Wilderness Wanderings

The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. (Psalm 24:1-6)

On Tuesday I talked about beginning. God is the Creator of life. Life abundant. Because He knows us and is with us always, we do not have to stand in fear or discouragement, because we are promised love, joy, and new life in Christ. Christ makes us new in Him. We are to set our eyes to God, who was and is the beginning of all time, of all things.

Psalm 24 is thought to have been composed by David for the occasion of bringing the ark of the covenant into the tabernacle which David had built for it (1 Sam 6). The Philistines had killed 4000 Israelites in battle, and captured the ark of God, bringing it back with them to Philistine country. But God was displeased with this arrangement…to put it mildly. The people in every Philistine city that the ark was moved to were afflicted with tumours, many died, and the Philistine god Dagon fell from its prominent place in its temple and was broken on the ground. Out of fear for their lives, and their livelihoods the Philistine's returned the ark to the nation of Israel. With a gift of gold to appease the God of the Israelites.

You see, God is a jealous God. He belongs to His chosen people and His people belong to Him. The earth and everything in it belong to God. Why? Because He created it all. He created us all. Creator God. Creator of life abundant. Do we simply receive abundant life because we are the creation of God? David writes in Psalm 24 that those with clean hands and a pure heart, those who seek God, they will receive blessing and vindication from the Lord.

The Philistines were unconsecrated idol worshippers. They swore by their god Dagon, the god of fertility and crops. God wanted to let them know that He was God, that created idols could not take His place, and that He alone could bring life, or destroy it. He plainly let the Philistines know that He was not their God.

And once the ark was returned to Israel, the Levites took the ark of the covenant and placed it on a large rock and the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. "But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, "Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?" (1 Sam 6:19-20).

God is holy and incomprehensible. He is willing to reveal Himself both to the Philistines and to the Israelites to reveal His power, His holiness and His sovereignty. He is willing to put any in their place who dare exalt themselves above Him.

Once the ark of the covenant was brought into the tabernacle, Psalm 24 was to be sung. A Psalm of belonging. A Psalm of providence. A Psalm of Creator God, holy and high above every created plant, animal, and person.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The beloved of God. Those who are chosen, His in Christ Jesus. Those whom He has redeemed as His very own. He fights for us, and He reveals His majesty and sovereignty to us, reminding us that we are to seek His face. Daily. Let us bring our hearts and our hands to the Lord who is Creator of all, Sovereign over all and who blesses and vindicates us in Christ Jesus.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen! (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Our text is well loved by many Christians and my dad choose it for his funeral. I hope you will indulge me if I use a few Wilderness Wanderings to explore these words. I will not say much about my dad or his funeral, but it is such a wonderful, hopeful text, its worth our time and attention.

It comes as a doxology to a prayer the apostle Paul wrote for his young churches in Ephesus. Doxology is the Latin word for 'give glory to'. Old Testament Psalms frequently conclude in doxology. Many of us have learned to end our prayers with doxology because we wrap up the Lord's prayer with "for yours is the kingdom and the power and glory forever."

Now here is a little secret. You will not find this ending in either of the gospels that record Jesus' teaching on prayer. However, it was so ingrained in the Jews to end their prayers with doxology that there are early records of this conclusion becoming a part of the prayer. It seems that it is a condensed version of David's prayer in 1 Chronicles 29.

In our text, Paul lays down what ought to be the desire for all Christians: that God receive all the glory now and forever. This certainly ought to be part of any mission or vision statement that the church develops for herself. Revelation 5 makes clear, at least to me, that giving God glory is the main purpose of the church.

Let me just pause here to ask this question. What is more important to us: finding our way through this pandemic or that God is glorified? If the glory of God is our primary goal, then our first concern is not to get through this season, but to give God glory during it. Can I ask an even bolder question? When it comes to the most difficult situations in life, like that of the death of a loved one, are we still willing to commit ourselves to the glory of God?

I think that this needs to be a question that we answer before we arrive at such places. We need to determine how we will respond to trauma. If we determine before hand that we will always seek to give God glory, it will give us focus during days of grief.

