Category: Faithfulness

Posted on

If They Would Have Been Faithful

The story of Joseph is filled with tragic betrayal. His brothers plotted to kill him, opting instead to sell him into slavery. For twenty years he was held in an Egyptian prison, forgotten and feeling his soul was eroding day by day. But what if Joseph and his brothers loved and respected each other, instead of being driven by jealous rage? Joseph remains in Canaan, but the family starves from the seven years of famine. Thus, sometimes the bad in our life opens doors to something better.

The story of Daniel is filled with horrific separation anxiety. He was part of the first flight of Israelites exiled to the foreign pagan land of Babylon. If Israel stays 70 years, Daniel must have been 12-15 years old when ripped from his home where he spends his life in service to an arrogant pagan king who raped and desecrated the Holy Lands. Something to ponder is that if Daniel had stayed behind in Jerusalem, he never would have been the good influence on Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, sometimes the bad in our life opens doors to something better.

The story of Paul is filled with prison sentences, though this time the setting was likely a house arrest. Given the choice, he’d much rather be out on the streets preaching, or in the Synagogue debating, or in the marketplace sharing the gospel. Instead, he found himself chained to his seat and his only audience was an uninterested guard, forced to waste the day away listening to his prisoner’s ongoing ranting about a death-row Jew in Jerusalem. But if Paul was to experience his freedom, it’s possible that the whole palace guard might never had heard the gospel. Thus, sometimes the bad in our life opens doors to something better.

The story of Jesus is filled with the One releasing his grip on power. He was God but refused to grasp or cling to that status at all costs. Instead, he embraced humility and service while submitting to the gruesome cruel death of a crucifixion. Had Jesus remained in heaven, not only would our sins go unforgiven, but he would not have defeated death and ushered in the power of the Resurrection. Thus, sometimes the bad in our life opens doors to something better.

JRR Tolkien coined the word, “eucatrastrophy.” An oversimplified definition says it’s means “a good catastrophe.” Something really bad happens and we lose hope. But suddenly, out of the disaster, something good or wonderful happens that we were not expecting (which is not an “ everything happens for a reason” theology, but a God “redeeming the bad” theology), because sometimes the bad in our life opens doors to something better.

One of my favorite bands is Chicago, which is fresh on my mind since my family recently saw them in concert. Chicago has been around most of my life. Songs like “Make Me Smile,” “Saturday in the Park” and “Alive Again” were part of the playlist of my childhood. “25 or 6 to 4” was on the Set List of my high school’s pep band, and I can still hear my brother’s trombone carrying the introduction theme line. One of the most creative album covers ever is their Greatest Hits which humorously shows the band members trying to paint their logo on a building as chaos ensues. The songs matched the quality of the album artwork.

Their seventeenth album skyrocketed with hits like “You’re the Inspiration,” “Hard Habit to Break,” and “Along Comes A Woman.” They rode success as easily as John Wayne road a horse. Sort of. Sadly, internal feuding led to Peter Cetera’s departure. When Chicago 18 arrived, it was good but not a great album. “Will You Still Love Me” hit number three, but a remix of “25 or 6 to 4” polarized fans.

That said, the song that grated my nerves was, “If She Would Have Been Faithful.” It was a breakup song written from the man’s POV, making the song suspect to begin with. The song reveals how girl cheated on the man. Landing on his feet, he finds another love who ends up being a better person to spend his life with. Cueing the song, if she would have been faithful to the man, they never would have broken up. Never breaking up means he never would have met the current girl and he never would have found new love. Now he has discovered true love. Ugh! The cheesy song broke the top twenty, but if it pops up on my playlist, I’m likely to skip it.

A year ago, I was driving down Highway 823 when the song started to play. No, I didn’t skip it – probably should have. As I was listening to the song, the words suddenly took on new meaning. Instead of a breakup song between a man and a woman, I saw me as the victim of a breakup – not with a girl, but with a church.

In short, felt like the church leaders chose to make big issues out of small differences of opinions. Instead of working through the uncertain void, or pursuing the situation through a principled prism, they chose instead to live without the tension. They broke up with me.

No words or song lyrics could capture how crushed and wounded I was by the decision. I was hurt far more than most people realized. I was damaged, not just from this one moment in time but from the accumulation of thirty years of service to the church.

