Fear Not!

I have been doing chapel for a local Christian school for this school year. After the last school shooting (just writing those words is painful), I asked the students how they felt coming to school. The overwhelming answer was scared.

Now I had a lot of feelings toward going to school when I was their age, but “scared” was not one of them.

All school shootings cause me grief, but this one impacted me more. One of the students killed was from Pakistan. She was Moslem. She had come to this country to get a better education. She had an opportunity to hear about Jesus and to see His love though believers, but instead she was killed by a fellow student who considered himself a Christian. Her family now remembers this nation as the place where their daughter was killed.

Our nation is characterized by two great attitudes right now.

One is anger and the other is fear. We are an angry and fearful nation.

One leads to the other. Fear leads to anger.

As I listen to the many political commercials and read the ads that come in the mail, the words are anger words. In almost all of the ads we are told that a particular candidate will “fight” for what they are espousing. Fight is an anger word and comes because we fear that we have lost something or are in danger of losing something.

I expect the world to be angry. A person who does not have a relationship with Jesus has good reason to be angry because they have no hope.

But I am hearing as much anger from the church as from the world.

Over seventy-five times in Scripture, God communicates directly to a person or group not to be fearful.

He says it to Abraham.

He says it Hagar.

He says it to Isaac.

He says it to Jacob.

He says it to Moses.

He says it to Joshua.

He says it to the nation of Israel.

He says it to Elijah.

He says it to Jeremiah.

He says it to King Hezekiah.

He says it to King Jehoshaphat.

He says it to Daniel.

He says it to the shepherds.

He says it to Zechariah.

He says it to Mary.

He says it to The Twelve.

He says it to Peter.

He says it to the women at the tomb.

He says it to Paul.

He says it to the believers.

Why did God say that so many times and to some many different people and groups?

Because without the presence of Jesus in our lives through the Holy Spirit, we are fearful people.

I don’t want to address the world because I think that most of you who read this devotion are believers. I want to address believers, the church.

In John 16:33 Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble, but take heart or take courage because He has overcome the world.

1 John 4:18 says that there is no fear in perfect love, that perfect love cast out fear. That if we are living in fear it is because we have not let the perfect love of Jesus kick fear out of our lives.

I know fear!

While I was pastoring another church we ran into some major conflict. The conflict was major enough that I felt that I would be asked to resign or right out fired. I was controlled by fear. I have always struggled with fear, but this was different. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t focus. My mind was filled with fear day and night. The only way I could get to sleep was to sleep in our living room with the television on and then it was not restful sleep. This went on for four months. The end came when I heard Jesus say to me, “Don’t fear, I got this.”

The church is fearful for two reasons.

One: we don’t believe God. We believe in God, but we don’t believe Him and what He says in His Word.

One of the comments I get all the time as new people come to visit our church is that I teach God’s Word. I am blown away by this. Folks, I am not the greatest teacher of God’s Word, so it is not because I am so good. I do a simple thing: I take the eternal truth of what God says and teach that. I am confused as to why that is so unusual.

Church, teach and live the truth of what God says!

Second: we have the wrong priority.

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says to seek above everything else His kingdom and His righteousness. In Matthew 28 we are commanded by Jesus to go make disciples. The priority for followers of Jesus is to know Jesus, seek His kingdom, and build that kingdom by making disciples that are disciples of Jesus.

Church, our priority is Jesus and His kingdom!

Now, how do we minister to our angry, fearful nation?

I prayed about this two nights ago and, based on what I see Jesus doing, I believe there are five things I am going to do and lead my faith family to do.

Pray – 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says pray without ceasing. Prayer is not magical. Jesus works through our prayers.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is praying about everything without giving up.

Be Honest – Romans 12:9 tells us that our love is to be genuine. The world has to see the church being honest. We have to admit we have blown it at times. We have to admit that we have not loved people the way Jesus did and does. We have to stop giving pat answers and honestly say, “I don’t know, but I trust Jesus.” When we are honest, people will listen and talk with us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being transparent.

Be Real – Galatians 3:7 says that the real children of Abraham are those who put their faith in God. In Colossians 3:3 that our real life is hidden in God. We are real when we stop performing, stop following a list of rules, stop telling people what they want to hear, and start relating to others as Jesus did.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being authentic.

Put Yourself Out There – In Acts 5 Peter and John are arrested and put in prison. The Spirit releases them and tells them to go right back out to the temple courts and begin teaching again. In Acts 10 Peter is told to go to Cornelius, a Roman, and share the gospel. In Acts 14 after Paul is stoned nearly to death in Lystra, he gets up and goes back into the city. We have to engage our culture. We don’t do that by arguing, condemning or judging. We do it by going where the people are and showing them Jesus in our lives and action.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting and living risky.

