God Loves The Taliban But...

Jeremiah 27:6 “Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant.” Today is September 11th. Looking back on the last 20 years, one can spot moments where it might have been hard to see God’s presence in the “War on Terror.” World leaders from all sides have played with countless lives as casually as a chess game. I’ve especially struggled to understand God’s plan in the recent US pullout in Afghanistan. I believe God loves the Taliban. I believe God wants relationship with Taliban leaders so they can experience his love. But when I hear about how they are hunting down pastors and selling their daughters into sexual slavery, I just have to suspend my belief for some time and ask “why God?” Today as I reflect on the last twenty years, I’m reminded of an article that I read a few weeks back. In response to a question of God’s sovereignty in the face of defeat, one Afghan evangelist said “Don’t forget that God called the most wicked king on earth, Nebudchadnezzar, ‘my servant’ in Jeremiah 27:6 and Jeremiah 43:10. God is most certainly calling the Taliban ‘my servant.’” Lord, I don’t know why you place suffering in my life sometimes. I don’t know why you let bad guys win sometimes. But I know that all creation bows to you. I know that in the long term you have a hope and a future in store. I cling to that today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Greater Than Your Moses

Hebrews 3:3 “Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses.” Many of you reached out over the last couple weeks to let me know that you were praying for me. Sunday’s sermon was just fine, but it was probably the hardest message I’ve ever prepared. I shared about some of the struggles and how an encounter with God cleared the writer’s block. When I focused on the sermon, I couldn’t get a word. But when God invited me to forget the sermon and focus on him, I got an incredible love encounter, and the sermon thrown in for free. You can check it out here. https://fb.watch/7Sxa-6bSUA/ (starts at 39:00) The book of Hebrews serves as a reminder that Jesus is greater than all things. He’s greater than bad things like cancer, unemployment or loneliness. But he’s also greater than the good things, like family, ministry and delivering His word. The reality is that both bad things, and good things, can keep us from the greatest thing. Moses served as the greatest prophet in the entire faith of the Jewish people. So the author used the illustration that Jesus is greater than Moses to bring the Hebrew Christians back into divine alignment. It’s hard for us to understand how extreme that statement is when we didn’t grow up memorizing Torah. But today God reminds us that whatever it is that we honor, whatever our Moses is… Jesus is greater. Lord, thanks for loving me and bringing me back into your presence. I commit to putting you first and setting my thoughts on you today. In your son’s most precious name, Amen.

Jazz Licks

Hebrews 3:1 “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.” Chris Wood, the bassist for jazz trio Medeski, Martin & Wood once said “when I feel myself loosing the groove, I take notes out until I get it back.” Jazz licks are complicated, and mastering them takes a great deal of technical competence. But like most nuanced subject matter, the essence of jazz music sometimes proves surprisingly simple. Today I started prepping for a sermon I’ll be delivering in a couple weeks on Hebrews 3. (My posts here might get a bit more intermittent in my usual pre-sermon prep period.) Hebrew Christians of the early church were a learned bunch. A rich religious tradition and keen intellects required a thorough theological presentation to bring them back to the gospel. So there’s a lot of nuance and one can get lost in the cross references here, but upon meditating this morning I felt God relay that the essence of this passage, the whole book of Hebrews, and maybe even all of scripture itself can be distilled into three Greek words from verse 1. “Katanoeo Christos Iesous” or “consider Christ Jesus” or here in the NIV translated as “fix your thoughts on Jesus” just about sums it up. Yes it’s important to remember that God’s son is greater than the angels, greater than Moses and greater than the priesthood. It’s important to understand the meaning of God’s rest and why the ancient Israelites lost out on it while wandering the desert for 40 years. It’s important to understand the hall of faith and why Melchizedek’s encounter with Abraham validated the coming savior. But why? All of these important theological points serve to support the most important point, the essence of everything, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Lord, thanks for reminding me of the simplicity of your message. You’re more loving and more powerful than words can describe. So I can’t help but turn my thoughts towards you today. In your son’s name, Amen.