What is Our Responsibility?

But now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke...and we will serve you - 1 Kings 12:4

During the years of his building programs, Solomon levied heavy labor and tax burdens on the people of Israel. They were tired and worn out. When he died the people flocked to their new king, hoping for relief. They hoped in vain. Rehoboam turned out to be worse than his father.

But before we judge Rehoboam too quickly, perhaps we might examine our own hearts. Though most of us are not in positions of great authority, we are not free from responsibility to others. People all around us struggle under heavy burdens: Illness. Loneliness. Poverty. The list could fill this page.

How might we lighten their load? That list, too, could fill this page. For example, offering to babysit a child so the harried parent can get away for a few hours would do wonders for a hurting neighbor. Mowing the lawn or doing grocery shopping for a neighbor too ill to get out of bed is another possibility. Cooking a meal, bringing someone to church, supporting with our finances those caught in the throes of disasters, such as the recent tsunami, can also help us fulfill our responsibility to others.

By bearing one another's burdens, we honor Christ. And by lifting a yoke we may even draw someone to serve the Christ we honor.

Father, help me to be Your hand extended to someone in need today.

A Different Christmas Tree

After 18 years, my wife said she'd had enough. I can't say I blame her.

"This is the last year we're using this Christmas tree." Nancy held the plastic-coated branch to the light and searched for the color-coding. It had worn away long ago. "It's even got rust spots."

I pursed my lips and stepped back to get a better look. Somewhere along the years we'd lost a branch. Most of the others had lost their plastic needles. Without the color-codes we could only guess where each branch went along the tree trunk. Our guesses this year had rendered the poor tree lopsided.

"You're right," I conceded. "Next year we'll get a new one."

But later that evening as we sat on the couch in the soft glow of blinking lights, I wondered if we'd spoken too soon. The tree, encircled by gold ribbon and branches laden with ornaments our children made over the years was as beautiful in my eyes as any freshly-cut spruce trees of my own childhood home.

"Sure is a nice tree." Nancy seemed to sense my thoughts.

I snuggled closer and nodded, awed how mismatched and spotted branches took on so different a hue when bathed in Christmas lights and decorations. What appeared in ordinary light as a lopsided, worn and near-useless relic now released a warmth that filled our living room. And within that warmth, my mind played tricks with me as I contrasted the plastic and wire tree with one angels surely still gather round in awe: the Olive tree that represents the Body of Christ (Romans 11).

Under ordinary light, the Olive tree seems as skewed and stained as our Christmas tree. But unlike our tree with mismatched plastic branches, this Olive tree has grafted into its trunk thieves, liars, drunkards, adulterers, swindlers, sexually immoral -- the list is nearly endless. Each needle is so stained and worn one might wonder why -- or how -- the Tree still stands after two millennia. Even more, how can it yet radiate enough warmth to invade every darkened corner of every jungle cave, inner-city cardboard hut or cul-de-sac villa?

I suppose it's an "eyes-of-the-beholder" thing. The Olive tree radiates with Christ's grace, love, passion and holiness, making it as beautiful as the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden.

Take Saul, for example. This first-century twisted branch hated Christians. He ravaged their worship, despised their Messiah and tossed as many as he could find into rat-infested dungeons. When mobs gathered to murder disciples, he watched with approval.

And then Saul -- later known as Paul -- met Christ, and the persecutor became the apostle. The one who tried to destroy the Christian faith set out across the Middle East and into Europe proclaiming Jesus as this world's only hope for peace, forgiveness and eternal life. Nearly half of the New Testament came from his pen. Millions of men and women have experienced life transformations because of his letters.

John Newton is another example. The 18th-century slave-trader packed human cargo like cattle into the bowels of his ship bound for the Americas. Many of the slaves, half-starved and surrounded by human waste and disease, died en route. But Newton counted their deaths as merely the cost of doing business.

Then Newton met Christ, and the slave-trader devoted himself to serving humankind instead of enslaving it. Christians around the world -- many are descendants of Newton's slaves -- still sing hymns the former slave-trader wrote to honor his Savior. You might recognize the words to one of those hymns:

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see."

Dr. Bernard Nathanson is one more example of a warped branch grafted into eternity's tree. An infamous champion of abortion rights during the 1960's and early 1970's, Nathanson co-founded the National Abortion Rights Action League. He participated in more than 60,000 of the surgical procedures and, almost single-handedly, shaped the political and social landscape that made the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade Abortion-On-Demand decision possible.

And then Nathanson met Christ. Today -- though he can never undo the horror he helped create -- the former abortion-master devotes himself to protecting the unborn from the fate he brought to tens of thousands of others.

