PCUSA devotions: Christ, Our Champion - Hebrews 2:18

Hebrews 2:18  Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.

This is one of the most important verses in the Bible and a divine promise that I cling to day after day. I honestly don’t think that I could maintain my faith without this blessing. I make mistakes again and again. I’m tempted to do wrong things repeatedly. I’m far from perfect and like everybody else, I lead a sinful life. Only Christ can rescue me from the temptations I face. Only Jesus can redeem me from the sins I still commit.

And Jesus can do this, not only because He has the divine power, but because He also knew of the human struggle and emotional wrestling that accompanies temptation. Christ was sinless, but that doesn’t mean He wasn’t goaded by the devil. Jesus obeyed God completely, but that was only accomplished by constantly overcoming temptation.

In other words, because Jesus knows what we go through, He understands our struggles and can forgive our sins. It doesn’t mean that He condones what we do or totally excuses us – if that was the case, we could rid ourselves of our consciences and do whatever we wanted. Jesus forgives us when we fail because He wants to restore us to God’s blessing, but not even He with all of His empathy about our tempting times and sinful situations can pardon us without our contrition, our sorrow, and our shame.

So what does this mean for all of us? Perhaps you’re struggling with a temptation that is breaking your resolve; maybe you’ve done something bad that you deeply regret. Whatever the facts, know this: we can come to Jesus sincerely and contritely to ask His forgiveness. He understands our predicament and only wants to restore us to God’s love. If we come to Him today, He will pardon our sins and change our lives. All we need to do is ask.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, You were tempted innumerable times throughout Your life, so You perfectly understand what we go through each day. Help us to come to You with our guilt and pride, our shame and regrets so that we may place them at Your feet and put our lives back into Your hands. Forgive us for every sin that we have ever committed, whether we remember them or not. In Your Holy Name, we sincerely pray. Amen.

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

Today’s image is one of John’s stained glass designs for Easter. It’s called “Cross of Many Colors.” If you would like to view a larger image of the drawing, please visit the following link: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2282/2301426682_7f0b9c037f_b.jpg

Presbyterian Devotions: Unfailing Love - Psalm 33 v 22

Psalm 33:22    May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

I don’t know if you watched the Masters from Augusta yesterday, but I managed to see the last hour of the broadcast and witnessed one of the best ends to an international golf tournament. It didn’t happen on the golf course, but it took place after Phil Mickleson won the event for the third time.

Phil found his wife Amy in the crowd and tearfully embraced her. It was a very touching moment because Amy has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer. You could see that both of them were very much in love with one another and that Mickleson was sharing his win with his wife. He played courageously throughout the last round and I feel certain that he was playing as much for Amy as he was for himself.

I hope and pray that their unfailing love and support for one another will enable and empower Amy to overcome the cancer.

We all face battles in life – sometimes through illness, sometimes with fear and anxiety, sometimes accompanied with despair and depression. I like what the psalmist prayed long ago for God’s people –“May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” I think that’s a wonderful, powerful, and yet simple prayer that we all could apply in our lives. It helps us to do two things: to look for God’s unfailing love in the midst of our sorrows, and to place our hopes in Him.

It’s called faith and throughout my own life, I have frequently used that prayer and have known the precious and positive empowerment that God gives through just being simply and sincerely asked.

Prayer:                        Lord God, thank You for loving us unfailingly. Thank You for allowing us to trust in Your ways, to rely upon Your promises, and to know Your favor. In Christ’s 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, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is John’s drawing of Hogan’s Bridge at Amen Corner in August. You can view a larger version here: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4333271971_84d55b7508_b.jpg

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: 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/

Presbyterian Devotions: Touching Jesus

Mark 5:27-28 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."

Many years ago, when I went to the 428 Gospel Club in Glasgow, Scotland, a friend of mine used to sing a song about the story of the woman who touched the hem of Christ’s garment. Every Wednesday evening, the people at the club used to ask Ian to play his guitar and sing this song. The chorus went along the lines of:

“If I could just touch the hem of His garment, if I could just touch some part of His clothes,

I know I’d be healed, my sins all forgiven. If I could just touch Him, I know I’d be whole.”

It was a beautiful song and it always touched the hearts of everyone who heard Ian sing it. Even now, as I remember those nights from more than thirty years ago, I can still hear in my mind Ian’s tenor voice and the wonderful way he rhythmically played his guitar.

It’s also a wonderful story of faith. We may never know her name, but so long as the Gospel is preached throughout the earth, the courageous faith of the woman in the crowd will remain as an example of perseverance and belief, persistence and hope. She did not wish to bring attention to herself because she felt so unworthy, but Jesus transforms the miraculous moment into something greater than she anticipated. Christ not only heals her completely, He also lovingly calls her ‘Daughter.’ She is a part of His Family and God’s Kingdom. She is welcomed into His heart and blessed beyond belief.

It’s the start of a new week and all of us have many responsibilities and tasks to fulfill. We may feel daunted by the stress and pressure that another week will bring. At some point, we will need to be spiritually refreshed and require encouragement. To find them, all we need to do is to push through the pressure and take time to touch Jesus with our hearts, minds, and prayers. If we can just touch Him, we know we’ll be whole.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, thank You for allowing Your Spirit to be present in our lives. In the midst of all our busy-ness throughout this coming week, be our Guide, our Comforter, and Healer. 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 an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Presbyterian Devotions: Mourning and Dancing

Ecclesiastes 3: 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

I think I must have conducted about 750 funerals over my 23 years in ministry. When I was a pastor in Scotland I looked after two parishes, so on average I officiated at about 2 funerals a week. I can even remember one busy week when I completed five funerals within seven days. I don’t know where I got the energy to do that, but it was expected of parish ministers all across Scotland.

After the services were over in Scotland, close friends and family often shared soup, sandwiches, and tea at a local hotel or in someone’s home. It was a community gathering and frequently family and guests shared some funny and worthwhile stories about the deceased. Instead of weeping and mourning, people honored the dead by laughing and celebrating. It also helped loved ones begin their process of grief and healing.

It’s no surprise that in the Bible we find these opposites side by side. Weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing all have their special places in our lives, even at funerals. It’s not just a way of coping with loss, it’s also a remarkable fact of the human experience – life goes on around us, no matter what we go through.

The Church of Scotland Book of Worship states it this way in the funeral liturgy: We were not meant for the darkness of death; instead we were created for light and life, and to share these with God forevermore.

I think that’s a beautiful way of dealing with death, finding faith, and eternally embracing God.

Prayer: Lord God, we thank You for the precious gift of life and the priceless blessing of faith. In the midst of our pain and loss, grant us healing and comfort. Throughout those times of weeping and mourning, let us also experience laughter and dancing. In Christ’s Name, we pray. Amen.

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