Tag Archives: Mark

A commonsense faith in Christ

Posted on December 3, 2014 by | Comments Off on A commonsense faith in Christ

bible_and_candle_krx5While growing up, one of my favorite shows I loved to watch was the Andy Griffith Show. Some of the things that drew me to that television show was the way that Sheriff Taylor was able to take a complex problem and find a commonsense solution for it and when Opie would find himself in trouble and again, Sheriff Taylor would use good old-fashioned commonsense to steer Opie into making the right decision. Although I have had a lot of people tell me that the show does not show reality, I often think that one of society’s biggest problems is the knack to take something simple and turn it into a complex process. The Andy Griffith Show’s popularity was not that it was a complex, advanced, and witty television show; it was quite the opposite. It was a simple show that relied on country wisdom, commonsense solutions to life’s problems, and had a natural appeal to its audience.

A commonsense faith of promise

Earlier this week, while I was on the community college campus before class, a former student stopped me in the parking lot and began to ask me questions about my faith. After a few minutes of answering some very basic questions, the student actually said, “Mr. Simmons, that’s why I like asking you questions about Christianity. You always give a commonsense answer that makes it easy to understand and simple…” I had never really thought about it before yesterday, but just as with everything else, we have changed the simplicity of the gospel into a complex religion that no longer has the appeal of being a simple faith. I believe that this is one of the reasons for Jesus’ warning: Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein (Mark 10:15). When I think of my four-year old daughter, there are things she just accepts as fact; she doesn’t seek an explanation. During the summer, while coming home one night from church, she asked about why the moon was so bright. After I told her that it was because there were no clouds in the sky and the moon was a circle, the light seemed brighter. Her response to my answer was, “wow, that’s neat!” There was no other explanation needed because the simplest answer I could give met her needs.

The faith that Jesus was teaching to the crowds, the faith that would ultimately become known as Christianity, was from its beginning to be a simple faith. Jesus taught this concept by example: And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:2-4). Jesus is not saying that we have to accept Jesus when we are a child to be saved, but what He is saying is that we simply need to take Him at his word. Just as my daughter took me at my word in the explanation about the brightness of the moon, as an adult, I need to be willing to accept what the Lord says at His word. This was something that the Lord continually taught, even in the presence of the religious leaders during His time on Earth. The gospels are full of encounters where Jesus explained in a commonsense way, the very meaning of the laws and practices that the Jewish scholars had made overly complex with their traditions.

One of the best examples of Jesus’ confrontations with the religious leaders during the days of His earthly ministry is found in the gospel of Mark: And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:  And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question (Mark 12:28-34).

Continued on next page.

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Beware of growing icicles

Posted on December 1, 2014 by | Comments Off on Beware of growing icicles

Icicles13There’s a Christmas movie where the main character, a young boy, has just gotten his desired present – a Red Ryder BB gun – and in his haste to take out the imaginary bandits, he shoots a paper target taped to a metal sign. The BB ricocheted and hits his glasses. Fearing the wrath of his father and the “See, I told you so…” of his mother, he concocted a story that he was shooting icicles off the roof and one hit him in the eye. His mother, apparently willing to believe his story, adds “those icicles can be dangerous, you’re lucky it didn’t put your eye out…”  There is a profound but simple lesson and warning within her simple statement: beware of growing icicles.

Icicles do not start off large, but start with a single drop of water that freezes. Under the right conditions, freezing temperature and more water, they will begin to grow larger and larger. When I was still in the military, I remember one February where I and a few others from the office I worked in had been tasked to go outside and break off the icicles that were hanging off the fire escape to prevent them from falling and hurting someone below. Just as growing icicles can grow to become dangerous, we can foster growing icicles within our heart. Just as an icicle starts as a drop of water, an unkind word or deed done is all it takes to begin the process within our hearts. Once that seed is planted and it takes root, it begins to grow. There’s a warning about this found within the Bible: Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief (Proverbs 28:14). When we allow our hurt feelings to dominate our spiritual life we essentially put our fleshly nature ahead of the Lord. This is one of the many reasons that the Lord warned us during His earthly ministry: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

