SAVED!

Our venerable local mouthpiece of news dissemination, Dallas Morning News, reported on a little heroine the other day. For her quick thinking and life-saving tactics, she—proudly donning a Rangers jersey and her Brownie vest—got to throw the first pitch before a Rangers vs. Royals game at the Rangers Ballpark in the Metroplex. She also won the Girl Scout Lifesaving Award Medal of Honor for her alacrity and coolness in a time of crisis. She had saved a life!

A few months ago, Katherine, 8, was playing with her brother, Andrew, 5, when he began to choke on something he was chewing. The lassie yelled to her parents, but before they could get to the scene, this sharp witted one grabbed her brother and—believe it or not!—did the Heimlich maneuver on him. Apparently the enterprising young lady had seen it performed on TV. Anyhow, “I pulled as hard as I could,” she explained. Hard enough to make her “patient” cough it up. Ironically, the “it” was … Lifesavers. “Not a good name,” Katherine agreed. At least not for Andrew.

Of course, the 5-year-old’s response to all this was less than thankful. “She made me throw up,” were his complaining first words after the momentous event.

I wondered about Andrew’s reaction to his rescuer. While it is typical of a little brother, it also depicts the reaction of the world to the Savior given to us by God.

I am in need of help—I’m choking.
All mankind is lost in sin.

And you were dead
in your trespasses and sins.
Ephesians 2:1

My rescuer feels concern for me, at my dangerous plight.
God’s love for us moved Him to act.

For God so loved the world,
that He sent His only begotten Son ….
John 3:16

My deliverer is capable of meeting my need—i.e., knows how to perform the Heimlich.
God alone is capable of saving mankind from the plight of sin.

And there is salvation
in no one else;
for there is no other name under heaven
… by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

I couldn’t help myself; I couldn’t do the maneuver on myself; self-help was impossible.
God had to help us, if we were to be saved from the consequences of sin.

For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God
is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

My rescuer saves me: the Heimlich maneuver is performed successfully.
God took action to save.

But God, being rich in mercy,
because of His great love
with which He loved us,
even when we were dead
in our transgressions,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved).
Ephesians 2:4–5

The work was performed gratis: my rescuer asked for nothing from me in payment, not that I could make a repayment for the life saved.
God gave us what we did not deserve, what we could not repay, for which we could not work.

He saved us,
not on the basis of deeds
which we have done in righteousness,
but according to His mercy.
Titus 3:5

Mercy and grace!

For the grace of God
has appeared,
bringing salvation to all men.
Titus 2:11

To all who believe in Christ and His payment for our sins on the cross.

For God so loved the world,
that He sent His only begotten Son
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

We’re proud of Katherine. But, even more, we exult in our salvation in Christ—our LIFESAVER!

REALITY!

Last week at a national gathering of evangelical theologians, I attended a session where a group of panelists were discussing each other’s work. Theologians, I have learnt, can get picky easily. These panelists were no different. They demonstrated their ire with choice words and snide comments, befitting evangelicals, of course! “Not altogether clear,” one said of the other. “I cannot explain to anyone else, much less myself,” how his theory works. Another declared: “Betrays a lack of methodological humility.” And: “Seeks to discredit others with pejorative language that tends to prejudice the reader.” Others’ theories are “museum-pieces.” They are all “naïve.” Ouch!

Another one, recognizing the sniping said, “It’s a war zone out there; the jihadist [I suppose he meant his fellow evangelical colleagues?] you will always have with you.” Boy, I was sure glad I wasn’t one of those panelists! We theologians not only have sensitive skins, but also acid tongues!

One of the more telling, trenchant critiques went like this: He “seems to have spent modest [an evangelically-appropriate way of saying “zero”] time teaching, preaching, and leading in the church.” His work, the critic alleged, would have been different “if he … had been a pastor or even an interim preacher for an extended period.” And later, “A stint in the church might also remind him” of the value of rubbing shoulders with reality. Out of touch!

That’s a lesson for all of us. Ivory towers benefit nothing and nobody. Many believers—evangelical theologians and seminary profs included—live in functional isolation in hermitages, monasteries, asylums, cocoons of self-interest, foxholes of seclusion, sanctuaries of privacy. Refusing to get involved with the real lives of real people in the real world. Often it is the church, itself, that is completely out of touch with reality, living in a world of its own. No recognition of where culture is, no acknowledgement of the needs of the world, no realization that time has moved on all around it. Out of touch with reality!