But how does this happen? How is God glorified? Well, it happens as the prayer Paul has prayed gets answered. Paul has asked three outrageous and audacious things of God. In what ever circumstances we might offer this prayer, these three requests will appear impossible. Believe me, the apostle is fully aware of this. That is why, as he ends his prayer, he says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us".

Its as if Paul is saying, 'you think that what I have asked is outrageous, I know it is. But God does these kinds of things and he can and will do even more than I or you dare to ask, more than we can even imagine.' So, pray and do not be shy. Do not think that you can out ask God.

What does Paul ask for? I will spend the next several editions of my Wilderness Wanderings exploring those things.

"In the beginning…" (Genesis 1:1)

As I start off my time with Wilderness Wanderings, I thought that I'd start at the beginning. The beginning of the Bible, the beginning of the story. God's story. Our story. It seems like a strange place to jump in though. It sure doesn't feel like a beginning in life right now. We still grieve with Pastor Michael and his family with the loss of his dad one week ago today. Rose, Harvey, Neil, and others still grieve as well. We're in the middle of another stay-at-home order, which means more loss, more unemployment, more stress, more anger and frustration at the government or the public health officials or the things being posted on social media or…you fill in the blank. But there is new life too. Three new births in recent months. Signs of spring, community coming together.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). The One True God was there from the beginning and His word created the beginning of life. He who is constantly beginning and continuing a new work in each one of us will continue that good work which He started in us and in this world until the day when Christ Jesus returns.

In the beginning, God loved us so much that He created our world. For six days He spoke, and life appeared, and on the sixth day He created man and woman and called them "very good", the crowning joy of His creation. We do good to remember that. Every person on this earth is created "very good" because when God speaks, life springs forth. Life abundant.

God says to us, as he did to Joshua after the death of Moses in the desert "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). God hasn't left us alone to fight our battles on our own. He has given us a command telling us to be strong and to be of courage, and not to fear, and not to be discouraged. Why? Because the Lord our God is with us wherever we go.

"If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there…." (Psalm 139:8). If you meditate on Psalm 139 for even a brief period you will quickly see that God is not unaware of our circumstances, who we are, or where we're at in life. He created us, He knows us, He is working in us even now as I'm writing and as you're reading this devotional.

And we're not alone. Jesus is walking alongside us. The One who has been there since the beginning of time. Since before time itself began.

So, can we see a beginning as we look out to the dreary horizon right now? When we turn our gaze upward, God meets us where we are and enables us to remain attentive to see the places where God is moving and creating even now. Creating new life in dead places, moments and places for gratitude where the joy of the Lord is found even amidst sadness and isolation, love and unity where there is division and dissension.

In the beginning was God. Creator of life. Creator of life abundant.

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. … So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:7,11-13)

This is my last Wilderness Wanderings devotional for a while. As many of you know I'll be off on Sabbatical through this summer reading up on technology's impact on the church and our faith life. I'll also be reading up on mentoring, though. The reason, is that mentoring seems more and more to be an important part of ministering here at Immanuel.

Equipping God's people for works of service has always been part of the role of us pastors and teachers. But actually, it's also the work of the whole church: Paul says that Christ has given gifts to each one of us for this building up to maturity as a body.

There was an initiative back a while ago before my time in this church where a mentoring ministry was to start up, I think just amongst men as a men's ministry. Be that as it may, as the story goes, a bunch of people signed up to be mentored. Great news! However, the ministry was short-lived, because hardly anyone signed up to be a mentor. Many recognized their need to grow up to maturity in Christ, but few felt that they had any grace or maturity worth offering to someone else.

But that's not true. Grace has been given to each of us. And it has not been without effect in this church. Whether you realize it or not: you have been a mentoring church. A place where leadership is cultivated, opportunities are given, and a free and easy collegiality lives that allows failures and learnings to be navigated. This is a church where people do grow up to maturity in Christ. It's also a place that continually cranks out leaders.

Not all the mature in Christ become leaders in the formal sense. And, not all of those leaders who've grown up and been shaped here remain in the church. But more and more often: the two are intersecting and culminating in the calling of more of God's people from Immanuel to be pastors and teachers. I've said it before, but it's worth saying again: we signed off on FOUR seminary applications in this last year and a half (that is, during the pandemic), and many more young people in our church are contemplating various avenues of ministry right now: I count at least SEVEN.

