He built a table...someone was building a cross.

This coming Sunday is the second in the advent season and it is also The Lord's Table at Friendship Alliance Church.  As we prepare ourselves I offer a poem that came to me a few years back as I worshiped Jesus at the alter and Table in our sanctuary.

He built a table

With tears in his eyes

Each drop a memory

Strong caring hands had taught him how

Warm loving eyes had cheered him on

On the table he engraved his signature

The last of all

The servant of all

And somewhere, someone was building a cross.

He looked at the table

With tears in his eyes

Joy mingled with sorrow

An old friend bearing the tools of active humility

Friends obliviously feasting while feet he cleansed 

At the table he lived out the inscription

The last of all

The servant of all

And somewhere, someone prepared the cross.

I gaze upon a table

With tears in my eyes

Sorrow and joy intertwined

An old friend bearing His Body, His Blood

Constant His presence, permanent His care

At the table I become His endorsement

The last of all

The servant of all

Yoked through his passion proffered on His cross.

Steve Scarrow

April 27, 2006

Reflections on Matthew 25

Reflections on Matthew 25

Some random unorganized (yet) thoughts….

It’s all red…Jesus words.  No commentary, just Jesus teaching on what the Kingdom of Heaven will be like in that day.  That is, the Day of Judgment.  All three pericopes are actually part of one continuous teaching.  I am to live my life now exactly as I would in “that day”.  I don’t think Jesus denies the fact of growth in our lives, but He calls us to “live ready”.

Jesus calls us to risk all we have been given (our lives) to multiply the King’s “investment” on this earth.  It does not matter how many talents…even the one talent is worth about $600,000 in today’s currency.  What matters is the investment, and investment always includes risk.  After all, even the wicked servant is told that if he had taken it to the “men at the table” (the original meaning of the root word for banker in Greek) that he would have achieved interest (the word in Greek means offspring).  So, the Great Commission, as we have wrongly named it, is really the bottom line basic expectation of a Follower of Jesus…in other words, spiritual offspring (the making of another disciple).  That’s where we are supposed to start.  This is what the righteous do.  If I am righteous I will do this.  How many different ways can I say it???

Here is a Kingdom definition of wicked…One who hoards his life for himself, and never takes the risk of loving like Jesus loves.  One who hoards her life for herself, and never takes the risk of loving like Jesus loves.

“The least of my brothers…” as I study it is becoming clear to me that Jesus was not just referring to treating Jewish people well, or his followers.  I think that He was referring to the human race and to those who are most despised among us.  When we smile, love, hug, give a word of encouragement, feed, clothe, etc. these people we are doing it as unto our Lord Jesus Christ.  That’s what righteous people do.  We love because we have been given a trust and we are going to risk it all.  Righteousness finds its’ motivation in hearing over and over again the words of Jesus, “your sins are forgiven”.  The wicked do good deeds, but they do it for themselves, hoarding away the gift of life, all for self.

Will there be surprises on Judgment Day?

Colossians 1: 3-14   While we concentrate on the end times on earth our faith wavers and our fears grow.  It is our calling to firmly hold on to our eternal future; that is, our hope stored up in heaven.  This unlimited eternal store house is the source of our love for the saints (and for our enemies) and faith in the midst of life’s trials.  So much of our focus on the end times is fear driven thus giving a multitude of authors the opportunity for riches while the church starves from a lack of faith and hope.  While we speculate whether we will have no pain, medium pain, or much pain the world grows increasingly cold towards a church that knows little of faith and less of hope, while flocking to the soothsayers promoting spiritually coated “meism”.   The Bible teaches us to set our minds on our hope that is in heaven and cautions us to be warned about the end times.  It appears that we have gotten the message reversed.  We have set our minds on the end times and cautiously tip toe around the awesome truths of our eternal inheritance lest we offend someone. 

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How Should I live Now?

Soldiers are brave and relatively happy in times of peace.  In fact, the military becomes a viable career option when training dominates and clean cool guns feel fulfilling to the touch.  When the horrible ugliness of war strikes, suddenly every soldier must face the awful beast…fear.  I have never been a soldier, but I have read and have been told that you do not know how you will react to the heat of battle until you face it.  For some, fear is mastered and it serves to fuel feats of heroism.  For others, fear consumes and retreat from the battle becomes the all consuming passion.  Throughout all of history the soldiers of Jesus have faced the same challenge, and once again, the battle begins to rage in our lifetime, in this place.  How do I live in times like these?

In times of peace and prosperity the untried Christian is brave and happy, even willing to confront certain political outrages in our culture.  But, in these challenging days it is troubling to observe some Christ followers pull back into isolationism not only from the world, but strangely enough from the church, the very “band of brothers” that is most needed in times like these.  At the core of this retreat is fear and fear spreads like a virus; it erodes the core of one’s identity, causing one to despise the man in the mirror.

We have been given a command to go and make disciples, yet we have retreated mistaking the cultural war to maintain the American dream as our calling.  We have drawn the lines of battle with un-retractable words walling the world out, drowning out the cries for help with our celebratory introspection (worship that make us feel good).  We have withdrawn our most prized possessions from the fray leaving Jesus, once again, alone with the sinners while we point accusing fingers at the weak.  And now that we see the cultural war being lost the very foundation of our American faith is being shaken.  Some are running from the fray and that fear can become infectious.  What should we do? The timeless Word of The Almighty God speaks to this issue...
2 Peter 3:8-14 (NIV)
⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.^{a 11} Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.^b That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

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^a Some manuscripts be burned up

^b Or as you wait eagerly for the day of God to come

Ignatius of Antioch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ignatius of Antioch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: I am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God's sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you, do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching to God. I am God's wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ.— Letter to the Romans