It is not for aught that the church is planted right smack in the middle of the world, literally, like St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney, one of the strongholds of evangelicalism in Australia, in the middle of downtown. I suppose God could have taken us all straight to heaven when we became believers, trusting Christ for salvation. He could have, but He didn’t. He kept us here. In the world.

In Jesus’ prayer for His followers, He says:

“I am no longer in the world;
and yet they themselves
are in the world ….”
John 17:11

But we are not of the world.

“… they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world.
I do not ask You
to take them out of the world ….”
John 17:14–15

But the fact remains: we are in the world. The church is in the world. And as individuals we’re to be in contact with the realities of the world. For a reason:

… so that you will prove yourselves
to be blameless and innocent,
children of God above reproach
in the midst of a crooked
and perverse generation,
among whom you appear
as lights in the world.
Philippians 2:15

Indeed, like our Lord, we, too, are to be shining lights … in the world.

“You are the light of the world.”
Matthew 5:14

Unlike that panelist out of touch with reality (as alleged), let us never forget we are in the world, entrenched in reality, in touch with one another, and with the world around us, caring, sharing, shining, loving.

CURTAIN!

The twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the most prominent symbol of the “Iron Curtain,” was celebrated this month. Following that momentous event, the former Soviet bloc began to crumble, changing, dramatically, the alignments in world politics. It was Churchill who first used the phrase “Iron Curtain,” in a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, MO, in March 1946:

“… an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

Though the good man was criticized at that time for his seemingly warmongering comments, history proved him to be right. The Iron Curtain had split the world in two, as the ideological and physical boundary between the East and the West.

In 1999, the Bundestag (parliament) of the reunified Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, met in the 100+ year-old historic Reichstag building in Germany, towering pillars and all. It is now the official house of German government.

Of the many historically consequential events that have taken place in this century, the fall of the Iron Curtain ranks up there.

But the fall of a portentous curtain is not a unique event. An even more important—indeed, eternally important—curtain “fell” about 2,000 years ago.

And Jesus uttered a loud cry
and breathed His last.
And the veil of the Temple
was torn in two from top to bottom.
Mark 15:37–38

The tearing of the veil, humanly impossible (the outer curtain was about 75 feet in height), is described in the passive voice, hinting at a divine hand at work (the “divine passive”). The unusual nature of the rending—from top to bottom—is certainly corroborative of supernatural activity. The juxtaposition of this event with Jesus’ breathing his last presents the “fall” of that curtain as the consequence of the death of Jesus Christ. Something momentous had happened.

Not surprisingly, the Roman centurion in charge of the execution detail, acknowledges, immediately afterwards, …

“Truly He was the Son of God!”
Mark 15:39

The curtain had fallen. The curtain that separated sinners from a holy God.

But your iniquities have made
a separation between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face
from you so that He does not hear.
Isaiah 59:2

But now the price of sin had been paid.

He [Jesus Christ] Himself
bore our sins in His body on the cross,
so that we might die to sin
and live to righteousness;
for by His wounds you were healed.
1 Peter 2:24

Access to God was now open.

… for through Him we …
have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2:18

Indeed, there has, is, and will be, only one way to the Father.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father
but through Me.”
John 14:6

The curtain has fallen! And all who believe in the saving work of Jesus Christ have gained access.

But now in Christ Jesus
you who formerly were far off
have been brought near
by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:13

A curtain-fall with eternal ramifications, making possible access to God … for all those who believe.

Willkommen!

PERFECT!

99.94! If there ever was an iconic ball-game statistic, that is it. 99.94! The batting average of the Australian cricketer, Sir Don Bradman (1908–2001), said to have been the best of his kind ever. His statistics show that no other athlete has so dominated a sport to the extent Bradman had cricket. A phenomenon. One statistician crunched the numbers of prominent sportsmen by comparing the number of standard deviations they stand above the mean for their respective sport. Bradman topped them all at 4.4 (Pelé had 3.7; Ty Cobb, 3.6; Jack Nicklaus, 3.5; and Michael Jordan, 3.4). Bradman pretty much broke every record there was to break in cricket, some of them still unbroken, after half a century, including the iconic number 99.94! Perfection! To attain to that golden number, a baseball batter would need a batting average of .392 and a basketball player would need to score an average of 43 points per game!

