DEVOTION AND LIGHTS

DEVOTION AND LIGHTS
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
John 8:12

This year something odd will take place. Chanukah and Thanksgiving will be celebrated at the same time. While Thanksgiving won’t come until tomorrow, Chanukah begins tonight. For the Christian it has true importance, as this is the season of miracles. Expectations grow high, and my expectation is that you will see a miracle in your own life. But let us first take a moment to break down any misunderstandings about Chanukah. Chanukah is not the Jewish version of Christmas. While at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ, it is a Chanukah we celebrate the miracle of a people and nation saved. Chanukah has other spellings, but it also has other names. Some call this holiday Hanukkah, some the Festival of Lights, and others the Feast of Dedication. However, the custom of decorating our homes with Christmas lights is derived from Chanukah, as again, it is known by some as the Festival of Lights.
To the surprise of many, Chanukah is named in the Bible and was celebrated by Jesus, Himself. John 10:22-23 reads, “Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.” Let us focus for a moment, though, on the word ‘Dedication. In simply looking into the life of Enoch, we see how his name is translated in the Hebrew as CHANOWK, which means dedicated. Chanukah is derived from this same root word, meaning dedication. It was during this Feast that the Jews recalled the victory of the Maccabees over their enemy, and the provision of God to allow the menorah to burn for eight days when there was only enough oil to burn for one night. This was the provision of God, and a celebration of His miracle working power.
But why do we find Jesus walking in Solomons’ Colonnade during the Feast of Dedication? For that answer, let us look at the verses that follow. The Jews gathered around Jesus to ask for a blunt response - are you the Christ or not? Jesus responded simply, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me.” The relationship between the miracle that God did for the Maccabees, cross-referenced with the miracles Christ was doing currently, should have been enough for the people to link a connection. The season and the hand of the One doing the miracles was staring them in the face.
The burning candles on the menorah are a reminder to us all, not just the Jews, of God’s provision and the victory won by the Maccabees. But as we are talking about dedication, I want to bring our attention to a passage we probably are not familiar with. It is in 1 Maccabees 2:19-22 that we read, “Mattathias answered in a loud voice, ‘I don't care if every Gentile in this empire has obeyed the king and yielded to the command to abandon the religion of his ancestors. My children, my relatives, and I will continue to keep the covenant that God made with our ancestors. With God's help we will never abandon his Law or disobey his commands. We will not obey the king's decree, and we will not change our way of worship in the least.’"
Mattathias, a priest in the Jewish village of Modein around the year 165BCE, along with his sons, saw the evil Syrian King’s officers coming their way and working to enforce pagan rules on God’s people. Faced with the option to forsake God and embrace the Greek ways of life, or die, Mattathias chose to take a stand for the one true God. His dedication was undeniable; his mind made up. Even with death starring him in the face, he would not forsake or denounce his God.
Countless times throughout the Bible we read of men and women who faced disaster and hardship. Yet as we also see, those who stood up for God’s truth and justice were those who received God’s miracles. As we launch into this season, I want to encourage you to stand up for God’s truth and justice. The enemy will find ways to try to knock you down and take you out. He will work to snuff your flame and deplete you of the oil needed to burn for God. But do not lose heart. Do not stray from the ways of God. Your miracle is coming, and the Light of the world will overcome the darkness at hand. Take your stand, my friend.
Happy Chanukah to all.

VENOM

“Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears, that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.”
Psalm 58:4-5

Not too long ago, as we were flipping through the channels, my son landed on the Discovery Channel. In some ways I think he takes after me in that he also loves to learn new things. It was while we watched an episode where researchers went out in search of the creature with the greatest amount of venom in its bite, that we both learned a little more about venom. Surly on the list were different types of snakes, spiders, and scorpions. But I was surprised to learn about other creatures such as the blue ringed octopus and cone snail. When all the tests were completed and the rankings shown based on location, interaction with people, aggressiveness, and toxicity, the title of the most venomous creature went to the box jellyfish.
Now while I plan to stay away from this jellyfish, and any other creature that has venom in it, I find that there is one creature not on the list, but just as venomous. That creature is the unjust judge. Psalm 58 starts off questioning, “Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge uprightly among men? No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth. Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.” These lies and judgments are the exact same venoms that come around and bite, injure, and kill the innocent. And as is written, we teach our children at a young age to judge others and go astray as well. Rather than showing them how to use their poison, we should point out to them, and be reminded ourselves, of Matthew 7:1-2. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
In considering further this passage of Psalm 58:4 where we read of the venom of the one who judges, let us take a look also at the thoughts of Matthew Henry. “Though the poison be within, much of it may be kept from breaking forth to injure others. When the Savior's words are duly regarded, the serpent becomes harmless.” So then, how do we become harmless? How do we move from the point of injecting venom to the point of bringing healing? Is not the anti-venom made from the creature’s venom? If the poison kills, then can we use the same method as scientists and use our venom for good instead? Yes, we can.
When I think about this, I think of the cliché, hate the sin and not the sinner. If we are judging a person we are judging the whole of the person, therefore making ourselves the measuring stick. But we cannot hold the position of God. We are told in Galatians 6: 1 that when we see our brother in sin, we are to help him out, not sit there and judge him. Then, with this truth, let us judge the sin of a person against God’s measuring stick, not the person as a whole. For we all, at one time or another, have fallen or will fall into sin. In those moments we do not want to hear how terrible we are. Instead, we must point out the sin and how wrong the sin is. Let us use the venom in us in a good way, as the anti-venom that brings a healing verses judgment.

