Pat Robertson thinks that the Haitians are suffering because of their centuries-old pact with the devil.

A friend of mine recently received a call from his upset granddaughter.  It seems that someone at her church had informed her that ‘all the Haitians are going to hell.’  Not only was the grade-schooler upset, she was confused.  If they’re all condemned, why were people in her church encouraging others to aid the Haitians?

May I suggest that as an alternative we consider Jesus’ response to two tragedies that His popular culture believed would have been the result of sin?  Luke 13.1-9:

At that time, some people came and reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  And He responded to them, ”Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all Galileans because they suffered these things?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!  Or those that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the people who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!”

And He told this parable: ”A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’

If you read carefully (or not even carefully at all), you’ll notice Jesus did not speak to the reason why the tragedies occurred.  Unlike Mr. Robertson, Jesus did not use the occasion as an opportunity to pronounce demonological judgments, though Jesus is the most qualified person to do so.

Instead, He used the tragedies to point to a greater truth and a potential crisis that would be greater than a puppet governor’s unreasonable and bloody rage, a tower’s failure, or a natural catastrophe - heading into eternity without God’s salvation.

Jesus instructs His listeners that what is more important than any personal comment on the mentioned tragedies is that ‘unless you repent, you will all perish as well!’  According to the Holman Christian Standard Bible translation, Jesus repeated the exhortation to repent word for word.  He then followed the call to repentance with a parable about a horticultural discussion on what to do with a fruitless fig tree.  Apparently, the vineyard worker won over the owner.  Give the fruitless tree one more year.  If then it produces no fruit, he’d get rid of it.

The point of this passage is this:  Jesus knows that tragedies will occur in life regardless of how one explains their cause.  What is most important is not why they happen, but are you ready for when your life ends?  God, as the Vineyard Owner, has provided for us a patient Vineyard Worker whose desire is for no fruitless life to end fruitlessly, but desires for each one of us to repent of our sins, believe in Jesus, and be saved.  Remember this, though.  There is a limit to the Vineyard Owner’s patience.

The crisis in Haiti is one of epic proportions.  A greater crisis, though, would be to go into eternity without Jesus Christ.  Repent, therefore, or you will perish as well.  Yours, Lee

For more from Pastor Lee, go to his blog @ www.2ten5.blogspot.com.

(The picture gracing this post is of St. Luke from a Byzantine manuscript.)

(The art gracing this post is ‘Good Samaritan’ by He Qi, a 2ten5 favorite.)

The parable of the Good Samaritan.  What could I possibly say that would add anything worthwhile to one of the most beautiful and well known stories in the history of Western civilization?  Nothing.

But I preach for a living, so of course I’ve got to say something.  So a few observations:

v25: Just then an expert in the law stood up to test (Jesus), saying, ‘Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
A great question, but not the point of the conversation or the story.  The expert didn’t care about eternal life here.  He only cared to test Jesus and justify himself (v29).

v29: But wanting to justify himself, (the expert) asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’
This is the point of the story that Luke is relating here.  The expert wants to know who Jesus thinks are the ‘neighbors’ we are commanded to love in the first covenant (v27, quoted from Deuteronomy 6.5 and Leviticus 19.18).  This is why Jesus tells the parable.

vv30-32: Go easy on the religious folks in this story.  Jesus’ first listeners would not have been too harsh on them because they would have known that the priest and Levite would have become ritually unclean had they stopped to help.  Besides, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious as a hangout for bandits and ne’er-do-wells.  Perhaps the injured man on the side of the road was mere bait to trap kind-hearted travelers to relieve them of their possessions - or lives.  How many times have you thought the same thing when you passed stranded drivers standing next to their cars on the side of the road?  Yet, the truth still stands: the religious, law-abiding Jews did not stop to help.

vv33-35: The Samaritan’s primary characteristic was not his kindness nor generosity.  Instead, his kindness and generosity were the result of his compassion (v33): the motivation from the core of his being that someone needed help and he was the one to provide it.  It is this same compassion that inspired the father to run greet the returning prodigal.  It is the same compassion that Jesus feels for those victimized, beaten, and left for dead by their sins.

v36: (Jesus asked), ‘Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’
This is another great question, and the point of the story.  Much to the chagrin of the expert in the law he had to admit the neighbor was the enemy - the hated, half-breed, heathen Samaritan proved to be more obedient to the law of love than the priest or Levite.