I shifted position on the couch next to Nancy and wondered, who can ever hope to understand God's love that grafts any of us into Christ? Or why He adorns His holy tree with murderers and slave-traders, drunkards and despots -- and plain old sinners like me.

Scripture explains why in terms so simple, yet so profound, that many people miss it. The Baby in the manger became the Man on the cross because "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Merry Christmas.

Rich
rmaffeo@comcast.net

Lord, Where Are You?

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I . . . make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I . . . settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139)

Sometimes God seems as distant as the furthest star and we are left alone. Terribly, painfully alone.

Who would expect us to pray? What’s the use? Why read Scripture? It might as well be written in a foreign language. And don’t tell me about God’s love – if He loved me I wouldn’t feel this way.

We make a serious, and sometimes deadly mistake to elevate our feelings above God’s promises. Doing so implies our emotions are more faithful and honest than God.

How absurd.

Where can we go from God’s Spirit? The answer to the Psalmist’s rhetorical question is: Nowhere. God’s Spirit is in all places, at all times and in all situations. He is with us when we grope in the darkness of our soul. He is at our side when we're far from loved ones. He moves close when loneliness gnaws at our spirit and heartache rips at our faith.

He sees it all. He knows it all. Our darkness is as light to Him as our joy.

The apostle Paul might have been thinking of this Psalm when he wrote to the Romans (chapter 8): What shall separate us from God’s love? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword? . . . . Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is Christ Jesus our Lord.

Feelings wax and wan like the surf of the sea driven by the wind. But God’s promises are as stable and as sure as, well, as God Himself. No one who comes to Him is ever, ever turned away.

“Lord, help me in my unbelief. Place your hand on me and draw my heart to yours. I want to trust you, despite my circumstances. Forgive my anger toward you, my disappointment and my stubbornness. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. For the sake of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

Rich
rmaffeo@comcast.net

The God of Another Chance

If anyone had reason to count himself unforgivable and unredeemable, it was the apostle Peter. The fisherman-turned-disciple lived with Jesus for three years. He enjoyed a special intimacy with the Lord known only to two others -- James and John. During those years, Peter and the rest of the disciples spent hours talking with the Lord. They listened to Him share His heart. They ate with Him, watched Him raise the dead, walk on the sea, turn water to wine, and feed thousands with only a few fish and some bread.

Then things took a sharp turn. It started in the Gethsemane Garden. During the Lord's lowest hour, Peter fell asleep. When soldiers and Jewish leaders dragged Jesus before the civil and religious authorities, Peter cowered and swore, "I don't know the man." Not just once, but three times.

I'm not sure I could have recovered from that memory. If I'd been guilty of that thrice denial, my words would have echoed and re-echoed in my thoughts like rocks bouncing against cavern walls as they fell toward a dark and unreachable bottom.

Yet, the more I think about Peter's fall, the greater comfort I find -- not because of his failure, but because of his recovery. That recovery holds the key for all of us who repeatedly stumble toward the Kingdom and wonder if we can get up again.

If we should get up again.

What would the church look like today if Peter had slipped into the shadows of history overwhelmed by his shame? How much less would we understand the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ without Peter's two letters in the Bible? How much longer would it have been before Gentiles, like Cornelius and his family and friends, heard the gospel? How many first century Gentiles are in heaven today because Peter discovered, as all of us -- believer and non-believer -- must discover: God is the God of Another Chance.

The fisherman is only one of countless examples of that magnificent truth. After his sin with Bathsheba, David wrote one of the most passionate psalms of repentance in Scripture (see Psalm 51). Paul never forgot his role in Stephen's death, but he rose to bring the message of forgiveness and eternal life to a world locked in hopelessness. Despite their sins, the woman at the well found grace to start over (see John 4), the Prodigal son discovered his father's arms wide open (see Luke 15), the thief on the cross entered Paradise with his simple act of contrition (see Luke 23). History resounds with the great news that God offers another chance to everyone who repents, no matter how often they fall.

How I need to know that. How we all do. What Christian doesn't blush from a personal and intimate understanding of Paul's agony, "What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do . . . what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:15,24)

Who, indeed?

Scripture promises. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:13). Nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).

Another Chance begins each time we come to the Father, sorry for our sins and asking forgiveness based on Jesus' death for us. When all theology, philosophy, ideology and doctrine are stripped away, the Lord Jesus is the reason we can get up and start again. His matchless and enduring love for us, despite our failures, is the reason we should get up and start again.

"There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins," a church hymn reminds us. "And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain."

May the Holy Spirit help us remember our Father -- the God of Another Chance - always offers His hand of forgiveness and reconciliation to everyone who comes to Him in repentance.

We need only to lift up our eyes to see Him.