His early years were spent in Bowral in New South Wales and, a few months ago, I had the delight of visiting that fair metropolis and the “Oval,” where Bradman played his first games. Malcolm, an old Dallas Seminary friend and Aussie, led me to those hallowed grounds.

Songs have been sung about Bradman, movies have been made, children have been named and ships christened “Bradman” (HMS Bradman, alas, was sunk by a German aircraft in 1940). An Austrian Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft (yes, Austrian!) is called “Donald Bradman.” Stamps and coins have been struck for him. There’s even a hybrid tea rose named for Bradman.

He was the Englishman’s nemesis, singly serving to give the Aussies victory time and again. One English cricket writer wrote, upon Bradman’s retirement, “A miracle has been removed from among us. So must ancient Italy have felt when she heard of the death of Hannibal.” The British, however, were magnanimous enough to knight the man in 1949.

But not even Bradman comes close to true perfection. No one does.

… it is written,
“There is none righteous,
not even one.”
… for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God.
Romans 3:10, 23

Except for One. The Perfect One.

… holy, innocent, undefiled,
separated from sinners and
exalted above the heavens ….
Hebrews 7:26

Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The One who had no sin, but came to die for ours. And for those who believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only God, for salvation, to them ...

He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

And those who so believe become the children of God.

But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right
to become children of God.
John 1:12

Nowadays the Bradman Foundation governs and protects the name of the great sportsman. “Bradman Bitter Ale” was quashed in court. “Bradman Corporation,” a group of Sydney developers, was forced to become “Bradcorp” and had to surrender the domain name bradman.com.au. (They have so far left alone Melbourne-based wrestler, Bradman, who supposedly once said: “Life is fake, wrestling is real.”)

No such copyright on the name of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, God wants us to call on His name.

Whoever will call on
the Name of the Lord
will be saved.
Romans 10:13

For …

… there is salvation in no one else;
for there is no other Name
under heaven …
by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

For He is the One. The Perfect One.

BODY!

For the past year, I’ve had the delightful privilege of preaching about a couple of Sundays a month at a local church going through a pastoral transition. That “gig” has ended, with their identification of the next senior pastor in their 100-odd-year history. And so, with his arrival imminent, with the increasing demands on my time at Dallas Seminary, and, particularly, with a couple of writing projects that have fast-approaching deadlines, I made last Sunday my final one in their pulpit.

I had decided sometime ago that my final day there would be a “dress down” occasion for me—no bowtie, no jacket, no tucked-in shirt (which is my idiosyncratic norm)! So, imagine my surprise when I walked into church last Sunday looking pretty casual and suddenly spied a whole host of distinguished looking gentlemen clad in bowties of various species—bowties that tie, bowties that clip, cut-off regular ties masquerading as bowties, cardboard and Scotch-tape varieties, etc. How I laughed at the odd turn of events that had me looking pretty shabby in the glorious light of these impeccably attired churchmen! May their tribe increase!

But it was such a heartwarming gesture from the body of Christ!

Now you are Christ's body,
and individually members of it.
1 Corinthians 12:27

And the body of Christ is beautiful, indeed!

How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news

And the love of the King
How beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread

And the sons of the earth
How beautiful is the body of Christ
Twila Paris © 1990

The beautiful body of Christ that reflects Christ’s own beauty.

How beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sin and bore it instead;
How beautiful the tender eyes
That choose to forgive and never despise;
How beautiful is the body of Christ!

I was grateful for this church having given me the delight of laughing and enjoying life in Christ with them, all this past year. It was a wonderful season for me: I was blessed much; I learnt much; I got to know and love my God more as a result! This body of Christ encouraged me, tolerated me, prayed for me, loved me (and fed me, too, I might add!).

May the incoming pastor have as much fun as I had, and even more!

I also got a literal basketful of cards last Sunday. They are all keepers and will be treasured. Those wonderful people in that church will continue to be loved and will surely be missed. I thank God for them and their leaders. They will all continue to be close to my heart. The bonds I have made there will never be broken; the people I have learnt to love will be dear brothers and sisters in Christ for all eternity.

Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is from God;
and everyone who loves
is born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7

I will count it a privilege to have been a small part of God’s great work in that precious community of His people here in that corner of Dallas and I praise God for His having allowed our lives to intersect.

How beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her Groom

With His light in her eyes;
How beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure lives so that others may live;
How beautiful is the body of Christ!

Let’s not forget to be involved. Deeply involved with the body of Christ. The beautiful body of Christ!