Most often I approach this story from the basic perspective of ‘Who is my neighbor/enemy, and how can I show God’s love to him?’  But for me there is also another perspective.  Who is the enemy who has loved me like a neighbor, like a friend, like a stranded traveler on the roadside of life, dead in sin?

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. - Romans 5.10

For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say whether things on earth or things in heaven.  And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach . . . - Colossians 1.19-22

Thank God that Jesus did not pass me by on the other side.  Yours, Lee

For more from Pastor Lee, go to 2ten5.

After months of studies, discussion and agreement, the Bible study group that I meet with each week has finally completed its working document which attempts to answer the question ‘Who is the church?’ from various scriptures, but primarily from a chapter by chapter overview of 1 Corinthians. Starting in the new year we will attempt to answer this question:

If this is who we are, then what should we do?

So here you go:

This is a hard word. And for this message I only considered four phrases from two verses.

Hearing the Word of God with the intent of listening and obeying is a recurring exhortation in Luke’s gospel. Luke uses it again in 6.27 where Jesus says, ‘But I say to you who listen . . .’ Jesus is not speaking to the simply curious. He is speaking to those who have an open heart willing to learn and obey. To the obedient hearer Jesus says:

Voluntarily extend unconditional godly affection toward those you hate. In the philosophical abstract this command may not seem so difficult. For example, in my mind I can conceive kindness towards a terrorist hiding out in Afghanistan or an atheist shouting epithets from New Zealand. But Jesus’ ethic is not about ambiguous generalities. Its about personal specifics. His command is to love the adulterous wife or the abusive father. His command is love the rebellious child and the insulting employer. His command is to love the one you hate. Part of the genius of this command, of course, is that the more you love your enemy, the more your enemy becomes the one you love.

Love who you hate. Do good to those who hate you. This is completely contrary to the American mindset. We learn early not to get mad but get even. From our first days on the school playground suffering at the whim of the upper class bullies we teach ourselves to wait and look for the right time to pay back in kind. Jesus’ command turns this cultural mindset completely on its head. He does not tell us not to get even. He tells us to do good to those who hate us. It is in this context that we find Luke’s version of the golden rule in v31: ‘Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.’ This negates the payback, the revenge, the eye-for-an-eye mentality.

Jesus’ first listeners placed a higher value on ‘the curse’ as a willful desire for a godly destruction upon others than our more sophisticated culture does. But even for us words mean something. So when people offer the 21st century version of a curse the command still applies. Instead of using words to insult or harm, we must speak words of blessing and kindness. In order for us to obey fully this command, our blessing words must come from a sincere heart of integrity. When we bless those who curse us our words must genuinely reflect our heart’s desire for the other to be blessed.

We must be careful not to contort Jesus’ commands into creating a culture of victims. Jesus is not advocating that we allow the abuser to continue abusing, enable the curser to continue cursing, to open wide our hearts to the enemy’s attack. If you discover yourself to be in an abusive relationship of any kind do all you can to get away from it. Likewise, Jesus’ command to pray for the abuser is not a solicitation to continue as a victim. It is a direction to respond with one of the most powerful instruments available to the Christian warrior: pray - turn the abuser over to God in prayer so that He might bring justice and deliverance to your situation.

These are hard words of command spoken from God Incarnate to the listening heart. The words are hard to hear. They are more difficult to obey. But should they be received with a Christlike desire and with the Spirit’s help these words can change your world, one enemy at a time. Yours, Lee

(For an explanation of the photo gracing this post which is of Jesus going the second mile with a Nazi soldier, go here.)