We’ve all had someone at church or within our family, someone who we know is a Christian, say something or do something that causes us to hurt. Oftentimes, it is unintentional and no harm was ever meant. Instead of talking to the other person, we will often bury the hurt for any number of reasons; maybe it is because we are ashamed we were hurt so easily, maybe we don’t want to admit that the person actually hurt us, or maybe we think we are keeping the peace. Whatever the reason may be, we forget the advice given by the apostle Paul, Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath (Ephesians 4:26). When we think about wrath, most of us think of someone having an intense anger; however, there are times that anger is driven by hurt feelings. I know that there have been times I decided not to follow Paul’s advice and before I knew it, my hurt feelings, the anger, and even confusion over the entire situation began impacting my walk with the Lord. Soon, things that I once found comfort and joy in didn’t appeal to me. I was allowing the growing icicles to gain strength and size.

It is hard to appreciate the blessings and joy that the Lord brings into our lives when we have allowed our love of the Lord to be overcome with hurt and sorrow. We begin to question the motives of those who do try to reach out to us. We lash out at the smallest gesture of concern or kindness, often accusing them of either not understanding what we are feeling or being less than sincere in their efforts. It becomes easy to hide from others and to become spiritually cold, bitter, and shut off from others as the icicles begin to grow larger. I believe this is exactly what David was experiencing when he wrote, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. T0 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit (Psalms 51:7-12) . David has emotionally reached the stage where he realizes what is going on and is asking the Lord to help him to overcome the hardening of his heart. He wants to be restored to the place where he was truly joyful in his salvation.

Allowing our hearts to become hardened is actually harboring sin. As I look back at the times I had allowed my heart to grow cold, I now think of the admonition of the apostle Paul, This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart (Ephesians 4:17-18). As Christians, we shouldn’t harbor ill feelings the way we did before we knew the Lord Jesus as our personal savior. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be filled with coldness and bitterness simply to find ourselves alienated from the Lord because we are unwilling to forgive someone else because they have wronged us. During his earthly ministry, Jesus even warned But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses (Mark 11:26). When we hold onto our bitterness and our hurt feelings, we place a wall between ourselves and the Lord. It does not change that we are a child of God, but it does prevent us from being in a place of blessing.

The question becomes how should I handle this hurt caused by someone else and the answer is found in scripture. The apostle Paul wrote Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof (Romans 13:10-14). The first step is ours – we must show the love of Christ towards others, even those who we believed have wronged us.

There is no excuse or justification for us to ever allow our hearts to become bitter and hardened. Paul ends the passage by telling us to put on Christ and don’t give a place to the flesh. Don’t give in to the temptation to grow bitter. Don’t give in to the temptation to let the hurt fester. Follow the model of Christ: Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do… (Luke 23:34). It is the opposite of what the flesh wants to do. It is the opposite of what the world teaches. It is why Paul wrote, If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:21-24). 

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Rethinking Thanksgiving

Posted on November 26, 2014 by | Comments Off on Rethinking Thanksgiving

 thanksgivingTomorrow is the day when we, as a nation and a people, take a day to offer our thanks to God. As an American historian, it fascinates and saddens me to see how far this American tradition has come to be celebrated today. For many, Thanksgiving Day means a lot of food, celebrating and fellowshipping with family, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, and watching professional football. Last year, we saw stores began to open on Thursday evening as a way to increase their sales. It appears that the last thing on the minds of many Americans is truly demonstrating our thankfulness to the Lord.

Back when I was studying and preparing for my Ph.D., I decided that I wanted to research the early colonial period of our nation. Although I already held a master’s degree, there were (and there still are) areas of basic historical knowledge about our nation that I simply do not know as well as I would like. I began my research by reading the writings of various American historians. Eventually, I began reading the available writings of the early colonists themselves, desiring to learn from their own hand of the life and times that they lived. One thing that began to stand out is that there is a large part of the thanksgiving narrative missing from today’s society. That first thanksgiving celebrated in 1621 and lasted for three days. Not only were there fifty settlers of the Plymouth Colony present, but at least ninety American Indians as well.