Rich
rmaffeo@comcast.net

Merry Chris . . .uh, oh, excuse me. "Happy Holiday"

My wife placed the salad bowl on the table, sat down and looked at me.

“I’m starting a one-person campaign to revive Christmas.”

I paused for a moment and then reached for the rolls. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m tired of rolling over for the culture that’s changed Merry Christmas to ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Good Spirit.’ If it wasn’t for Jesus, no one would be saying anything.”

Except perhaps, ‘Bah Humbug’ I thought.

“From now on,” she continued, “I’m wishing people a Merry Christmas.”

I took a bite of the roll, but had already lost some of my appetite. That always happens when I feel guilty about something. Her words reminded me how often I succumb to political correctness and rarely use the “C” word. It’s easier to just say, “Happy Holiday” -- or say nothing at all.

Humbug.

She continued. “Today, when the UPS guy dropped off the package, I said, Merry Christmas as he walked back to his truck.” She stopped a moment, her eyes alive with excitement, and added, “He turned around and smiled and wished me a Merry Christmas, too. He seemed surprised someone said that to him. I think he really enjoyed hearing me say it.”

Nancy then told me of two other people she’d said those two words that raise PC hackles and cause ACLU lawyers to rush to their casebooks. "They also were glad I said it."

Merry Christmas. Why would the best story the world has ever known raise the blood pressure of so many people? Why would the eternally gracious and sacrificial gift of God make so many people Christmasphobic?

I think it’s because God insists forgiveness of sins is wrapped neatly in His gift package marked: Only For Those Who Love My Son, Jesus.

A lot of people think that’s too restrictive.

Well, they're right. It is.

Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” He also warned, “Unless you believe I am He, you will die in your sins.”

And then there’s the Scripture, “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. . . and every tongue confess, that Jesus is Lord.” And again, “There is no name (but Jesus) under heaven” through which we can be saved.

Those who are familiar with the Bible can cite dozens of other passages which support the point that God established only one way to Him, exclusive of all other paths.

I suppose if I didn’t like being told what to accept and how to behave to gain eternal life, I’d hate Christmas, too. I’d hate being reminded of God's narrow doorway every December. I’d be a raving Christmasphobe. Maybe also a Christianphobe.

My wife is on the right track. Without John 3:16 there wouldn't be a Christmas. Without Christmas there would be no hope – for you, me, our families, our neighbors. No one.

But there IS a Christmas. And I thank God for the holiday – the Holy Day. Each year Christmas reminds us just how much the Father paid for our gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

“Happy Holiday” is a humbug.

“Merry Christmas” is the beginning of an intimate relationship with Him.

Rich (see below)
rmaffeo@comcast.net

The day after I posted this blog I found these news articles online:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,141839,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,141894,00.html

Someone tell me our culture is not Christmasphobic.

Holy Intimacy

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. (Psalm 139:1-4)

Psalm 139 is perhaps among the clearest descriptions of how intimately God knows us, and perhaps more important, how much He loves us. You might want to take some time to read the entire Psalm and be reminded, while you read, God knows our thoughts – every one of them. He sees everything we do. Even in secret. He hears all of our words and all of our whispers.

Nothing is hidden from Him. Nothing.

And yet, despite His full knowledge of who we are and what we do, He offers us again, and again – and yet again – an intimate relationship with Him. This is not a Hollywood intimacy, a cheap and tawdry shadow of His holy desire. This is a warmth, a closeness, an excitement possible only when offered by the Creator of intimacy -- and made possible only through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.

Think of it! The sinless Creator became a child, who grew to be a man, who then paid the death penalty OUR sins deserved. And with His payment, everyone who offers his or her life to Jesus can know that holy intimacy.

I can’t think of a better gift to receive this Christmas.

Rich

rmaffeo@comcast.net

Clay Pots and Miracles

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

It's not that I don't understand the Lord's mustard seed analogy. I do. God uses our faith, no matter how small, to do great things. Even move mountains. But I have difficulty identifying with a seed. Mustard, oak -- or redwood, they're all the same to me.

Gideon, on the other hand -- now there's an illustration of small faith I can set roots into. You might remember the story in Judges, chapter 6.

For seven fear-filled years, the Midianites spread terror across Israel. Bands of marauders ravaged villages, slaughtered men, women and children and stole their livestock. During sowing season, they swooped across the land, destroying Israel's budding crops. They returned during harvest to take everything their earlier plunder missed. Israelites lived like hunted animals, hiding in caves and along cliffs. What wheat they could harvest in secret, they had to thresh and eat in secret -- always looking over their shoulders, jumping with fear at every gust of wind or snap of a branch.