For more from Pastor Lee go to two10five.

(The art gracing this post is ‘The LORD Has Anointed Me,’ by Mark Lawrence, a two10five favorite.)

Which brings me to the title of this message. I don’t think I made it very clear in the spoken message why I felt inspired to give it this title.

According to the context of Luke 4.16-21, Jesus had just completed His desert temptation experience. As He was beginning His public ministry, ‘as usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day.’ I think its important to remember that during His time on earth Jesus regularly gathered for worship with God’s people. But that’s another sermon. As Jesus was honored with the responsibility to publicly read the Scripture, He read from Isaiah 61.1-3, then proclaimed, ‘Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.’

By that I believe He meant that He is the Anointed One who came to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind, and to set free the oppressed and captivated. Jesus identified Himself as the fulfillment of the First Covenant Messianic prophecies and as the Savior of the world, a primary theme that runs throughout Luke/Acts.

But what I mean by the title of the message is this: maybe this message isn’t for you. Maybe you don’t identify yourself as poor (either economically disadvantaged or spiritually bankrupt); maybe you don’t see yourself as blind (either physically or in your heart); maybe you don’t recognize yourself imprisoned by a foreign occupying force or by the terrorism of your own sins. If you don’t, then you don’t need Jesus. If you don’t need Jesus, then you don’t need to listen to His message. So maybe this message isn’t for you. Luke makes it quite clear that countless people who heard Jesus in the flesh believed that His message wasn’t for them, either, so you wouldn’t be alone in turning a deaf hear to what Jesus said. That’s the inspiration for the title of this sermon.

But maybe you recognize your spiritual poverty. Maybe you’re helpless in your spiritual blindness, not knowing how to find your way out to salvation. Maybe you recognize the chains that bind you, keeping you from the freedom and joy that is God’s desire for you. If so, then today, listen to Jesus. He has come to give you good news, to open your eyes, and to see you free.

For more from Pastor Lee, go to www.two10five.blogspot.com

When was the last time you saw a preacher build a model city then lay siege to it? Or lay on his left side for 390 days, then on his right side for 40 days more? Or shave his entire head, burning a third of the clippings, beating another third with a sword, and scattering another third to the wind? All in an attempt to proclaim God’s prophetic word to God’s people?

Its personal illustrations like this - along with his incredibly described visions - that have helped to create the popular image of the prophet Ezekiel as a strangely odd spokesman for God. But should you investigate the prophet and his message a little deeper you would discover a man deeply in love with the Lord who desperately wanted his fellow citizens in exile to hear God’s word of judgment for their sins and hope for their restoration.

Though perhaps Ezekiel’s best known passage concerns the dry bones in ch. 37, ch. 34 describes a beautiful word of condemnation and promise. The condemnation is directed against the shepherds of Israel. In this context, those shepherds were the kings whom God appointed and expected to look after the political and spiritual needs of His people. With few exceptions, these shepherd kings failed miserably. Not only did they not care for the real needs of the sheep, they had taken advantage of the poorest and neediest, grossly violating God’s sense of justice. So through Ezekiel the LORD declared, ‘See, I Myself will search for My flock and look for them . . . I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy and dark day.’ (34.11-12) God promised to reclaim the lost sheep who had been scattered through rebellion, war, and exile, bringing them home so they might ‘feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.’ (34.14) As the sheep returned home, God promised to ’seek the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, and strengthen the weak,’ shepherding the flock with His true justice. (34.16)

Throughout this word of hopeful restoration, the echo of the consequences of trusting in human leadership rather than God rings clear. The northern kingdom of Israel and later the southern kingdom of Judah turned their backs on their God of deliverance and sustenance, trusting in themselves and foreign powers for their protection and strength. Their trust was misplaced and their failure was assured because of their lack of faith in God.

