Roger Bothwell

I just finished reading an article in the New York magazine about an actress regarded as being critic proof.  I wondered if that meant she was so good no one would dare criticize her or if it meant she was able to not pay attention when people did so.  Criticism can be difficult to handle, especially when one is trying one’s best.  After I preach I can have a hundred people compliment me and one person criticize.  I will forget the compliments and obsess for the rest of the day on that one criticism.
 
Was it difficult for Jesus, who was perfect, to receive criticism?  He got lots of it.  “The Jews answered him, ‘Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?’” John 8.  “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” Luke 15.   But, He also received recommendations from some interesting sources.  “Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, ‘I find no fault in this man.’”
 
The reality is we will never please everyone.  There will always be someone able to fault us.  It’s a way for them to bolster themselves and cope with their own flaws. If they can make us look bad then they, by comparison, don’t look so bad.  In the meantime with God’s help we will reach for the goal Jesus set for us in the Sermon on the Mount.  “Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  Obviously we will never make that on our own.  But I John 1:9 is such a blessing to read.  “If we confess our sins He is able to forgive us and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.”  Don’t you love that?

This has been a weekend of transitioning my email from Verizon to Gmail.  It seems that I have been sending the devotionals to too many people.  Gmail is more generous and allows a bigger email list.  One of the issues is setting defaults to make everything work as desired.  I like defaults.  Going automatically to a setting greatly streamlines one’s tasks and saves a lot of time and effort. 
 
Default setting for our characters are very interesting.  It’s great when our default settings are Christ-like.  It’s not so great when they are quite the opposite.  Some people don’t seem to be able to help themselves.  Their default is not to turn the other cheek but to strike back and they do it quickly without thinking.  And of course when we strike back it usually is a bit harder than the insult we received.  When cut off in traffic some people instantly go into a road rage mode.  Others’ default setting is to back off and let the offender continue on their way.  Jesus counsel is to “turn the other bumper.”
 
For seven decades I have been working on my default settings.  I want so much to react to situations as did Jesus.  On that fateful Thursday night over and over He was assaulted and over and over He kept His silence without retaliating in kind.  Jesus said in Matthew 26:53, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
 
Paul worked on this and counsels us in Galatians 2, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  I think he is talking about default settings.

I do not want to diminish the value of truth.  Without truth we wallow in false ideas resulting in confusion and disorientation.  Truth gives us a foundation for unity and purpose.  Truth gives us a burden of light to tell the world.  But without character and personal and corporate values our truth becomes irrelevant.   More important than being right is being like Jesus in the way we relate to others.  Kindness, unselfishness, generosity, thoughtfulness and empathy are of supreme importance when it comes to the Christian walk.  Jesus did not say, “Hereby shall men know you are my disciples if you are more theologically pure than others.”   His emphasis was on the love we have for each other.
 
Fairness and the recognition that God created Eve from Adam’s side and not from his foot is symbolic that gender equality is a value and a Biblical truth.  When Paul speaks of a woman submitting to her husband, he also speaks of a man loving his wife as Jesus loved the church and died for it.  That is potent. See Ephesians 5.
 
When people speak of us and the church we belong to, is it not better for them to recognize us as loving Christians more than commenting on some unique belief we have that distances us from the main body of Christ.  Our values are constantly on display by the lives we live.  Paul said it so well in I Corinthians 13.  “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity (love), I am nothing.”   Faith and hope are important but love is the greatest of all.

It is often said, “The best revenge is to live well.”   You would be a very unusual person if you lived your whole life without having someone really not like you.  The best way to handle it is to prosper and be happy.   Proverbs 25:22 talks about heaping coals of fire on their heads.  The way to do that is to be super kind and generous.  Romans 12:19 talks about vengeance belonging to God.  Surely the very best vengeance God could take against His enemy, Lucifer, is to save us.  God loves us.  Lucifer’s only use for us is to cause our heavenly Father pain.  When you love someone their pain is yours.
 
Lucifer would love to have us join him in eternal loss, not because he thinks we are good company and fun to be with, but to snatch us away from the one who loves us dearly.  God’s vengeance is to snatch us back.  The more precious we are the more pain inflicted.  So just how precious are we?  We are so precious that a wooden cross divided human history into two.  
 
It might be a bit startling to contemplate the endless battle for one’s soul.  But the reality is if we want to participate in this drama by inflicting pain on God just decide to die with Lucifer.  His day is coming.  If we want to give God incredible joy and give Him a true sense of vengeance accept His gift.  Join sides with the winner.  God will win.  There is no question about that.  It is just a matter of time.  God’s vengeance against Lucifer is having you on His side.  That’s sweet to Him.  Actually it is bittersweet because He also loves Lucifer.

Because I was sitting on the platform in church this weekend I was able to carefully look at the faces of the assembled worshippers.  I am so glad we are not like birds, where individuals within a species all look alike.  (At least to me.)  People are wonderfully unique.  Starting with my wife who I think is stunningly perfect, my eyes roamed to a Latina behind her who was beautifully perfect.  Beside her was a balding middle aged man looking perfect.  Two rows back, there was an African American family with two of the most perfect children one could ever find.  Mom and dad were also perfect.
 
How was it that so many perfect people were assembled in one place?  Simple.  We had just finished the worship service prayer where the suppliant requested God’s forgiveness for the congregation.  God is so good.  He is so pleased to grant us the merciful benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice.  Jesus said in Luke 12:32, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”  Our wish to be perfect is God’s command.  Really!  It is not arrogant to think that we should be able to command God to do something because in this one important issue it makes Him happy.
 
