Sunday – Monday Connection

I hope that you had a wonderful Mother’s Day, celebrating God’s gift of our mothers – as we honored our mothers here by our children handing our flowers – and by Scott Salzman, in Kids Time, helping them see that we love our mothers, and our God, not just by our words, but by the way we live!

And Jamie Roinick presented his Eagle Scout Project, constructing a Prayer Path from our church to our Prayer Garden, and, in the process, reminding us that we have a beautiful Prayer Garden for classes and meditation….

Who Is Jesus? Our Lord for the Battle

On Sunday we continued exploring who Jesus is, seeing him as our Lord for the Battle between Jesus and Satan, Good and Evil – promising victory for those who use his weapon of intolerance and hatred for ways that are not his ways, and who use his weapon of love to overcome Evil.  (Revelation 1:1-3,10-11; 2:1-7)

In summary:

1. Last week, we saw Jesus as our Resurrecting Lord who will come someday to take us to Heaven.  This week, we saw Jesus “in the meantime”, the time before he comes to take us to Heaven, and also the time before he comes again to bring Heaven to Earth.
2. During this “in between time,” we are in a Battle between Jesus and Satan, Good and Evil.  Jesus lays out the battle in Revelation. It began when Satan, an angel, rebelled against God and attempted to seize control of Heaven. He was defeated and thrown to earth, where he “makes war on God’s children…seeking to devour them!” There was a time when I did not believe in Satan, but, the longer I live, the more I realize that there is such an evil power. We could not possibly do the evil we do to each other without his power at work in the world.
3. We are in the midst of the Battle; our souls are the object of the Battle. The question is whose side we are on. Jesus asks: “Will you bear the mark of the Lamb or the Beast?” Mother’s Day is the time to ask this question, because our mothers have such a powerful influence on us. In fact, the first Mother’s Day in this country was initiated by Julia Ward Howe, who called on all mothers to nurture their children to defeat Evil, seek mercy and peace, and “bear the mark of God!”
4. Jesus reveals in Revelation how we can chose his mark and defeat Satan. We focused on the beginning of Revelation, Jesus’ words to the church in Ephesus – which are words to Meadowlake and to us.  The way for us to defeat Satan is to accept and use two weapons that Jesus offers us, two weapons that bear his mark.
5. The first weapon is two-sided: Intolerance and Hatred – Intolerance for evil actions and false claims for truth – and hatred for the practices of “the Nicolatians.” Jesus singles them out because they were Christians who had compromised their faith to get along with the crowd; they worshipped in church on Sunday and the Emperor Domitian the rest of the week (condoning his cruelty and injustice); they participated in pagan rituals to curry favor with the powers-that-be. And they scoffed at Christians as foolish, claiming that the ways of Jesus are impractical in “the real world.”  You couldn’t tell a Nicolatian from a Domitian – they had sold out to the culture….
6. The question for us is whether our lives bear the mark of Jesus or Satan – whether our lives look different “on Monday morning” from our culture.  The truth is that our world is in the mess it is in because too many Christians have sold out to the culture; for the sake of “I’m ok, you’re ok” have tolerated values, priorities, actions that are not the way of Jesus; in order to get along and be accepted have adopted a value system of “whatever”!
7. “Whatever” is not the way of Jesus. His way is love, joy, peace, compassion, forgiveness, justice. But because too many Christians have tolerated the ways of Satan, the way of the world is anger, pride, violence, selfishness, love of money and things, injustice….
8. The results are inevitable: the collapse of our marriages and families and communities; violence among nations and on our streets; 75% of our teenagers saying it’s ok to cheat; 25,00 people dying of hunger every day; a frightening disparity in our school system between the haves and have-nots. And we seem surprised when a teenage drop-out murders a man to support his family…
9. Satan is gloating, because, in the face of the ways of Satan, too many Christians remain silent, and by our silence we tolerate and condone his ways – we bear the mark of the Beast.
10. The War is on, Jesus says – Whose side will we be on? If it is the side of Jesus, he offers his weapon of intolerance and hatred for evil. He calls us to get out of our chairs and go out to speak up and stand up against the ways of the world that are not his ways, the ways of Satan.
11. Who is Jesus? Our Lord for the Battle – for all who accept his weapons of intolerance and Hatred of Evil, for the values, priorities, and ways that are not his ways!
12. It is so hard to take up this first weapon, which is why Jesus offers another weapon which will enable us to take up Intolerance and Hatred – the second weapon (the nuclear weapon): Love!
13. Love is the weapon that the Ephesians, Jesus says, “have forgotten,” (that we too often forget)  and commands them to “do the things you did at first.” The things they did at first are spelled out in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: “You are rooted and grounded in love; rid of bitterness, anger, and slander; you are kind, compassionate, forgiving, sharing and sacrificing for those who have need.” If we love others like this, we cannot tolerate the ways of Evil. Satan will be defeated….
14. Mother’s Day is the time to gather as a family and commit to bear the mark of Jesus, to take up his weapon of Love. For it is only by Love that Satan will be defeated in our families and in all the lives that we touch!
15. It is by this weapon of Love that unimaginable Evil was defeated by a mother. Margaret’s story is too long to repeat here. (Listen to it on our website.) in summary, her family in Uganda was hacked to pieces by a troop of children soldiers, and she was left for dead, six months pregnant. She was saved by the Children of War Center.  After her son James was born, the commander of the Rebel troop (Joseph) was captured and brought to the Center. Margaret wanted to kill him. But a Christian woman convinced Margaret to take up the weapon of love and forgive him, for only by love could the Evil cycle of revenge be broken. And Joseph was convinced by Christian men to ask for forgiveness, for only by this act of love could the Evil  cycle of children soldiers be broken.
16. Evil was defeated by these acts of love. Today Joseph goes out into the jungle to convince children soldiers to give up Evil, to come to the Center, to put down their weapons of violence and pick up Jesus’ weapon of love. And Margaret tells her son James every day of the power of love to defeat Evil….
17. Who is Jesus? Our Lord for the Battle – for all who accept his weapon of love, even for those who are Evil! For by love Satan will be defeated, we will be victorious, and will eat someday of the Tee of Life when Jesus brings heaven to Earth!

Connection for the Week: Ask Jesus to show you some way in your family or somewhere in your world that is not his way; ask him to give you the courage to not tolerate and to hate this way of evil and to show you how to use love to overcome it; then speak up, stand up, and overcome.