But here is the good news of the Gospel: God is the covenant shepherd who keeps His promises regardless of the rebellious nature of His sheep. He kept His promise of becoming the personal shepherd for His people when He sent the Son, Jesus Christ. The author of Mark presents a beautiful picture of our compassionate Shepherd in Mark 6.34-39 when Jesus has the multitudes recline on the green grass in the wilderness so that they may be fed to their satisfaction from a few fish and loaves of bread. Then in John 10.7-10 Jesus Himself said this:

(With sincere thanks to Dr. Charles Talbert, New Testament Professor at Baylor University, who first clearly identified for me the concept of the narrative arc and biblically consistent theme of the Gospel.)Bear with me. This will take longer than a minute. But you’re not that busy, or else you wouldn’t be reading this blog.

A primary reason I started this blog was so that I could expound on what I teach and preach to the beautiful church family God has called me to serve as pastor. However, what I’ve discovered is that very few of the First Family ever read my blog. (Which, by the way, I DO NOT recommend. If your pastor has a blog, read it. If for no other reason, you need to consider if what he blogs is consistent with what he says/how he behaves.)

In the meantime, I’ve discovered that some blogophiles read my post on a semi-consistent basis (thanks!), but do not regularly listen to my online sermons. So here’s the general challenge: I speak to people who rarely read what I write, and I write to people who rarely listen to what I say. So when I post a Minute Message, though it is a summary of what I’ve said, I need to remember that my readers may have little or no context in which to fit the summary. Which makes this Minute Message doubly challenging, because ‘Spur Trail’ is a spoken summary of what I’ve been saying for six weeks. How, then, do I offer a written summary of a spoken summary to a reader who has no idea of what I’m summarizing? It is summarily perplexing, truly.

The basic idea of my sermon series ‘THE 13th PERSPECTIVE’ is that the Bible is God’s story written by God for God’s glory. Though the Bible is divided into two covenants, general categories (i.e., law, history, prophecy, gospels, etc.), sixty-six books, countless chapters and endless verses, it is still God’s story written by God for God’s glory. Therefore, from Genesis to the Revelation the reader should be able to identify consistent themes, ideas, plots, and purposes running throughout the whole narrative arc, not unlike any reader should expect to find in any literary work, with the possible exception of works like Finnegans Wake or recently published Batman graphic novels.

In my opinion, a consistent theme found in God’s Word is the Gospel: God’s good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I know that these days its not that easy to give a definitive definition of what the Gospel is, but that’s not exactly my point. My point is that however you choose to define the Gospel, I believe you should be able consistently to identify at least its most basic characteristics throughout all sixty-six books because, after all, the Bible is God’s story written by God for God’s glory. Forthwith are some summary examples:

1st - The Proto-Gospel, Genesis 3.8-24: Our first spiritual parents, Adam and Eve, commit the first sin, thereby imputing the sinful nature into succeeding human generations. Ultimately the consequence of sin is death. In ch. 3 death immediately follows sin because God used the skins of animals to clothe the naked man and woman, thus implying that their sins led to the death of the animals. But, the good news is, in God’s judgment against the woman He offers a hint (the proto-gospel) that one day one of her descendants will rise up to crush the head of the serpent who was integrally involved in the fall of the apex of God’s creation. So in Genesis 3 we find God, sin and death, and at least a hint of the way out. That’s good news.

2nd - The Atoning Gospel, Leviticus 16.29-34: In ch. 16 God established the law of the Day of Atonement, a solemn occasion that God’s people were to observe on a yearly basis where an animal was sacrificed as symbolic of God’s judgment against the sins His people committed throughout the year. But God’s people eventually disobeyed the law. They did not observe the Day of Atonement every year. But they did not stop sinning, either. So the author of Hebrews writes in 9.9-14, 24-28 that God gave His only Son Jesus as the ultimate and permanent atoning sacrifice for sin. So in Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 9 we find God, sin and death, and the way out. That’s good news.