I think that's really awesome to see the work and gifts of God coming to fruition in real time in our church through some of our members. It's not the only place to see God at work, but it's a neat one. While so many are fretting over the future of the church: God is already off doing a new thing in our midst, calling a whole crop of new pastors out of Immanuel to help lead his church grow to maturity. So, apparently God isn't too worried about the future if he's calling leaders into it.

And that's why: I think it's time for me, in this Sabbatical, to pay attention and get equipped myself so that I can come back and rejoin whatever cool thing God is up to here with hopefully some more maturity and intentionality on the other side!

And, in the mean time: Jennifer Heidinga, one of our recent seminarians, will be taking my place in offering these daily devotions with Pastor Michael over the summer. So, encourage her, and be encouraged by her as you witness for yourselves God at work in our church.

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

DIVE IN QUESTIONS

1. What do you see when you look out at your world right now? Your life?

2. Paul gives the worst of these things names, like: "hard-pressed," "perplexed," "persecuted," "struck down." How do you experience the current realities of pandemic, restrictions, and sorrow around you? What would you call them? How would you name what you're/we're facing right now?

3. What invisible realities are present in our world and in our lives? Can you name just as many here as you did above in question #1? How do they compare?

4. What does it mean to "carry the death of Jesus" in our bodies and lives? In what ways do we do that?

5. What difference does it make to understand our lives through the death of Jesus? How do the unseen things of this world shape the way we experience what we do see?

6. Does this change the way you'll be looking at your life this week? How will you carry and see the death and life of Jesus with you?

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. … I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-8a,10-11)

Maybe these words from Paul are easier to see, understand, and appreciate through the lens of a pandemic. Or through the lens of so much loss and grief that we've suffered as a church this past year. It seems that there has been a death in our congregation almost weekly for longer than I care to remember. And toady: another funeral. Pastor Michael's father.

It strikes me again how clarifying death can be, even through our grief and grieving.

So many of the things that we spend our lives pursuing are lost in the face of death: good health, strength, positions, experience, skill, wealth, status, property, security. Even our relationships are broken by death, which is why we grieve.

But one thing is not lost through death: our relationship to Jesus Christ.

Our connection with Christ endures. Because Jesus Christ, and he alone, has passed through death and risen to newness of life. That's why our Christian hope, indeed, our only hope for this life rests in him.

An older tradition of the church said that the Christian life is really all about preparing for a good death. That actually, we are called to live all of our Christian lives in light of death. And that's really what Paul is getting at in this text, too.

Paul had a lot of privilege in his column, a lot of things to count as gain by the standards of the Jewish world he lived in. He had ethnic privilege, private religious schooling privilege, professional association (Pharisee) privilege, and he exercised his privilege in power and with impunity too as he persecuted the young church and kept a righteous air about him all the while.

But then he died. That is, he died in the death of Christ as he was baptized into Christ's death. And having died? Seeing his life through the lens of death: Paul looks back on all his privilege, all the things he spent his life striving to earn, and sees it all, as a loss. Because the only thing of worth, the only thing that endures, and so the only thing, finally, worth having at all: is Christ.

As a church and as Christians, what will get us through this pandemic and all the many journeys of grief we walk, is a stubborn clinging to Christ and to the hope he gives us of resurrection life in him. Nothing else will do. But in him: we have everything. The promise of life restored and a world set right.

Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat (Genesis 2:8-9 MSG).

Then the Angel showed me Water-of-Life River, crystal bright. It flowed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. The leaves of the Tree are for healing the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. The Throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service… (Revelation 22:1-3 MSG).

First, let me apologize for the lateness of Tuesday's edition of Wilderness Wanderings. An official report would say, 'human error.' I clicked on the wrong icon when publishing the file and thus it wasn't sent out.

In that edition, I mentioned that my Dad was born on April 13, 1937. He did make it to his 84th birthday. He died late in the afternoon, as many of you will know by now. As I spent time with my mom and siblings around his body, I got thinking about our texts for today and want to share some of my reflections with you.

I had noticed over the past several months that I had been feeling a mild but persistent sorrow in my heart. That are numerous reasons for this sorrow and I knew that one of them was because of my dad's illness. It seemed to me that it was more about his illness than him impending death.

Dr. Neal Plantinga wrote a book about sin titled, Not the Way It's Supposed to Be. As the cancer leeched away my father's physicality, I have seen just how apt Neal's title is. Our text tells us that when God created humanity, we were created to live physically on this earth. God made a garden that was both beautiful and useful. The human eye and the human stomach would both enjoy this garden.

My dad's legs were the first to go. Last May, I planted his vegetable garden. He was able to enjoy some of its produce even though he had been unable to contribute any physical care to the plants. First, his mobility was taken away, then he gradually lost his interest in food, towards the end, his stomach rejected most offerings. In the end, his eyesight dimmed. It seemed to me it was Eden undone. That is the effect of the human fall into sin. It is right that we grieve it.

But thankfully, that is not the end of the story. The Bible has an ending that we are still waiting for. By faith, we eagerly wait for its coming. Notice that the ending also includes trees, or a tree, The Tree. How do we picture a tree that is planted on both sides of the River? Yet, the purpose of this tree is poignant and clear. It is there for both food and healing. The effects of the human fall into sin are undone. Its Eden 2.0. The visions of Revelation offer us images not just of a return to Paradise, but a Paradise that is even better. In Genesis, God comes to visit his humans in the cool of the day (3:8), but in Revelation he lives with them.

On the great day of resurrection, my dad's body will be raised and reunited with his soul. His physicality will be fully restored and more. It will be glorified, as Jesus' resurrected body was. In the meantime, it seems to me, he is with the great host in Revelation 7 singing songs of salvation before the throne of God. If you wonder about the phrase, 'these are those who have come out of the great tribulation' (7:14), then I refer you to Pastor Anthony's recent sermon on Matthew 24 (March 7 podcast).

I will miss my dad. There is a different sorrow now. Dad is with our Lord and Saviour and I can say that that is good. I also look forward to the day of resurrection when we will all be fully physical. Then our service to God will no longer be tainted by our fallenness. We will all serve him perfectly.

Before we go to our scripture text, first an apology that yesterday's devotion didn't go out! We clicked the wrong button when we put it up: but it's up now, and you'll find it posted below in today's email or however you get this.

And, another, more serious note too.

With sadness, I'd like to let you know that Pastor Michael's dad passed away yesterday afternoon, April 13. A note from the church will go out about that later today. His dad's death was expected, but we grieve with him and his family, and I invite you to lift them up in prayer today. That's another reason to give a listen to yesterday's devotion too: Pastor Michael wrote it, and reflected a bit on the journey he and his family have been on these past months.

And it's in light of that and so much other suffering we face that our text for today comes to us, from Romans 8:

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.

There is a long yearning that we feel in our bones these days. As we're confronted by so much death, now of Pastor Michael's father too. As we're shut in again at home in fear of a virus and in frustration about it's restrictions, including the cancellation of in-person classes in schools. And, as we're weary from too many long, hug-less days of avoiding our neighbours, friends, and loved ones.

"The whole creation groans." Ain't that just the truth. And we ourselves groan too. It's been a long road. It still is.

But in our groanings is a longing. A longing for a better day. A longing for Christ to come again. For these bodies that betray us in sickness and pain and death to finally be redeemed to the fullness of new creation. For the separation between us and our loved ones to end. It's the hope we were saved in: a hope for life beyond death. For forgiveness beyond failings. A hope for God Himself to be with us and to be our God in a way that looks like the best of a family reunion. Being enveloped in the joy of a loving embrace after too many years of separation in a place where all is finally well.

We long for these things. We groan for them, together with the whole creation. It's about all our weary selves can muster these days. But, even our groans are still an expression of hope. A longing for Christ to return. So today, just that simple prayer again: Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Full disclosure, 84 years ago today, my day was born. As many of you know, he is dying of cancer. It is possible that he will not make this milestone. Last Thursday, the nurse told the family not to leave him alone, and so we been holding vigil at his bedside since then. His diagnosis was made about 10 months ago, at which time he was given about 3-4 months to live. So, it feels like it has been a long journey.

