Month: April 2022

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

(This is a devotion I wrote while awaiting the birth of our eleventh grandchild.)

Well, here it is 5:30 in the morning and I am sitting in solitude of McDonalds once again.  Elaine and I are waiting for an eleventh grandchild to make her way into the world and she is stubbornly remaining in safety of  the womb until arrival is absolutely necessary.   I can’t say that I blame her!  The deadline day was this morning and the doctors said that Laura (mom) could absolutely not go beyond this morning even if inducement was necessary.   Then last night a nurse called and said, “Oops, due to staffing issues we need to delay you one day.  See you on Thursday.”

Wow, have you ever been on a road trip and you are desperate for a rest stop and you notice there is one in two miles and you give your body that message and then you see the sign that says, “rest area closed.”  No matter how gently you try to tell your body there is no restroom in sight, your body does not take the news well.  Well, Laura is experiencing this feeling in triplicate.  Her body is rebelling against the sign that said, “Hospital closed for one day.  Check in then. Have a nice day. “

As we look at today’s verse we see that God has given us a remedy for delays and disappointments.  He doesn’t just say stop worrying like the mean PE teacher who tells his class to stop sweating after a two-mile run.  God gives us the means and the power by which we can stop worrying. 

First of all, He tells us to be square with Him.  We are certainly disappointed that the little bundle of sunshine is behind the clouds for an extra day, especially when we have spent the last few days with Laura walking in town, out of town, up trails, down trails, on beach, in the water, and every where you can imagine in an attempt to speed this little bundle into the world.  Baby has held on tenaciously to the walls of the womb and refused to make an appearance (probably has been hearing all the news in the world today), and the only thing that has happened is Elaine and I gave birth to a whole bunch of sore muscles.  I got in 19,000 steps just yesterday and I imagine Elaine got in more because her legs are shorter than mine.

But regardless of all we did, God had His own timetable and He instructs to not worry.  In fact, He tells us to be thankful for it.    Through the Apostle Paul He says that peace comes from sharing our desires with Him and thanking Him for answering before we even know the answer. Amy Carmichael, missionary to India wrote, “Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace…If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you know what His will is.”  God’s will is that we trust Him and believe that he sees not only our own situation, but how this situation will affect hundreds of others.  We trust that God’s timetable is timely.

I don’t know why the hospital delayed the delivery by a day; they had their reasons, but so did God.  Who knows, maybe the doctor Laura would have gotten worked his way through medical school with crib sheets and the ability to see other’s test papers at long distance.  But I trust God and I trust that someday I might even know why we might be spending another day hiking into waterfalls on steep (beautiful but steep) trails. 

Robert Louis Stevenson tells of a storm that caught a vessel off a rocky coast and threatened to drive it and its passengers to destruction. In the midst of the terror, one daring man, contrary to orders, went to the deck, made a dangerous passage to the pilot house and saw the steerman, lashed fast at his post of holding the wheel unwaveringly, and inch by inch, turning the ship out, once more, to sea. The pilot saw the watcher and smiled.

Then, the daring passenger went below and gave out a note of cheer: “I have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled. All is well.”

Philippians tells us that the one who guards our hearts and minds is smiling.  We can be assured that “all is well.”

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20

The gospel is the good news that God sent Jesus to undo what Adam undid; Romans 5:18-19 says “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “Jesus died and rose again for sinners, just as God promised! Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance wight he scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised again on the third day according to the scriptures.”

It is the good news that we can once more be truly human. No longer are we, like Adam, evicted from God’s presence and under his wrath. The garden—the kingdom—has been regained with a plus. It is the good news that we are sons of the second Adam and have been remade—not just considered to be remade, but new creatures. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” We have been actually remade—not fully … yet—but actually, truly. We’ve been re-born, made new, in a word, regenerated.

We, the sons of the second Adam, or Jesus, have been raised with him to new life. His resurrection guarantees our own; Ephesians 2:5-6 tells us that “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We are new creatures. All things become new in Christ- His person, His Life, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension, His seating, His interceding, His coming, His reigning. And, yes, it means we’ve got something we must share now with our unbelieving neighbors before its too late. However, for far too long we’ve missed what the gospel means for us now. We’ve missed why the gospel is good news for Christians today. We have missed the changes it can make in our lives right now.