You get the point, so I won’t belabor the details of Judges 3.7-11; 2 Samuel 12.1-15; Psalm 22.25-31; and Lamentations 3.22-24 other than to suggest this: in each passage we can find God, sin and death, and the way out. That’s good news. And I propose that we will find this in the seven sermons I’ve yet to preach.

And that’s consistent with the narrative arc of the Bible, because, after all, its God’s story written by God for God’s glory.

The reason I entitled this message ‘Spur Trail’ is because any number of the First Family would be familiar with hiking in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, at the feet of which lies the strangely beautiful city of Santa Fe. There are numerous main trails in the mountains. There are also spur trails that lead off the main trail then eventually return to it. Should you take a spur trail you will see things that you would not see from the main trail.

So on this spur trail I call your attention to three mountain peaks you may not see as clearly from the main trail. First is what I call Creation Cliff, so named because we find our first parents at the bottom of the cliff where they fell in sin. The next peak for your consideration needs no new name from me: it is Mt. Calvary. As you peer to its summit you’ll see it is crowned with a blood stained cross that stands just above a tomb - an empty tomb. Then on the far horizon you’ll see a third mountain. You must look hard to see that one. In fact, you’ll see it best if you expect to see it through faith rather than by sight. It is Consummation Heights, the site of our glorious reunion with the Lord as we anticipate attending the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

From our vantage point on this spur trail we may find ourselves most often under the shadow of Creation Cliff. That shadow shades us from God’s glory by sin and death. But as we look to Mt. Calvary the shadow disappears in the light of the cross and the empty tomb. So as we travel the trail by faith in anticipation of one day arriving atop Consummation Heights, we walk in the light of Christ who by His Spirit reveals to us that though we may walk through valley of the shadow of death, in Jesus God has provided the way out. And that’s good news. Because, after all, in the Bible we find the Gospel, the great good news that is God’s story written by God for God’s glory.

So there’s my summary from the spur trail of the 6/13th perspectives so far: the Gospel is that there is God, there is sin and death, and there is a way out. That way out is Jesus Christ. And that’s good news. Because, after all, the Bible is God’s story written by God for God’s glory.

Now, to get a better idea of what I’m trying to say, go listen to the six sermons I’ve preached so far. Obviously, you’re not that busy. My mom would do it. So should you. I’m not so sure about my dad, though . . .

Yours, Lee (and thanks again for reading - and listening)

(For those of you who are wondering what scriptures I used in preaching the ‘Spur Trail’ message,here they are. The picture gracing this post is of the Sangre de Cristo mountains found here, which is a great web page that can help you understand how different it is to live in Santa Fe.)

For more from Pastor Lee, check out his blog @ www.two10five.blogspot.com.

(The art gracing this post is ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness’ by Mark Lawrence.)

Art can change the way you think. In 1937 Pablo Picasso produced the mural ‘Guernica,’ depicting his perspective on the bombing of that Spanish city by fascist forces from Germany and Italy. The bombing came as a request from Francisco Franco, the leader of Spain, during the Spanish Civil War. Until Picasso’s work debuted, the world community paid little attention to what was happening in Spain. After the piece became known, people were once again confronted with the horrors of war.

The first covenant book of Lamentations is a literary work of art that, in my opinion, transcends Picasso’s. Four of the five chapters are an elegy written in acrostic form based on the Hebrew alphabet. Chs. 1,2 and 4 have 22 single verses each based on a Hebrew letter; ch. 3 has 66 verses in groups of three, with each group based on a letter; ch. 5 is a benedictory prayer. The book, whose author(s) is unknown, is a confession and reflection on the horrors that have befallen God’s people because of their national sins. Though the book clearly identifies the consequences of spiritual rebellion, in the middle of the middle chapter the author holds out hope for the God who will not ultimately abandon His people: