found what everyone is looking for. Read John 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

            People hear her message. Misfits from her village come to Jesus. And they ask Jesus to stay with them. They tell him, in essence, “Now we know the love of God, and we have a relationship with him.” It’s as if they are saying, “Stay. Be our director. Let us form a group using our gifts to provide beautiful music to the world.”

            Ultimately, they do. Jesus leaves, but, even though they're not fully Gentiles (they have Jewish blood in them too), they are, in part, our ancestors. It is because of groups like this that we have the church today. Today, we descendants are making beautiful music.

            Technically, none of us “fit” into God’s Kingdom. We are placed into this Kingdom by this same Messiah, who sat at the well. If you trust Him, he will transform you, little by little, to fit into His eternal Kingdom forever.

         God will gift you to sing your part—and direct you (along with the rest of us) to make beautiful music forever. We will bless the King, and we will bless the world, with our music.

         Just the thought of this gives me great glee.

        

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. What a blessing it was to see my daughter, Haleigh, at Harding University last week. It was neat too seeing many of our kids from Shiloh out there. I always enjoy visiting with college students. I would like to think that it keeps me young.

2. I really appreciate getting to stay with my old Argentine teammates, Bill and Holly Richardson, last week. Part of the fun of Lectureship is seeing old friends.

3. I want the Longhorns to beat OU this weekend. I expect OU to win, though.

4. Texas Rangers—nice run your on the last 17 ball games.

5. Haleigh took me to see MONEYBALL last week. It was a very good movie; so compelling that I went out and bought the book. I would like to find a stat nerd to compile the variables on the tens of thousands of unchurched people in Tyler. If we could exegete our culture well, we could reach more people by going where the fields are white unto harvest.

What Church Should Look Like: A Place Where “Sinners” Can Come

             Several years ago, a movie was released called VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED. It was based on a true story. In 1939, several hundred German-Jewish refugees were fleeing Nazi Germany. They boarded a ship bound for Cuba and asylum. Before reaching Cuba, the ship was refused permission to dock and all visas were revoked.

            After being told they could not dock anywhere else, the ship was forced to turn around and head back to Germany. To many on board, that was tantamount to death.

            No one wanted to receive those Jews. Likewise, there are people today, who the church does not want to receive.

            Jesus cuts at the heart of this mindset when he says, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.

            “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:12b-14).

            Jesus knows that the human instinct is to invite friends, invite folks like you. Too many times, Christians don’t want to invite people they perceive as being much more sinful.

            Of course, the irony here is that Jesus was putting most of us in the category of the “crippled, the lame…,” because most of us are Gentiles. Jesus’ Jewish audience placed us in this category.

            To be like Jesus, we Gentiles, who were extended grace long ago, must welcome the sinner. Granted, this is easier to say than to practice.

            I will never forget in January of 2007, a young man in his 20s visited our worship service. Another guest had brought him. I found out, the young man was from a halfway house. Having recently been released from federal prison, he was staying in that residence, until he could more fully integrate into society.

            Getting to know him, I found out that he had been convicted by the federal government for transporting child photography, on his computer, across state lines. This crime had placed him on the sexual offenders list maintained by the state of Texas.

            I also found out that this young man had been converted to Christ, while in federal prison in North Carolina. Thankfully, the Shiloh Church, where I preach, had loved him sufficiently that he wanted to become part of our church–but only if we would have him.

            What I want you to know is this: our elders almost immediately concluded that, unequivocally, Jesus would have us welcome this young man. That would be a given. Our job was to offer him reconciliation, community, and discipleship. We were to offer forgiveness AND accountability.

            What followed was a process of trying to implement the will of God. (I blogged about that story a couple of years ago, if you desire to know the details:

http://markedgeremarks.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-do-you-do-when-convicted-sex.html )

            I am pleased to say that through our elders’ wisdom and leadership, Shiloh did not lose a single family or member. Moreover, we were blessed later to baptize the young man’s future wife into Christ; she has a marvelous testimony as well. Today, both of them serve on my sermon advisory group.

            I tell this story because it illustrates the challenge churches face today in living out Luke 14. I know of no other member of society more marginalized than one who carries the label “sex offender.” (Our Shiloh family member has had a TV station film the outside of his and his young wife’s apartment—a random act given as background for a news story on sex offenders’ in Tyler.)

            On the other hand, the blessings our church has received for this leap of faith have been incalculable.

            I hold no illusions. Tension will always be present. I suspect the act of offering welcome to those who feel genetically predisposed toward homosexuality will provide the tensest test for churches. Churches will experience a fluctuating “comfort zone.” (“Is he dating him, or are they just friends?”)

         Still, we must find a way to navigate this. We must offer a call for healing and holiness.

            I know we, at Shiloh, must leap out in faith even more. We must pursue, with deep intention, the creation of this type of atmosphere, where one who has strayed from God can come and feel welcomed. After all, all of us were there once. If you don’t believe me, just ask a first-century Jew. Better yet, ask the first-century Jesus. 

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

            

1. I started watching the movie INCEPTION Saturday night. Couldn’t finish it because I got sleepy. I will see the rest soon. All I could think of was, “This proves you don’t have to understand all of the REVELATION to get something out of it.

2. I’m pulling for TRUE GRIT and its stars in Sunday’s Academy Awards.

3. Spring training had started. I pay little attention to baseball until the season begins. Between spring training and baseball season, we have the Final Four for NCAA college basketball.

4. According to TIME, we are on the verge of being able to leave our wallets at home in favor of our smart phones.

5. Congratulations ETCA girls basketball team. Your beat Hill Country Christian 65-30, last week. Good luck tomorrow in your Area game vs. Wichita Falls Notre Dame.

Community, Cross and New Creation

Community, cross and new creation—these are three motifs that come to us from the pen of Richard Hayes. You can see these symbols in some of the passages relating to the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I understand there’s more to the passages; however, consider what we see in Matthew’s words,

20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us" (Mt. 1:20-23.)

Here you see community in that the father, son, and Holy Spirit and are working together. You see, symbolically, the cross in the sense of the Son denying self in His willingness to become human. (Philippians 2 talks much about this.) You, literally, see new creation in the birth of Jesus—God becoming a man—with the Holy Spirit facilitating this progress.

Since before time, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have related to each other; they are part of a community. In Genesis one and two, the Godhead looked at Adam and saw that it was not good for man to be alone. God created human beings to live in relationships, just as God lived in a relationship

as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, to reflect the image of God, it was necessary to create at least one other being there and so God created woman.

It is because he made a woman, this man and woman should begin reflecting what it was to be made in the image of God. And, of course, they go on to have children, and they show how to relate and live in community as a family. (Unfortunately, as you can see in Genesis 3-4, the first family also offers examples of how NOT to live in relationship and in community, in a family.)

Fast forward to the New Testament. It is interesting to me, when you get into the New Testament, you see Pharisees and teachers of the law, coming up to Jesus. Notice how they typically approach him. Did they come up to him and say, “Say, Jesus, we want to ask you some questions about marriage and how we can make marriage better or what marriage should be like?”

No, typically, when they go to Jesus, what do they want to talk about? Divorce. They want to focus on what should be, in humanity, the exception, not the rule. And, so, they want to talk about the negative and not the positive. You see this in Mark 10.

Back then, you had different thoughts from different Rabbis about what was an acceptable divorce and what was not an acceptable divorce. These teachers of the Law come to Jesus and, to test him, basically ask, “Okay, who’s saying it right? Who’s giving the right answer? Who’s teaching it the right way?”

In verses five and six, Jesus says, 5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'

Did you notice in verse 6 what Jesus did? He took them back to the garden. He went back to creation. And, what is he taking them back to? Is he taking them back to divorce? No, he is taking them back to marriage, and what marriage should be.

Then, in verse 9, Jesus says, “9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." You see what Jesus does? He makes another move. He takes them to what? Discipleship. The Cross. He connects marriage to being a follower of Him.

He paints this picture – if you are really serious about marriage – then, you need to understand there is a connection between marriage and following me. So, he very much plugs marriage into himself.

But that is not all. He is calling marriage a new creation, a work done by God. It is a community, like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit form a community.

And Jesus, again, puts marriage in the realm of relationship. This time he is talking about a relationship with himself – the Son. That is why, we need to understand, when we look at marriage–the manner in which one behaves in his marriage is an external symptom of his relationship with Jesus. Now, that’s very important and very critical to understand.

In marriage, you are a new creation, formed by God, living under the cross, for the purpose of building a godly community.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Time Magazine did a cover story on the iPad last week. It was a good read. I suppose this will be the salvation of the magazines and newspapers that are still left. In the future, probably a year or two, I suppose the PC companies will be coming out with their own versions of iPads. Of course, they tried this ten years ago and they did not catch on. But there is something about Steven Jobs that allows him to see into the future and begin a trend.

2. I saw where my buddies Tim Archer and Steve Ridgell are doing book-signings all over the country. I think we, here at Shiloh, are going to use their book LETTERS OF THE LAMB as a resource next spring when we study Revelation in our Bible classes. I really enjoyed reading the book and think it is going to be helpful for those of our church, who choose to make it a conversation partner. What I did was read a chapter a day and just spend some time thinking about the images from Revelation, practical teachings from LETTERS, and allow them to point my mind toward God. I highly recommend this book. (No, they are not paying me for an endorsement! However, feel free to write the authors and encourage them to do so.)

3. I read THE TIME TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO MEDIEVAL ENGLAND, by Ian Mortimer, over the weekend. It discusses life in England in the fourteenth century. I can sum it up in one word---“ouch.” What a painful life it was back then!

4. I survived the first sermon in my series on sexuality yesterday morning. Actually, I am gratified at the response.

5. Dare I hope for a good season from the Rangers?

Have a great week!