Jesus Understands

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Steve Foster

In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:7-10)

Jesus is our High Priest. He represents us before God. He offers up the ultimate sacrifice, Himself, on our behalf. He sympathizes with our weaknesses.

But does He really understand?

I think of Proverbs 14:10:

The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.

There is an "aloneness" in our own heart. No one can fully enter into what we feel. There is anxiety, discouragement, depression, feelings of inadequacy, shame, guilt, isolation, and struggles with our own thought life that plague us. And we can feel like no one truly understands or cares.

But Hebrews argues that Jesus does understand.

How do we know?

Because He fully entered into our humanity. He didn't enter this world in a HazMat suit. He came in human flesh and experienced the emotions and pains that we experience.

The Garden of Gethsemane is the prime example.

In the Garden, Jesus was encompassed with sorrow, even to the point of feeling like He was going to die from the sheer intensity of His emotions (Matthew 26:38). His stress was so enormous that apparently the blood vessels under the surface of His skin burst open and He sweated blood (Luke 22:44). He was in severe agony. He begged God three times to take the prospect of drinking the cup of His wrath away from Him if there were any other way for man's redemption to be accomplished (Matt. 26:36-46).

And while He was in the biggest emotional and spiritual battle that any man has ever experienced, His closest friends couldn't offer Him a bit of comfort. In fact, they fell asleep while His soul writhed in pain.

Jesus gets it.

He understands the anxiety, the stress, the pain, the sorrow, the agony, the feeling of being alone and abandoned.

He truly knows, understands, empathizes, weeps with us, intercedes for us.

And He doesn't fall asleep.

So why did God allow His own beloved Son to go through such agony? Shouldn't a loving Father swoop in and rescue His Son from such pain?

Because Jesus had to experience the fullness of life on this sin-cursed earth and the full intensity of the battle against sin in order to be our merciful High Priest.

He actually learned obedience through what He suffered.

What?! How could the omniscient Son of God learn something? Isn't that an oxymoron? The learning omniscient One?

He learned what it meant to suffer as a human being. It was an experiential learning that He could not accomplish apart from taking on human flesh.

And in the midst of intense suffering, He continued to trust God. He ultimately reached the place where He said, "Not my will but Yours be done."

Pain. Surrender. Trust. Obedience.

It is a difficult path but Jesus already walked it.

He understands me. He knows me. He loves me. And He leads me.

Going before me and walking next to me…

As a good Shepherd…

Through (not around) the valley of the shadow of death.

Posted in Hebrews Devotionals | Leave a comment

Why Does God Not Make It Clear to People that He Is Real?

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Steve Foster

Recently I was asked: "Why does God not make it clear to people that he is 'real'? If God is love and wants us to love Him, why not make it clearly evident to all people throughout all time?"

Here was my response.

Good question. One I have asked myself as well. Why doesn't God make it clearer that He exists? It seems like He could do things differently…or better.

Short answer: I don't know.

Whenever you go down the road of "why didn't God do things differently?" you eventually hit a roadblock. There are some things we simply can't know. We just have to trust Him. Sort of like the 2-year old who can't understand why his parents don't let him eat cookies instead of vegetables or who take him to the doctor to get shots that hurt.

Here are my best thoughts as I wrestle through this question…

The Bible says that God has revealed himself to every person in some kind of way.

That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. (John 1:9)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. (Rom 1:18-19)

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:26-28a)

So the Bible says that each person has some kind of "inner witness" to God's existence. In fact, Acts 17 would even say that right now we are living and moving and existing in God's very being. In other words, it is sort of like the fish saying, "I am not sure water exists because I don't see it quite the way that I expect to." Or us as humans saying, "I am not sure air exists because it is not visible to me."

When it comes right down to it, we can only know our own thoughts. We can't enter into the mind of another and so we can never know what particular ways that God has revealed Himself to them. Yes, there are many atheists who would say, "God hasn't revealed Himself to me in any way!" But we can't know that. We can only know our own hearts.

On top of the inner witness of God's existence, the Bible also says that there is a clear outer witness, creation itself. Psalm 19 and Romans 1 make this clear.

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. (Psalm 19:1-2)

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. (Rom 1:20)

To stop and look at the intricacy and complexity and beauty of creation is enough to tell us that there is a master designer to our world and to our bodies. When we see order anywhere else in creation, we automatically know that there is a designer. It is only in creation that we doubt it.

When you read this email, you will not assume that it was a random glitch in a computer that sent this to you. You will know it is from me even though you don't see me write it or send it or even really understand how it got from my computer to yours. And yet, the information in a single strand of DNA has infinitely more information than is contained in this email and we doubt that it has an Author.

But why does God seemingly "hide" so much?

Truly You are God, who hide Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior! (Is 45:15)

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. (Prov 25:2)

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Heb 11:6)

God is looking for a certain kind of relationship with us. He wants us to trust Him when we don't always understand or see Him. He wants us to seek Him, to wrestle with Him, to desire Him. Maybe He could wow us over and over with "special effects" and visiting angels and clouds that spell out "Yahweh" every morning. But He hasn't. Sometimes He does, like in the case of Israel at Mount Sinai, but that didn't make Israel love Him more but in fact resist Him and demand more and more signs. It is the ol' "what have you done for me lately" attitude. It is the same mentality of the crowds who followed Jesus as long as He was doing miracles and feeding them and catering to their wants. God doesn't want this kind of "follower" and so He hides Himself, revealing enough to us to call us after Him but not so much to make us children always demanding more and always wanting God to prove Himself.

At times I wish it were different. But maybe it is the darkness of doubt and the intensity of the struggle on earth that will make the joy and intimacy of His presence in heaven that much sweeter.

Hope that helps.

Pastor Steve

Posted in Tough Questions of Faith | 2 Comments

Rising above Political Rancor

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Steve Foster

ran-cor. bitter, long-lasting resentment (from the Latin, rancorem, a stinking smell).

There is a stench surrounding the political climate in our nation right now…and its smell is getting on all of us.

It is hard to rise above it. It is hard to gain a breath of fresh air.

Our nation is polticitized, polarized, over media-ized. We have political news running out our ears with a politicized-round-the-clock news media eager to stuff us with more.

The more news we get, the angrier we become. We each have our favorite news outlets that tend to feed our own narrative and biases.

The angrier we become, the more divided and hateful we become.

We not only disagree. We despise.

And then we post it on social media.

Is there any hope? Is there any solution? Can we ever come back to a place of civil discourse where disagreement does not have to lead to intense, emotional, character-attacking division?

I wonder.

The world that Jesus entered was not a politically-neutral world. It was perhaps as politically-divided, racially-divided, and emotionally-charged as our own.

Among the Jewish people, there were political parties and political positions in vehement conflict with one another.

Pharisees, the religiously conservative, desperately trying to preserve the Jewish culture against the progressive, sexually permissive, pluralistic, pagan Graeco-Roman culture and slipping more and more into moralistic, compassionless legalism.

Sadducees, the religiously liberal, denying practically every supernatural element in their own religion, humanistic in approach, elitist in mentality, educated and willing to compromise with Graeco-Roman culture in order to promote their own social standing and political gain.

Essenes, the culturally separate, running into social isolation, disgusted with the religious debates and cultural compromises and determined to remain unstained from the world.

Zealots, the political activists, hoping for a revolution, disgusted with the Roman government and also with weak, wimpy, pansy-minded religionists, eager to create anger and chaos, through violence if necessary, to overthrow the powers that be.

That's just a slice of the political climate. It doesn't even touch the surface of other controversies and divisions such as the political legitimacy of Herod, the pervasive influence of Hellenism, and the racial hatred for Samaritans and Gentiles.

Into this world, Jesus was born.

Among these people, Jesus walked.

From these people, Jesus found His disciples…from a sell-out tax collector named Matthew to a politically-angry zealot named Simon.

And no matter how much the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and Zealots tried to drag him into a political controversy, He consistently rose above it.

Upholding truth. Showing love. Confronting sin. Offering compassion. Giving of Himself…all the way to the cross.

Jesus cannot be labeled. He cannot be put into a political category. He can not be co-opted into one's own activist movement.

He is Lord. He doesn't bow to our wishes, desires, opinions, and agendas. We bow to Him.

And He is Savior. He doesn't come to market himself, gain popularity, and follow opinion polls. He comes to die. For us. Democrats. Republicans. Libertarians. Environmentalists. Conservatives. Liberals. Originalists. Progressives. Tax Collectors. Zealots. Humans…with self-minded, self-protective, self-justifying, self-gratifying, bitter, fearful, doubtful, prideful, sinful hearts.

Our problem is not political. It is spiritual.

Thus, the solution is not political. It is spiritual.

Our biggest need is not a new government but a new heart.

We need forgiveness. We need grace. We need cleansing. We need the Spirit of God to transform us from the inside out. We need the aroma of a new life.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

None of us are adequate for these things.

To navigate through an angry, unfair, biased, politicized culture is not easy. We must pick up the scent of our Savior each day and follow Him, letting His fragrance overpower the stench of political opinion and division.

Finding our joy, hope, and security in Him.

Living in integrity.

Being quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, remembering that our anger does not lead to the righteousness of God.

Letting our gentleness be known to all men.

Letting our speech always be with grace.

Speaking the truth in love.

Engaging moral issues not because we love our moral codes but because we love people and recognize the deceptive, addictive, destructive nature of sin.

Praying for our leaders not because we agree with them, or even like them, but because we recognize their influence on people and their need for a Savior.

Holding fast to Jesus Christ.

Not the re-imaged, re-written, re-duced Jesus of popular culture who morphs into whatever shape we want him to be.

But the prophesied, incarnated, crucified, resurrected, ascended Jesus of Scripture, who is coming again not to run for office but to set up an eternal, unshakable kingdom.

If a rancorous world is bothered by our smell, may it be because we are scented with that kingdom and not with a temporal political party.

May we have the aroma of the gospel and not our own odoriferous agenda.

May we smell like we have been with Jesus.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

Posted in Government/Politics | Leave a comment

When Philippians 4:6-7 Doesn’t Work

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Steve Foster

Many Christians love Philippians 4:6-7.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

It is one of my favorite passages as well. If you are anxious, just pray and give thanks to God and you will be flooded with incomprehensible peace.

It's a great, wonderful promise but, I have to confess, it doesn't work.

Let me explain…

In 2006, the "perfect storm" converged in my life. Stresses, pressures, responsibilities, deadlines, interpersonal conflicts, feelings of inadequacy all piled up in the midst of a unique set of life events and circumstances. I was still functioning in life but a war was being waged daily in my heart and in my mind. I felt like I was holding back a wave that was about to overtake me.

It finally hit while preaching a sermon in front of an audience of 400. I suddenly felt light-headed. My heart started racing. I couldn't catch my breath. I sensed that I was about to pass out.

But somehow I kept talking. My mouth kept moving while my mind was fighting against itself. After about thirty seconds of panic (which felt like a timeless eternity), a cold sweat broke out across my body. My breathing relaxed. My heart stopped racing. My mind got back under control. And I made it through the message. 

Barely.

Surprisingly no one noticed anything different. I quizzed my wife and even she didn't notice any falter in my voice.

I escaped.

And that's exactly what it felt like…an escape.

But the seed had been planted. "What if I would have passed out? What if I had collapsed right there on the stage?" My imagination began to play out the scene with incredible imagery.

And the thoughts began to snowball.

From then on, every subsequent sermon became a battle. I was fighting my own thoughts and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the upper hand.

I read Scripture. I prayed. I memorized verses. I sought the promised peace of Philippians 4:6-7. But it wasn't working. Instead of peace, my anxiety was gaining ground and getting stronger. The waves were coming more frequently and I was struggling to keep my head above the waters.

Several months later, the waves overtook me.

It was a Sunday morning. I was scheduled to preach. I fought anxiety all week. I barely slept. My heart wouldn't stop racing. My mind was out of control. My body exhausted.

I gave up.

I called a friend of mine and told him that I couldn't make it and that he would have to take my place. I told my wife to take the kids and go to church without me. 

The battle was over and I accepted defeat. I wrote in my journal…"I think my days of preaching God's Word are done."

I was broken.

I didn't know what was next…for me, for my wife, for my family.

I thought my ministry days could be over.

But in my brokenness, I finally faced my weakness and opened my mouth.

I shared my struggle with the elders at our church for the first time. Thankfully they were not only understanding but supportive. They embraced me. Prayed for me.

Next I talked with a counselor. Nothing "revolutionary" came out. But as I processed my thoughts I realized how much of my identity that I had placed in my speaking ability. The intensity of the anxiety reflected the depth of my fear…the fear of losing my ability, losing my ministry, losing my livelihood, losing what had become an "idol" to me.

The biggest step came when I finally shared my struggle verbally with the congregation during a sermon. I didn't intend to but the words started coming out and the tears started flowing. I was admitting my fears and my inadequacy. Becoming vulnerable. Learning what it means to boast in my weakness so that the power of Christ might rest on me (2 Cor. 12:9).