SAVING THE REFUGEES

“’Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…’”
Matthew 28:19-20a

Recently I watched the movie “Tears of the Sun”, starring Bruce Willis. In the movie he plays a Special-Ops commander who leads a team into the jungle area of Nigeria to rescue a doctor. His mission was to get only the doctor, but the doctor refused to go without the deliverance of the seventy refugees as well. As Bruce’s character is arguing this point with his Commander, he makes a statement that I find bold. “My team will complete this mission.” He went in for one mission, to save the doctor, and yet when faced with the possibility to leave helpless more to suffer the fate of death, he changed the rules by changing the goal of his mission.
I think what I find so bold about this comment is not that he stood up to his Commander, but that he saw the bigger picture. It would have been enough to obey his orders and get the doctor. It would have been commendable even. But seeing that all these innocent people were in the line of soon coming fire and disaster, he made the choice to extend his mission to include them.
This reminds me of our mission. However, I think it is safe to look at our mission in two ways. First, our mission is to get to heaven. How do we do that? We do that by accepting Christ as our Savior. In Romans 10:9-10 we read that, “If [we] confess with [our] mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in [our] heart that God raised him from the dead, [we] will be saved. For it is with [our] heart that [we] believe and are justified, and it is with [our] mouth that [we] confess and are saved.” This action and confession of Christ as our Lord brings us into a relationship with Him. Still this is only a portion of our mission. Should our mission stop here, however, it is still commendable. In essence we saved the doctor.
But the second part of our mission, and perhaps the part that many do not complete, is the making of disciples. In the final words of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus gives these words. “’Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’” This is the saving of the refugees. Are we completing this order given by our Commander? Granted some are. Yet not all people are Billy Graham. Because I am not, does that mean I should not even try to complete my mission? By no means. Keep in mind that not each person is given the same drop off location in the military. Does that make one unit better than another? It should not, for we are all on the same team.
So what is it I am trying to suggest in this devotional today? I am trying to get us to answer honestly the question of if we are saving the refugees. A few days back I posed on On The Vanguard’s facebook page this question, “If we are soldiers in God’s army, and the mission is clear, then are we fulfilling our mission?” Can I just be honest with you? I cannot say I have been fully fulfilling my mission. Some days I try, other days I leave it to the others in my unit. But those orders were given by Jesus to us, both individually and as a unit. Following this, I was placed here, at this drop off location in time and space, to work to save the number of God-less refugees that I can touch. It may be commendable that I am saved and my rescue is coming, but there are many more who need to be saved still. What am I doing to save them?

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3000 LOST, 3000 SAVED

“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
Acts 2:41

I realize we are not currently within the time known as the Festival of Weeks, between the time when Jesus ascended to heaven and when the Holy Spirit fell in the Upper Room, but I felt inclined to share some today concerning events that happened around this time. The Festival of Weeks is first named in Exodus 34:22, with a command given to celebrate with the first fruits of the wheat harvest. It is actually one of three times on the Jewish calendar when men were required to go to Jerusalem to celebrate and pay tithes. Following the timeframe of fifty days from the start of Passover, Jews and Christians alike celebrate and remember what we have come to know as Pentecost. But to gain a little more understanding behind this celebration, I want us to draw our attention today to Exodus 32:28. It is here that we read of more than just an agricultural significance to this festival, but rather are able to relate Pentecost to a commemorating of the giving of the Law, the Torah, to Moses. Let us start our journey then for today.
Starting a few verses earlier in Exodus 32:25, we read of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai to the sights and sounds of the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. The Bible describes that the people had allowed themselves to becoming the laughingstock of their enemies based on this action. So then, Moses took a stand. Standing physically at the entrance to the camp he said, “’Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.’” This decision shot to the hearts of the people and it is recorded that all the Levites rallied to him (v26) as well as others. Moses then turned to those who had come to him and gave the command of God, to strap a sword to the side and go throughout the camp killing those who had not chosen to follow God (v27). When the Levites had completed this command, three thousand people lay dead. Now right away one could argue that God’s ways seemed extreme, but does not Romans 6:23 tell us that the wages of sin is death? For these Israelites that chose not to follow after God and obey Him, they found death to be their punishment. For the remainder that had sinned, Moses sought the LORD’s forgiveness, begging that He forgive them or wipe Moses’ name out of the book.
In order to catch the relationship from this action then to Pentecost, we now need to skip ahead in time to Acts 2. It is here that we see another aspect of God’s redeeming qualities. To quote the former pastor of the church I attend, Don Finto, “On Pentecost fifteen hundred years earlier, when the Law was given on Sinai, three thousand died because of rebellion. On this Pentecost three thousand became the first fruits of new life in the Spirit.” After the Holy Spirit fell on the people in the Upper Room and empowered them with boldness, among other characteristics, Peter addressed the crowd that had gathered around mocking them. He explained that although they looked physically drunk they were indeed not, but rather drunk in the Spirit. Then, starting with a verse in the book of Joel, Peter preached one of the best salvation messages ever recorded (Acts 2:14-41). In the end, when the simple fisherman under the influence of the Holy Spirit had completed his message, he gave an altar call. And here’s the awesome part. “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
In one day, three thousand were slain because they chose to rebel against God and His commands. Years later, three thousand came into a relationship with God because their eyes and hearts were opened to who God was and they wanted to follow Him. The question beckons then, which one are you? Be careful to answer, though. I know personally that I have at times declared to God that I will follow Him and then shortly following found myself worshipping my own golden calf. If not for the grace of God, I too would face the Romans 6:23 penalty of death for my sins. God is looking for people who are sold out for Him so that He can pour His Spirit out on them. I pray this is not only the cry of our hearts, but also the way of our actions.