But time passed, and time has a way of healing wounds. More so, sometimes the bad in our life opens doors to something better. I began working as a hospice chaplain. Some of my skill sets easily transferred from work to hospice care, but new skills were needed and developed. The context was different from working in a church environment to a business setting. I made the transition. Sometimes I succeeded while other times I struggled. But given time, I adjusted to my new profession.

 So I was driving down Highway 823 when this Chicago song, I so hated, started to play. Instead of skipping it, I decided to allow it to play out.  Instantly, I experienced an epiphany as I saw myself the victim in the song – if they would have been faithful and not broken up with me . . .

  • I’d still be preaching;
  • I’d still be struggling to overcome deep depression and astronomical anxiety;
  • I’d still be worried that the other shoe was still about to drop;
  • My children would still be carrying with them the burden of being “preacher kids;”
  • I’d still be vastly underpaid and overworked, with no real financial future.

If I they would have been faithful; if they would have been true, and I stayed there like I wanted, I never would have discovered another love, maybe even a better love. If they would have been faithful, I would have missed out on you (i.e., Heartland Hospice). I never would have applied to Heartland (I didn’t even know it existed). George Vastine would never have called to vet me, and I never would have interviewed and accepted this position. I never would have made new friends, some of whom mean more to me than simply co-workers. Clearly, what I have learned in the past three years is that sometimes the bad in our life opens doors to something better. A lot better.

Posted on

FINAL Verdict

The final judgment theme is a strong motif in Scripture. The Hebrews writer says that everyone dies once, then faces the judgment (Heb. 9:27). Paul, while addressing the philosophers at the Areopagus, seems to echo the same sentiment (Act. 17:31). Jesus says that we’ll all stand at the judgment to defend the words we’ve spoken (Mt. 12:36). Once again, Paul appears to agree in that we’ll receive what is due us depending on what we’ve done in the body (2 Cor. 5:10). What appears to be true is that at the end of time a reckoning will take place and all humanity will be held in account for their words and actions. What that final judgment scene actually looks like is less defined. Even still, it doesn’t mean it’s an empty threat.

Two passages, both found in Matthew’s gospel, offer a concrete look at the final judgment scene. Mind you, both scenes are scripted in allegory or parabolic language. How they look is not as important as to what unfolds.

The first scene appears at the end of the Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 7:21-23). Jesus had just warned about coming false prophets and that they’ll appear as wolves in sheep’s clothing (v. 15-20). How you know if they are false or true prophets is by noting the kind of fruit they bear (v. 16a). Jesus does not define what he means by fruit for he allows us to understand it as we grapple with his sermon (Mt. 5-7). Following the judgment scene, he concludes his sermon with the wise and foolish builders (v. 24-27). The wise person listens to the words of Jesus, specifically in the Sermon on the Mount, and puts them into practice, where the foolish person ignores Jesus’ words.

Between these two sections is the judgment scene. Jesus uses this final verdict moment to bridge the thought between the false prophets of verses 21-23 with the foolish builders in verses 24-27. So, just because one says, “Lord, Lord,” does not mean Jesus will embrace or acknowledge them or their confession. Only those doing God’s will, as laid out in the Sermon, will recieve  Jesus’ blessing. It’s safe to conjecture that Jesus intends for us to understand God’s will to be implementing the message of his sermon from Matthew 5-7 so that our righteousness is greater than the Pharisees and the teachers of the law (5:20). In a twist of irony, those under judgment claimed to prophesy in Jesus’s name, drive out demons and perform miracles (v. 22). Assuming they were telling the truth, the Spirit was alive and working through their ministries, powerfully. Yet, because they ignored the very teachings they were promoting, Jesus ignored them, calling them “evil doers” (v. 23).

The second judgment scene appears at the end of Jesus’ fifth and final sermon (Mt. 23-25) and just prior to the Passion Week. Here he’s clearly speaking in parabolic terms as he has told two end times-like stories (10 Virgins in 25:1-13 and the Talents in 25:14-30). The third end time-like story describes judgment day as dividing the people into two groups, like a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats (25:31-46). The sheep, those on his right and designated as “righteous” (v. 34, 37) were willing to feed Jesus when he was hungry, provide water when he was thirsty, opened their homes to him when he was homeless, clothed him when he was naked, nursed Jesus back to health when he was sick and visited Jesus when he was in prison (v. 35-36). The goats, those on his left and designated as “cursed” (v. 41) refused to act when they saw Jesus in need. In a sense of irony, neither group “recognized” Jesus as someone in need. But Jesus identifies with those in need so much that he says, “. . . whatever you did (or did not do) for the least of these . . . you did (or did not) do for me” (vs. 40, 45).

