Presbyterian Devotions: Holy Week Hell

Mark 9:49       Everyone will be salted with fire.

I recently watched an animated version of the classical poem Dante’s Inferno. It depicted all of the excesses of medieval man’s imagery of hell. Souls were tormented and demons were diabolically cruel. The sign above the gates of hell told the whole story: “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here.”

These days, not many people believe in hell. They see it as an invention of religious fanatics who used it to control society, especially when the Church seemed to be all powerful during the Middle Ages. Post modern people reject such a notion, after all, why would a loving, creative, and gracious God permit such a hateful, destructive, and cruel place to exist?

The problem about hell for me is this: Christ believed it existed and He willingly died for us in order to save us from hell. If I deny hell’s existence, then I reject Christ’s beliefs. If I reject what Jesus said, then how can I be sure of my salvation? As usual, there’s no compromise. Either Christ told the truth or He lied.

Holy Week sees the end of Lent and the beginning of Christ’s passion (suffering) for the world. At the end of the week, He overcomes sin and death, and even hell. Hope is not abandoned, but it abounds. In Jesus, we can have the joy of salvation and the promise of heaven, but only if we accept Him as our One True and Only Savior.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, not one of us is comfortable with the existence of hell. We want to cast it aside and think about something pleasant. However, hell was real to You, so who are we to question Your words and ways, Your message and truth. Teach us this week that You can save us from hell and restore us to heaven. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of John’s 2010 Holy Week drawings. It’s called “Bloody Sunset” and depicts Christ on the Cross outside of the walls of Jerusalem. You can view a larger version of the drawing here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/traqair57/4471998398/sizes/l/

Presbyterian Devotions: Turning Coffee into Trees - Psalm 24

Psalm 24:1      The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

There’s a new coffee shop in town called “Ja Verde.” It’s situated on the West End of Middlebrook Pike and its grand opening takes place on Saturday 27^th March. I was in there this morning having coffee with a friend and had a conversation with the manager.

“What does Ja Verde mean?” asked my friend.

“It’s a combination of Java and the Spanish word for ‘green.’”

“Why green?” I asked.

“It’s because we use our profits to plant trees. Last year we planted 10,000 trees. This year we hope to plant 12,000 trees.”

I think that is a wonderful project and worthy of support. Paul and Carly, the managers, are a young couple with global ideals. They want to make a difference in the world because they respect God’s Creation. Paul is actually a Theology graduate and believes that Christians should be conservationists and good stewards of the Earth.

Today’s verse from Psalm 24 is a timely reminder that the Earth belongs to the Lord and that includes everything within it. God allows us to live on this planetary jewel and fully expects us to take care of it. We have both the created capacity and a divine obligation to be caretaking conservationists of this beautiful world. Young people like Paul and Carly are doing their share. The challenge for us is to find opportunities where we can do something similar.

Prayer:                        Almighty God, thank You for creating this beautiful and unique planet. Help us to love the Earth and conserve its wonders through good stewardship and environmental care. Bless those who dedicate their lives and businesses for the renewal of the Earth. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, pleases end him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of John’s drawings called “Tree of Life: Eden in the Fall.” A larger version can be found here online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/traqair57/3951802007/sizes/l/

It is also on display at the Ja Verde Coffee Shop on Middlebrook Pike in Knoxville, about a mile west of Cedar Bluff.

Presbyterian Devotions: Practicing His Preaching

Mark 7:29        Then Jesus told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."

           

This is an unusual story and an unlikely miracle from Jesus. It appears at first that Christ is reluctant to help the woman because she is a Gentile. She has to persist in order to get Jesus to do what she wants. This begs the question:  If she had been Jewish, would Jesus have treated her differently?

But I believe that there is a lot more to this event than just ‘He said, she said.’ Jesus’ credibility is on the line and His authenticity as a preacher is being challenged.

If you look back to the passage of scripture before this (Mark 7:17-23), you’ll see that Jesus had been preaching about what was clean and unclean. He was quite specific about what was holy and unholy, which meant that He was going against the traditional kosher values of His community. This was radical teaching as far as most of the Jewish clergy were concerned. It separated Jesus from His religious peers and must have upset more than a few people.

And yet in this incident, Christ seems to be following the traditional line that all foreigners were unclean and therefore unworthy of God’s blessings. The arch traditionalists would have been delighted at His initial response to the woman, but if Jesus had  left it there and didn’t heal the Syrophonecian woman’s daughter wouldn’t He have been guilty of hypocrisy, of not practicing what He Himself had only just preached?

As usual, there’s a lot more to this passage than we realize at first. I think Jesus highlights the lack of compassion that just keeping to the letter of the Law engenders. He has to go above and beyond the Law in order to help this woman and that, my friends, is what Christianity is all about.

I also think that Christ would have healed the young girl, but that the Syrophonecian woman showed that she was willing to beg for help, no matter what the cost was to her pride. This really impresses Jesus because it is an act of faithful submission and genuine prayer.  She doesn’t take Christ for granted and she fully relies upon Him to help in her time of greatest need.

We all come to Christ in prayer on a daily basis, but how many times do we take His blessings for granted? Perhaps the lesson that we all need to learn, especially during Lent, is to humbly approach the Lord with our personal requests.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, You ask us to seek You in prayer and to sincerely ask for guidance and help, forgiveness and healing. Sometimes we take You for granted because we are too busy to be humble and in too much of a hurry to wait. Forgive us for being self-focused. Help us to humbly pray. In Your Holy Name. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message or offer some feedback, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: A Prophetic Psalm

Psalm 22:7-8              All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

 "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."