Connect With – In Mark 5 Jesus is asked to come and heal Jairus’ daughter. Jesus is walking through the crowd. One of the things we observe about Jesus is that He was out among the people. We as Jesus’ followers are to go. Where are we to go? Out where the people are.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being with people.

Church of Jesus, don’t be angry; live out the love of Jesus!

Church of Jesus, don’t be fearful; believe Jesus!

There is an awesome song by Bethel Music called No Longer Slaves. The one line in the chorus that is repeated says, “I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.”

Because I am a child of God, I will not live in fear and anger!

Without Fear or Anger, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                  Joe

Aaron and Jesus

In Exodus 28, God commands Moses to make Aaron and his sons priests. As priests, they represented God to the people and the people to God.

Aaron was the high priest. All the high priests that followed him were to come from his family. Aaron is the high priest of the Old Covenant.

In Hebrews 3:1, Jesus is called the apostle and high priest of our confession. Jesus is the high priest of the New Covenant.

Aaron and Jesus share some things in common.

Aaron exercised his position as high priest by carefully following the Lord’s commands – Leviticus 8:36. He was imperfect but faithful.

Jesus exercised His position as high priest by carefully yielding to His Father’s leadership – John 8:28-29.

Aaron served in such a way that God’s glory would appear to the people – Leviticus 9:6.

Jesus served in such a way that God and His glory where seen though Him. In John 1:18, Jesus says He had come so  that people could see God.  In John 14:9-11, Jesus says that if you have seen Him, you have seen the Father. In Colossians 1:15, Paul says that Jesus was the exact image of God.

Aaron and Jesus were different in several ways as they served as high priest.

Aaron was appointed as temporary mediator between the people and God. He and his successors were made obsolete by Jesus.

Jesus is the one and only mediator between God and man – 1 Timothy 2:5-6. Jesus is the eternal high priest and will never become obsolete.

He is the eternal high priest because of His work on the cross.

Because of Jesus’ work on the cross, we have been declared righteous and are invited to approach God based on Jesus’ work with confidence – Hebrews 4:16.

Aaron arranged for atonement for all of Israel – Leviticus 9:7

Jesus purchased atonement for the whole world. That atonement becomes applied to our lives the moment we surrender the authority of our lives to the authority of Jesus – 1 John 2:2. Jesus came to Israel as the promised Messiah., but salvation in His name is available for people of every nation. – Romans 3:29

Aaron needed to make atonement for his own sins – Leviticus 9:8

Jesus never sinned. He was and is perfect in word, thought, and deed. Jesus died on the cross as an unblemished substitute. His sinless perfection made Him the worthy sacrifice and makes him a worthy priest in heaven – Hebrews 7:26-27

Aaron was a priest over Israel because he was ordained and anointed by Moses – Leviticus 8:1-12.

Jesus the Son of God is our great high priest, unique and eternal, because                                                                God the Father designated Him for that honor – Hebrews 5:1-5.

Aaron stood before God and humbled himself under God’s authority.

Jesus is God – Colossians 1:15-17.

Through Jesus as our high priest, we have been made priests of the New Covenant to dispense the grace of God to others.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having Jesus as our High Priest and acting as priests of the New Covenant.

Hebrews 10:19-23

Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

We have Jesus as our high priest and we have confident assurance that we can come before Him and receive all that we need.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing Jesus as all that we need.

With Jesus as Our High Priest, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                  Joe

Relating to God

What is the most important thing in the life of a follower of Jesus?

I think it is very simple. It is knowing Jesus in an intimate love relationship and experiencing His presence in our lives.

In Exodus 33:10-11 it says, “Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance  to their tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”

Notice it says that God would speak to Moses, not Moses would speak to God. God initiated the communication. Moses had a very personal relationship with God.

The close relationship that Moses had with God enabled him to talk with God in a very honest manner.

In Exodus 33:12-13, Moses says to God, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with Me.’ If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You. Remember that this nation is Your people.”

Moses wants to know if God is going to be with him and continue to show him favor.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is wanting God more than anything.

Moses is concerned about God not being with him and God’s people and that they didn’t have favor with God because in Exodus 33:3, God says that He would not go with them into the Promised Land because, if He did, He would destroy the people.

God had promised:

Angelic Accompaniment

Victory Over Their Enemies

Possession of the Land

A Land That was Fruitful

There was one catch: God would not go with them.

In Exodus 33:14 God says, “My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.”

God promises to be with Moses.   

Raise the Roof and Removing the Walls is believing God.

In Exodus 33:15 Moses says to God, “If Your Presence will not go with us, do not send us up from here.”

Remember where Moses and the people were. They were in the desert, in the middle of nowhere. Moses would rather be left in the desert with God than to enter the Promised Land without God.

Many times I see people becoming mad because they are focused, not on the presence of God, but on the blessings of God. Moses was focused on the presence of God because the blessings are worth nothing without the presence of God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is focusing on the person of God, not just the blessings of God.

Then in Exodus 33:16 Moses asks God, “How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us? What will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

Moses knew that what had brought the people to where they were right then was God and His power and His presence. He knew that without God’s presence, they had no hope.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing that we are totally dependent on God.

I love Beth Moore’s paraphrase of this passage. “I’d rather be right here in the thorns and thistles and never know the taste of milk and honey if that’s what it takes to have You. Let my foes keep every inch of that land if, in order to possess it, I can’t have You. Give me every blessing that I can have and still have You or give me nothing at all beside You. No promise on earth can take the place of Your presence.  I choose the desert if that’s where You are. If You’re not going, I’m staying.”

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we are told to seek God’s face. We are not told to seek God’s hands (what He does, His blessings), but His face (who He is, His presence).

I understand living in the desert. In 1982 God directed me and my family to move to the desert. The last 35 plus years we have lived in the desert and loved it. We have had opportunities to leave God has directed us to stay because that is where He wants us. We have desired to have Jesus more than anything.

God’s answer to Moses is found in Exodus 33:17. God says, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know your name.”

God will do what Moses asks because He knows Moses. He knows Moses’ heart and He is pleased with him.

When we want what God wants, we are in the middle of His will and our desires will please Him and we will see answers to our prayers.

With Jesus, Wherever He Is, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                 Joe

Moses or Jesus?

John 1:17

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The law was given by God to Moses for God’s people. The law was given in decrees, commands, instructions, and statues. The law showed the character of God and the way the people of God were to relate to Him and how they were to relate to each other and how they were to relate to the world. It showed the people of God how they were to live.

Having heard from the Lord amidst the fire, smoke, and thunder, Moses went down from the mountain and shared all the law with the people. The law was written down so that it was visible and available to all.

We tend to think of the law in terms of the Ten Commandments only. In fact, it was comprised of regulations for worship, instructions on legal matters, principles for society, edicts for sexual conduct and much more.

The law was not based on relationship but on obedience. The Law was not negotiable. God expected unconditional obedience. Those who obeyed were blessed and those who disobeyed were punished. In the book of Leviticus, the penalties for breaking the law are laid out and they are not pretty.

The law is much more than just a set of restrictions – it gives guidance about the destructiveness of sin and it highlights habits leading to contentment and joy.

The purpose of the law was to reveal to God’s people their inability to perfectly follow the law. It was to lead them to their need for a savior.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing we are not perfectly following the law and to look to Jesus as our Savior.

The people of God got prideful and thought, because God had chosen them as His people and given them the law, that it was through knowing the law and following the law that they were made right with God. The problem is that no human can keep the law of God perfectly and that was what it took for the law to make you right with God.

In James 2:10-11 we are told that if we keep all the law but one part, we have broken the law and are law breakers.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging that when we break one small part of the law, we have broken the law and are law breakers.

The law outlined a system of sacrifices. These sacrifices were what maintained a right standing with God. These sacrifices did not have the power to remove the penalty, they could only temporarily cover the sin.

These sacrifices were only a shadow of the superior sacrifice Jesus made when He came to the earth and redeemed us through His death on the cross.

In the John 1:17, it says that grace and truth came through Jesus.

Grace came when Jesus fulfilled the law by perfectly obeying the law, then giving us that fulfillment when we surrender our lives to Him as our Savior and Lord.

Truth came when Jesus shed His blood and gave His life to remove our sins and their penalty.

In Jesus’ death on the cross, Jesus set aside the first way and paved a new way by providing the perfect, ultimate sacrifice for sin for all. People are made holy through faith in Jesus and His sacrifice and resurrection.

Hebrews 10:1-4

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and would longer have felt the guilt for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Just as the law cannot make a person righteous, the sacrificing of animals cannot take away a person’s sins.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending solely on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to free us from our sin.

The law and the sacrificial system point to the truth that only through Jesus can we experience forgiveness of sin and the reality of being righteous.

The law brings death.

The grace of Jesus brings life.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is choosing life through the grace of Jesus.

Through Jesus, Not the Law, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                    Joe