Most of us feel exhausted by this ongoing pandemic. The shifting regulations from our government have caused even greater despair. Quite a few in this congregation are carrying grief in their hearts which came during COVID and sometimes because of COVID. There are those among of us who continue to carry struggles which began long ago, some of which were intensified by the pandemic.

In the Immanuel news this past weekend it was shared that some pastors in Nicaragua had not had a day off from ministry in five years. The church has been growing rapidly and is under a moderate amount of persecution. Criticism of the government is considered rebellion and so pastors are careful not to criticize because sometimes spies are within their own congregations.

As I read about these pastors, I wondered how they manage. I then wondered if they understand Paul's words in our text in a very personal way. Paul has been writing about his personal struggle for the church; this struggle was taking a literal toll on his body. When he writes that 'outwardly, we are wasting away', he meant it literally.

But he was okay with that. This was not a matter of self-mutilation in any way. It was simply that he was willing to give his all for the cause of Jesus. He saw that as his body took its bruises, he was being inwardly renewed. To echo his earlier words, "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). That transformation was all that mattered to him.

I think Paul is building on Jesus' rather famous prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread". The church has long understood that this includes spiritual as well as physical food. Paul is testifying that God was giving him and his fellow workers enough grace for each day, one day at a time. We all want to flourish, and God wants us to flourish, too. But Jesus was clear, that first we must learn to pick up our cross. God gives us grace to pick up that cross and flourish even while we are carrying it. This, I think, is what Paul is saying.

As we so clearly saw during Lent, the Christian life is first dying to self before we can be raised in Christ. And it is when we die to self that we discover the eternal perspective that Paul advocates. Yes, there is struggle and suffering and cross bearing and death in this life. But it will all seem like nothing when we are taken fully into glory.

When Paul says, that "We are being renewed day by day," he means that each day we are made a little bit new as in re-creation. We catch glimpses of that glory, but the full picture we cannot see in this life. And so, we have an eternal perspective. We believe that God is doing this, even when we cannot see it with these eyes. We press on trusting that God is at work in our struggles; someday we will see the glory; then we will know it was worth the struggle.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." (Revelation 7:9-10)

There is a picture that cycles through as a background on my laptop. It's a picture of the global church at worship. I was in Geneva, Switzerland at a meeting of the World Council of Churches' Central Committee, consisting of around 150 Christians representing six continents, working in four main languages, and coming from around 320 denominations from around the world.

Now, some of you may have negative connotations with the World Council of Churches, but I ask you to suspend those judgements for a moment, especially in light of so much good work that has been done around their tables by the likes of Lesslie Newbigin and Hendrik Berkhof.

For me during those nearly three weeks I was there while still a seminarian, it was the worship that really grabbed my heart. On one particular Sunday, they carted us off on buses to a small Swiss village with a great, stone cross-shaped cathedral in the middle of it. The bells clanged on and on as we walked up the cobbled path to worship.

Inside the dark old grey-stone cathedral during worship, we were invited to partake in the Lord's Supper together: the single most visible sign of the divisions between us all. Many of our churches practice closed communion, barring Christians from other churches or denominations from partaking. The table that ought most to signify our union as the one, singular body of Christ, is the place where we are most confronted with the sins of our division.

But on that day, we gathered in a big circle under the dome at the centre of the cross. Representing different nations, different ethnicities, and many different Sunday-best clothing colour schemes—in that circle we saw one another. We sang with one another. And we passed the bread and wine: "the body of Christ, given for you," "the blood of Christ, shed for you" echoed in all different languages around that great, grey hall. Bishops, metropolitans, priests, pastors, Salvation Army officers, Quaker meeting leaders, lay preaches, and ordinary ol' folks like me. There we were: reconciled in Christ, the Lamb, who had broken down the dividing walls of hostility between us. If only for just a moment, we were one body, his body.

Never have I had a clearer vision of these words from Revelation 7. We could've been wearing white robes and holding palms. Perhaps we were. The Spirit seemed to lift our hearts to heaven.

When Christ comes again: all division will cease. He will come to claim his own. All of us. And we will be together around his throne and around his table. The sin of our hostilities and divisions, our grievances and our grudges will be once and for all, washed away. That too, is our hope in Christ.