While Scripture is clear that a final verdict is a reality, certain aspect of the judgment day is still left unclear. Watching our words and defending our actions certainly play a role, and all of us need to be a little more considerate with our words and actions. However, the two scenes Jesus describes are telling. First, we’re called to live a faith greater than the games religious people play. Constantly stepping back into the Sermon on the Mount reorients our lives to the core gospel. Secondly, generously helping anyone in need is the same as if we’re helping Jesus. Our job is not to question the “worthiness” of the one in need, but our job is to treat them as if Jesus was in need. When we do, we’ll find ourselves in safe territory for the final verdict.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

Posted on

Keep On Singing

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised” (Heb. 10:35-36).

Can you sense the urgency of his plea? These believers were about to throw in the towel, and it was left to the author to convince them to stay faithful. Maybe these Christians had failed to count the cost, and presumed that a life defined by faith would be easy; or maybe the appeal to the Temple “mega praise” was competing with their small group simple worship. Whatever was driving their decision, they found themselves at a crossroads. The journey was wearing on them. Do they continue or admit defeat by calling it a “run?” 

While Scripture is clear about staying faithful to God, defining “faithfulness” can be much more complicated. Such an understanding means trying to read the signs and explain events within our lives. Paul comes to my mind. While he received his calling from God on the road to Damascus, his calling was not always embraced by the church. His ministry was filled with beatings, jail time, and people questioning his own ability if not his own credibility. At any time, he could have rationalized that God wanted him to step aside and let someone else (e.g. younger with more talent) replace him. 

With limited perspective, we have a difficult time distinguishing God’s will for our immediate context. Do we stay or go? Which job do we take? What major should we declare? Do we speak or remain silent? Do we open our churches in the midst of a global pandemic or remain only online? Where is the moment when our political ideology infringes on the Kingdom of God, and what do we do about it that line is crossed? When we’re told to stop singing, should we silence our voices or just sing that much louder? What God wants is easier defined in broad terms, what he wants from us right now is often confusing. 

George Younce and Glenn Payne of The Cathedral Quartet modeled faithfulness, but it came through the roller-coaster of professional gospel musicians. In the mid-sixties they were the successful worship leaders for Rex Humbard’s Church of the Cathedral with a built-in TV audience. When they went out on their own, they lost their following, struggled to sell concert tickets and records, not to mention making ends meet. With continual turnover in the group, by 1979, George and Glenn finally assembled a group they felt could sing, until a concert promoter convinced the three younger members that George and Glenn did not have their best interest at heart; he misled them to leave and form a new group. 

Devastated, George and Glenn found themselves at a crossroads. Life on the road had not been easy, their families had suffered, and their record company was threatening to drop them. What should they do? They were tempted to quit; just how many groups actually make it in the music business anyway? But since they were working on their latest album, they saw it to completion. George took Dottie Rambo’s classic, “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before,” and used it to set the tone for the new album, an album simply entitled, Keep On Singing. They continued singing through the valley, and despite the setbacks, they persevered to become the epitome of faithfulness for Southern Gospel music. 

(Sidebar: they soon hired Mark Trammell to sing baritone, and later Roger Bennet to play the piano, and with their stable presence remained with the group for the next twenty years. Kirk Talley was also hired and became the cornerstone for Cathedrals’ tenor voices; he would be followed by Danny Funderburk and then Ernie Haase. By the time George and Glen retired in 1999, they were the premiere Southern Gospel group in America). 

Not all stories end with an encore, but all stories can end with faithfulness (read that line again). It’s not always easy to determine God’s specific will in the moment, but he does expect a faithful trust. He doesn’t guarantee prestige or financial success, but he does ensure his presence. Sometimes we must make difficult decisions, and even give up on dreams, so that we can live out his dreams. Through it all, though, we can keep on singing.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)