Gideon was one of those Israelites. One day, as he threshed his meager wheat harvest in a wine press, an angel appeared and called out, "The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior" (Judges 6:12).

If Gideon was like me, he hardly paid attention to the divine messenger. The "valiant warrior" believed God had abandoned him to a hopeless destiny. He, and all Israel, had nothing to look forward to except fearing for their lives with each sunrise and sunset. "Valiant warrior?" he probably thought to himself. "Yeah, right. So why am I hiding in this wine press?"

Putting his thoughts into words, he turned to the angel and challenged, "If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?" A moment later he added, "And where are the miracles we've heard about all our lives?"

Gideon finished his complaint and returned to threshing wheat. The angel, undaunted by Gideon's skepticism, answered, "Go in this your faith, and deliver Israel."

I suppose Gideon laughed aloud. What faith? Israel had nothing more lethal than pitchforks and clubs. How could they defeat an enemy equipped with the latest weapons technology? Talk about moving mountains. Either the divine being just didn't get it -- or he knew something Gideon didn't. Either the angel enjoyed toying with him, or he saw a mustard-seed faith buried within Gideon where only the Spirit of God could see.

If you remember the story, you know how it ends. Gideon needed several more "proofs" that God was with him, but eventually -- armed with nothing more than clay pots, torches and a dash of faith -- he won a miraculous victory for the Lord and for Israel.

What desperate problems do we struggle against? What Midianites rob us of hope? What do they call themselves? Illness? Unemployment? Divorce? Loss? It's time we step away from the wine press and move into the open. No longer need we shrink from shadows and jump at every snap of a branch. God is with us. Always. And if we listen carefully, we will hear Him say to us, "The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior." Whether our faith is as small as a mustard-seed . . . or smaller, God says it again and again, "Go in this your strength and defeat your enemy."

He will use our clay pots and torches to help us win back our land.

Rmaffeo@comcast.net

Redemptive Suffering

“The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.” (Acts 16)

No normal person likes to suffer. But sometimes suffering can become an opportunity to bear fruit for Christ. Paul and Silas are examples of how Christians can redeem even suffering for the Master.

The political leaders beat the two men and had them tossed into a rat-infested cell. Yet, from the midst of that cell the Christians offered their bruised and bloodied bodies to the will and purpose of God.

What might have happened if they had not? What if they had groused instead of sung God’s praises?

Read the story in Acts 16. For one thing, the jailer and his family would not have heard about God’s promise of forgiveness and eternal life. And what of the other prisoners? Scripture is silent about why they were imprisoned, but it’s likely some faced crucifixion for their crimes. Perhaps that very week they would hang on a splintered cross. But because Paul and Silas redeemed their own suffering by offering it to God, some of those condemned prisoners may have gone to their deaths as new creatures in Christ.

What does this have to do with me and you? We face our own crosses: Sickness, Loneliness, Imprisonment, Broken hearts and trampled faith . . . . And who know what trials might come tomorrow? And yet, if we learn to offer our suffering to the One who never places anything on our shoulders we cannot carry, He will work out His purpose in us and bring redemption to others through our trials.

For the Christian who knows he is deeply loved by the Father, everything – even suffering – is a powerful redemptive tool in the hands of the Master.

Lord Jesus, take my heartache, my loneliness, my despair – I place at your feet all that hurts and makes me bleed. Be glorified through my suffering. Be glorified through my life. If necessary, be glorified even through my death. Amen.

Rmaffeo@comcast.net

His Embrace. O How Warm It Is.

Jesus knew He was about to die -- and He knew what that meant. He'd seen others crucified, and it wasn’t a pretty picture. Roman soldiers often crucified prisoners along the roads surrounding Jerusalem. Travelers couldn’t help but see men hang helpless between earth and sky as buzzards hovered overhead or swooped to rip a piece of flesh from an arm or face. They couldn’t help but hear their unrelenting groans. If the breeze flowed the right way, they could smell the smell of death.

Jesus knew a cross would soon be in His future. I suspect that's one reason He asked His closest friends – Peter, James and John – to pray for Him.

But instead, they fell asleep.

In the Lord’s most desperate time, His closest friends let Him down. Even after He twice awakened them, they continued their slumber.

Has that ever happened to you? Have closest friends -- or parents, siblings, even your spouse or children – have those closest to you let you down when you needed them the most?

The Lord Jesus understands your heartache and loneliness from His own personal experience. That’s why He can be such a wonderful friend, confidant and shepherd. That’s why He can place His arms around us and draw us into His embrace.

Sometimes, if we are quiet long enough, we can even sense Him doing that. Those times have become very special to me. I hope they become special for you as well.

Rmaffeo@comcast.net