It was then that I began to understand Philippians 4:6-7.

It was not a "magic formula." It was not a "silver bullet." And it was not a promise intended for me individually…privately.

Philippians 4:6-7 is a plural command. It is not written to the Philippian but to the Philippians, to the church at Philippi. In fact, all of the commands in Philippians 4:4-9 are plural commands, intended to be lived out in the context of a corporate body of believers.

In other words, Philippians 4:6-7 doesn't work the way that we typically think it does.

It is not an individual promise to be applied in the privacy of my own private Christian life. It is not "me and Jesus" fighting my anxiety. It is a promise given to me in the fellowship of believers, in the fellowship of a local church committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the Word of God, and to one another.

The power of anxiety was broken when I was broken.

The peace came when I became vulnerable, admitted my weakness to my brothers and sisters in Christ, and prayed in fellowship with them…together…with thanksgiving for God's sustaining grace.

Do I still fight anxiety today? Yes. My thoughts and my imagination can still get the best of me. But in the struggle I am learning what it means to rest in the security of grace and to be honest not only with God but with others.

I am also learning what it means to preach God's Word in dependence on His Spirit. I don't take any sermon for granted. I know for certain that God can humble me in a second. He can knock the slats under me and drop me to my knees in a heartbeat.

That's a scary place to be at times…but a freeing place as well.

The world tells me to boast in my strength. The gospel calls me to boast in my weakness. That doesn't mean giving in to sin or wallowing in self-pity or self-defeat. It means being humble enough to cry out for true strength, to rest in true grace, and to be filled with true peace in the context of a true fellowship of not-perfect-but-growing believers.

That's the true promise of Philippians 4:6-7.

It isn't designed to "work" for me like some kind of miracle pill.

It is designed to transform me, in connection with other believers, from glory to glory, into the image of the Crucified One.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 3 Comments

A Little Perspective on Election Day

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Steve Foster

Election day. Finally.

After more than a year of campaigning, primaries, conventions, debates, polls, predictions, personal attacks, and national angst, we have arrived at the day of decision. A decision that will determine the trajectory of our nation for the foreseeable future.

At a time when we can easily be anxious, angry, discouraged, or downright depressed, Proverbs 21 contains two "bookends"–at the beginning and end of the chapter–that give us wisdom and perspective.

The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes (21:1).

"The farmer channels irrigation ditches where he wants them, where they will do the most good; so does the Lord with the king. No king is supreme; the Lord rules." (NET Bible)

Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most powerful dictators in human history, learned that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men (Daniel 4:17b).

God reigns. He raises up leaders and brings them down. And He can put even the "lowest of men" in power if He so chooses. Indeed, even the strongest earthly leader is still a human–weak, limited, mortal, and accountable to God.

In other words, God is not worried about this election. He is already in Wednesday of this week and is still working all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).

Proverbs 21 ends with two more perspective-giving verses.

No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD (21:30).

Even Pharaoh, the king of Egypt who mercilessly oppressed the children of Israel and stubbornly resisted God, found out that indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth (Exodus 9:16).

Even those who unjustly and mockingly delivered up Jesus to be crucified did so according to the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23).

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD (21:31).

Here is the appropriate balance.

Yes, God is sovereign. Yes, God's purpose cannot be thwarted. Yes, ultimate success comes from the Lord. But we still prepare the horse for battle.

"Ultimate success comes from the Lord and not from human efforts. The faithful have acknowledged this down through the ages, even though they have been responsible and have prepared for the wars." (NET Bible)

God's sovereignty is not an excuse for human passivity rather it is the motivation for human activity without fear.

We prepare. We pray. We seek counsel. We strategize. And then we go forward into the battles of this life knowing that God is with us.

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, faced an enormous battle against an enemy much greater than his own army. He was genuinely afraid but he set himself to seek the LORD (2 Chronicles 20:3). And God reassured him with these words: Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's (20:15).

So the next day Jehoshaphat and the army of Judah went out into battle…singing (20:21). Probably the first singing, battle-ready army in history!

They didn't stay home and they didn't fear…they trusted the Lord and they sang.

Prayer, preparation, and praise.

You seek the Lord's will, you do want you can do, and you leave the results in God's hands.

And then you sing.

Because our God reigns.

Posted in Government/Politics | 1 Comment