It’s amazing to think that Psalm 22 was written centuries before Christ died on the Cross, because many of its verses are teeming with prophecies about Jesus’ experiences at Calvary. Today’s passage, for instance, is a prophecy about those who mocked Jesus at the foot of the Cross. They added to His injuries by raging against Christ. As it states in both the psalm and the Gospels, they hurled insults against Him culminating in a mocking accusation of “He trusts in God; let God rescue Him!”

It must have tormented Jesus to hear those hurtful words from His own people. He had spent three years trying to draw them closer to God through grace, love, and peace. But the mob gathered at Calvary didn’t want to hear “All you need is love.” They didn’t want a Messiah who forgave their enemies. They didn’t want a leader who brought about change through helping the weak and healing the sick. They wanted a Christ who obliterated their enemies; they wanted a Champion who would kick the Romans out of the Promised Land.

And so, when Jesus failed to live up to their expectations, they turned against Him and mocked His powerlessness as He agonizingly died upon the Cross.

In some places and with other people, Christ and Christianity still face those torments. Atheists despise us and blame Christianity for all of the wars in the last two thousand years. Advocates of progressive change try to diminish our relevance and message by equating our Faith with other religions. Or they mock our Faith by revising and rewriting history in order to exclude the influence that Christianity has had upon Western Society and throughout the world.

But as long as Time exists and people remain on this planet, Christ’s words and ways will endure, despite the challenges and criticisms of our Faith. The Cross did not end Jesus’ global ministry; it actually began there. The Calvary mockers may have died 1900 years ago and turned to dust, but the Spirit of Christ endures and His mission remains.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, thank You for Your power that prevails and Your words that will not go away. Thank You for enduring on the Cross so that the penalty for sin could finally be paid. Without You, our world would not be the same. With You, we have a hope that continues throughout eternity. In Your Holy Name, we thankfully pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message or offer feedback, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Forsaken, but not Forgotten

Psalm 22:1      My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

There was a time in my life when I actually felt forsaken by God. It happened when I was a teenager. My Mom had just had another schizophrenic meltdown and the paramedics came to take her away in an ambulance. As usual, she was violently cursing and out of her mind. Our neighbors were at their windows – some praying inwardly while others were shaking their heads. I felt so embarrassed, angry, and saddened all at the same time. I feel to my knees and started to weep in front of my Dad and siblings.

“Why is this happening to us?” I wailed. “Why doesn’t God do something to stop it?” It was the lowest point in my teenage life and that despair set me off on a self-destructive course of alcoholism and addiction.

Decades later, I can still feel that pain but I also know that God was there in the midst of all my family’s distress. He heard the cry of my heart and I feel that because of the suffering our family endured, I can help people better in the middle of their own crises.

Perhaps you are going through some trouble today, or you feel isolated and vulnerable, or there is some pain in your life that is deeply affecting your relationships with others and God. From my experience, I believe that God is at the heart of your trouble, walking with you and willing to help you get through this.

We all can feel forsaken at times, just like Jesus on the Cross when He quoted these words, but we are never hopelessly abandoned by God. He is with us always, planning what lies ahead and preparing for better times.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, You knew the depths of despair on the Cross at Calvary. The suffering and shame that You endured connected You to the painfulness, weakness, and fearfulness of humanity. We look to You to help us carry our crosses and bear our burdens. We need You to walk beside us and embrace us with love, patience, healing, and compassion. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Broken Pieces - Mark 6 v 43

Mark 6:43       And the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.

Yesterday, a controversy was brewing at a Texas College where atheists were running an exchange program. They offered to exchange Bible for pornographic magazines to students on the campus in order to protest First Amendment Rights. The atheists believed that because Bibles were placed in dorm rooms, then they should be allowed to distribute pornography. They argued that the Bible’s puritanical statements about sexuality needed to be vehemently challenged and opposed, so they offered to exchange Bibles for sex magazines.

I guess that kind of behavior and controversy highlights the society that we are living in. I was visiting with an elderly church member at the time and she was angered by this news. However, I pointed out to her that God is big enough to take care of this kind of an issue on His own. We don’t need to get enmeshed in a maelstrom of indignity and self-righteousness. There’s more than enough suffering and trouble in Haiti and Chile for us to focus upon instead of being distracted by atheists.

I think that the hurt that she was feeling was for God and Christ’s Church. We keep thinking that the world is fragmenting, diminishing, and belittling all of our cherished beliefs. We are afraid and anxious that the divisions amongst us will break the Church into pieces and end our faith entirely. That’s never going to happen.

Look at the Gospel passage again (Mark 6: 37-44) and re-read today’s highlighted verse. Even the broken pieces that are left over are more than sufficient to meet our needs and to keep Christ’s ministry going on. Jesus specializes in broken pieces, broken people, and even a broken world. He is the great faith provider and godly healer that we all need, so instead of becoming anxious and indignant about what atheists do or don’t do in Texas, we just need to remind ourselves that in all of history and all over creation, Christ is victorious and He will eternally endure.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, we are all broken people, belonging to a broken Church, and living in a broken world. You have the divine capacity to lovingly heal us through forgiveness and faith, godliness and grace. Help us to remember that the Church has always been attacked by the world. Remind us that Your words, ways and works will endure from this time forth and into all eternity. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is the latest drawing in John’s Bird Art Series. It’s called “Peacock Pride.” A larger version of the image can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/traqair57/4402879204/sizes/l/in/set-72157623366524553/