We all are aware of the story of how the Pilgrims invited their American Indian guests to not only celebrating a bountiful harvest, but to honor the American Indians who had taught them how to plant pumpkins, corn, squash, beans, and other crops that were largely unknown to the settlers when the arrived on the North American continent. We also understand that they used the opportunity to give thanks to God for providing a truly amazing harvest and for preserving the survivors of the colony. What is not taught is an important part of the thanksgiving story that has somehow been deemed as either not politically correct or not of any historical significance – a trend of telling about this first thanksgiving that began sometime in the early twentieth century. These brave men and women were also using this harvest time celebration as a tool to spread the saving gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Within the psalms written by David, the Holy Spirit led him to write, I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations (Psalms 57:9). These pilgrims were doing just that – they were praising God among the American Indians!

There have been times in the lives of each of God’s children when we are approached by someone who does not know the Lord and are asked a simple question of “why?” Maybe it is because you were honest with a cashier who tried to give you back too much change, or you helped out the person in line at the register that didn’t have the necessary change to make their purchase. Maybe it was taking the time to listen to someone else who was hurting, lonely, or struggling to understand – any of these events is an evangelistic opportunity for us to share our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The pilgrims were doing this very thing with the first thanksgiving. They were demonstrating their thankfulness to the Lord as a means of reaching the American Indians in attendance. They were putting into action the verses, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (I Peter 3:15), and And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing (Psalms 107:22). When we truly are thankful for the blessings of God and are sincere in our efforts to express our gratitude to Him, it is a testimony to the believer and the unbeliever of the goodness of the Lord.

What has also been forgotten from our nation’s history is that these Pilgrims rejected many of the Calvinist teachings of the Puritans who would later separate themselves to the new colony of Massachusetts Bay. Although the Pilgrims did follow the teachings of Calvin, they rejected the idea that only a certain group of people had been chosen by God to be saved (this was one of the major doctrinal difference between the Pilgrims and the Puritans). Instead, they felt that the gospels commanded them to bear witness to all they came across, whether European settler or American Indian, since no one could truly know which people had been preconditioned by the Lord to accept the gospel:  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:5). Because of the seriousness of a want to use this thanksgiving celebration to spread the gospel, the writings of several of the Pilgrim colonists show that the week before the first thanksgiving celebration, the able-bodied men and women (those who were reasonably healthy) fasted every day and prayed every evening not only to thank God for the bountiful harvest, but that they would be able to witness the spreading of the gospel of Christ to the local tribes.

There have been efforts underway to rewrite the account of the first thanksgiving – to reinterpret its purpose so that God becomes nothing more than an afterthought in our modern observation of a day of thanksgiving. Many will point to William Bradford, the Governor of the Plymouth Plantation as the originator of thanksgiving, and will argue that it was a function of the government (state) and not the church (religion). This is a misinterpretation of William Bradford’s position within the Pilgrim community; although he had been the one responsible for drafting the Mayflower Compact, he was also regarded as a religious leader within the Scrooby community as it left England for Holland, and eventually the North American coast. It is the reason the Compact has the word, “stranger” – a recognition that not all aboard the Mayflower were of the same religious views as the Pilgrims. The colony that Bradford was governor of was to be a church/religious based society; what we consider today as civil rights were directly tied to one’s standing within the religious community. The writings from Bradford actually show that the first thanksgiving was seen by him as being an observance for the Pilgrims as described in the Old Testament regarding the Jewish observance of Passover: And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped (Exodus 12:24-27). Bradford intended this period of thanksgiving to be done each year as a celebration of God’s divine provision and a remembrance of what had been done so that we would remember, in each generation afterwards, the bountiful mercy and grace of God.

Starting this thanksgiving, maybe it is time for us to return to the original purposes of this great observance. Maybe it is time that we do as our Pilgrim ancestors did and approach the day with reverence to the Lord. Maybe it is time that we invite the stranger, the orphan, the widow into the fellowship of our home and table to use the feast to share our Christian faith. Maybe it is time to share the history of God’s mercy and grace shown to those early settlers so that the real story of thanksgiving can be preserved and passed down to the next generation. Maybe it is time to set aside the Christmas shopping, football games, and the parades and all the other trappings of the modern-day observance we’ve grown accustomed to and return to a more simpler, more deeper, and more meaningful thanksgiving experience. As I have shared these thoughts today, one verse keeps coming to mind:  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:15).

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