In one of my sermons I shared the story of Albert McMakin who was a twenty-four-year-old farmer who had recently come to faith in Christ. He was so full of enthusiasm that he filled his truck with people and took them to a meetings to hear about Jesus. There was a good-looking farmer’s son whom he was especially keen to get to a meeting, but this young man was hard to persuade – he was too busy falling in and out of love with different girls, and did not seem to be attracted to Christianity. Eventually, Albert McMakin managed to persuade him to come by asking him to drive Albert’s truckload of guys. Since driving was always a treat, his friend relented. When they arrived, Albert’s guest decided to go in and was ‘spellbound’ and began to have thoughts he had never known before. He went back again and again until one night he went forward and gave his life to Jesus Christ. That man, the driver of the truck, was Billy Graham. The year was 1934. We have all heard of Billy Graham, but few of us have heard of Albert McMakin. We cannot all be like Billy Graham, but we can all be like Albert McMakin – we can all bring our friends to Jesus.

We don’t need to be afraid to share. We are new creatures, we are regenerated, we are reborn and our old fears are passed away.

“For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:18-20

Anticipating the return of Christ is part of the joy of being a Christian. We have been promised in the Word that Christ will return and we can be sure of God’s promise. There is actually one return that the Body of Christ anticipates and it is called the rapture. During that return we will go to meet Christ in the air and forever be with Him. At the Second Coming of Christ He will come to earth to establish His kingdom and set in motion the final series of events that will lead to a New Heavens and New Earth. Sound too fantastic to believe? Well, it sounds fantastic, but not too much so to be believed. After all, it is promised and God keeps His promises. He certainly kept His promise about Christ’s first coming and He will for the rapture and the Second Coming, as well. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of promises about the return of Jesus Christ. Over 1800 references appear in the Old Testament and 23 of the 27 New Testament books refer to the Second Coming. These promises should remind us that we are to stand firm in our hope of Christ’s return and reject the spirit of antichrist that dominates the world around us.

One of the most inspiring stories of World War II was the promise that General MacArthur made to the people and troops in the Philippines. The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, Japan launched its invasion of the Philippine islands.After struggling against great odds to save the Philippines from Japanese takeover, MacArthur was forced to abandon the islands. MacArthur was disheartened to find out that relief of his forces trapped in the Philippines would not be forthcoming. Left behind were 90,000 American and Filipino troops, who, lacking food, supplies, and support, would soon succumb to the Japanese offensive. Deeply disappointed, MacArthur issued a statement to the press in which he promised his men and the people of the Philippines, “I shall return.” This promise would become his mantra during the next two and a half years, and he would repeat it often in public appearances. The people of the Philippines were heartened by the promise that he would return. That promise became the beacon of light and inspiration to the beleaguered Filipino soldiers, and guerillas mushroomed everywhere constantly battling the Japanese troops.

In the Japanese takeover of the Philippines 70,000 American and Filipino soldiers were captured and were forced to undertake a death march in which at least 7,000 perished. Finally, the last of the 90,000 troops were captured. But the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had no immediate plans for their liberation because resources had to be put elsewhere. However, MacArthur would not give up on his promise and launched major offensives, winning a string of victories with his limited forces in his efforts to work his way back to the Philippines.

After many battles in the Pacific the US leadership felt they were once again in a position to invade the Philippines. The Joint Chiefs put their support behind a plan devised by MacArthur. On October 20, 1944, the invasion began and few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte. That day, he made a radio broadcast in which he declared, “People of the Philippines, I have returned!” Unfortunately, only one-third of the men MacArthur left behind in March 1942 survived to see his return. “I’m a little late,” he told them, “but we finally came.”

MacArthur’s promised return gave hope to the people of the Philippines. He became a national hero. Although his return was delayed, they anticipated it and that anticipation became the energy for their constant battle against the Japanese. As we see in the verses above, there is an opposition to God’s glory, truth, and holiness in our world today. Paul talks of those whose end is destruction serving the god that is their belly, and thus, they glory in their shame. They are seeking whatever satisfies self over the glory of God. We see an opposition to truth and holiness as their minds are set on earthly things. They are neither listening to God’s Word nor seeking to be set apart from the world’s desires.

So like the people of the Philippines we are surrounded and we too have been promised a return. Christ said, “I will return” and though there have been two-thousand years pass since that promise, it will take place. In the meantime, we should not be sitting on our hands, idly awaiting His return. There is work to be done. If we sit we will be overtaken by the world. We must anticipate Christ’s return, but not be discouraged by its delay. MacArthur kept his promise and that was fortunate, but we can be assured that a promise by God will always be kept.

As we anticipate the return of Christ, our lives should reflect a standard that is remarkable and unusual to the world. We must not become part of the world as we await Christ’s return, but be people who submit our lives to God’s Word over the whims of society or our flesh. Christ’s promise is real and when He says “I shall return,” 

He shall return. We can bank on it. Remember, we cannot break God’s promises by leaning on them. Someday we will know that the promise “I shall return” will have become “I have returned.” In the meantime, we should do all we can to invite as many people to His homecoming as possible.