What I found to be so satisfying as I looked up and down the pews was the perfection of the assembled shone from the inside out.  People glowed and when people glow they are beautiful.  They didn’t need perfect cheekbones and perfectly white straight teeth.  They had a perfection so much better.  They were perfect in Jesus and it doesn’t get any better than that.  Ever.

The postman brought us a National Geographic Expeditions catalog this morning.  It is 142 pages of enticement.  Now if only the postman would bring me the resources to utilize this colorful bait to travel the world.  If you can name it there seems to be a trip designed to take you there.  I would like to go to Cuba.  If I go this March I can go for $7,595.  Of course there is an additional $7,595 if I take my wife.  Excuse me.  I don’t want to buy Cuba.  I just want to visit.  The small print tells me it does not include airfare from Miami and back.  That is an additional $600 a piece.  Hey – the last time I looked it was only a 90 mile trip!  The jet barely has time to put its flaps up.
 
I also happened to have another travel brochure.  It’s called Ephesians.  And the wonder is all travel is prepaid.  Listen to this enticement.  Paul was a master promoter.  “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
 
How about that?  In John 14 Jesus told us He was going to His Father’s house to prepare places for us.  And Paul tells us we are to be seated with Christ in heavenly realms.  Now I understand that some people are stay-at-home types that don’t like to travel, but really this is just too grand to refuse.  So come with me.  Please.  I’ll even tip the angels for you when they check your bags. 

The human mind is amazing.  We store all manner of events and conversations only to have them come flooding back with the right stimulus.   This evening I noticed a full page Citicard advertisement in a magazine with the message, “You didn’t come this far to go somewhere else.”  My mental floodgate opened to a conversation with a student a few years ago.  Something very discouraging had happened to him and he told me he was giving up on God and Jesus and the church.  He had been raised a Christian and I said to him, “You didn’t come this far to go somewhere else.”
  
Really bad things do happen along our ways and the last thing we want to happen is to allow ourselves to give up.  Truthfully, life can be a slimy mess.  It is not a bed of roses just because one is a Christian.  But that does not mean Jesus doesn’t love you and that God doesn’t care.  Giving up on the promises, no longer believing that Jesus is going to make it alright, deliberately choosing and changing one’s lifestyle to an inferior way of living, just doesn’t make sense.  “You didn’t come this far to go somewhere else.”
 
Why would someone deliberately choose to begin harmful habits and abandon grace and the assurance that there is more to life than these few decades?  Following Jesus and what He counsels and offers is a superior way of living.  Dare I say, “One might give up on a religious organization, but that is totally different than giving up on Jesus. They are not one in the same.”
 
I vividly remember saying to my student, “Don’t go somewhere else.  Being with Jesus is life at its best!”

Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is an ode to the glory of God’s law.  Verse 1, “Blessed are those who walk according to God’s law.”  Verse 99 – 103, “Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.  I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.  I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
 
So I was not surprised, when in church, to hear the worship leader welcome us and describe his church as a place where we believe in the Ten Commandments.  If only he had added, “This is a place where Jesus is our Savior, Lord and King” or something like that.  But, he did not. Jesus wasn’t mentioned.
 
There is no question that the law is a transcript of God’s character and sin is the transgression of that law.  But the central focus of our worship is not, and should never be, a law.  The central focus is a God full of grace, who sent us His only Son to perish at our hands, that we might be redeemed.  The law is magnificent in knowledge and its protective wisdom guides us to a good life.  But apart from the giver of that law, Jesus Christ, it cannot supply us with forgiveness when we transgress, neither can it give us eternal life.
 
I apologize if I am nitpicking.  But I don’t think so.  Jesus is what gives church and worship value.

Tonight I am watching my woods fill up with snow.  My dog does not think it strange for me to stand here.  And I have no promises to keep before I sleep.  Sorry Robert Frost.  I could not resist.  But like Frost I am filled with awe at the rugged beauty of tree arms holding snow instead of leaves.  Under the white blanket myriads of furred creatures sleep with their noses tucked in for a long winter’s nap.  Chickadees, tufted titmice, juncos, gold finches, cardinals, blue jays and woodpeckers filled up in anticipation of a muffled night of softness.  It’s a sweet thing to be tucked in on a New England night with the crackling of the fire and the shimmering shadows on wooden walls. 
 
These are times when all I wish to do is thank all my friends for their care.  My family for their love and my Jesus for His promises that not only will this never end but it will grow better as millennia pass.  How can it be that it is so difficult to spread the Gospel?  I am not only thinking about people whose lives are so busy they can’t pause to ponder the joys.   But I am thinking of those who have grown up thinking they are Christians and yet still harbor doubts of their salvation.

The only conclusion I can come to is it is just too good to be true and we are told when something is too good to be true it isn’t true.  But in this case it is all true.  The Gift of God is eternal life.  According to the dictionary a gift is “something given to somebody, usually on order to provide pleasure or to show gratitude.”   Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”   Luke 12:32

Have you ever looked at a tomato?  I mean really look at a fully ripe, lush, shiny red tomato.  Sitting in the sun it is a thing of beauty.  When I was a boy someone told me in ancient times people thought tomatoes were poisonous.  I wondered who was the first brave person who dared try one only to discover it wasn’t dangerous, or maybe someone tried to commit suicide by eating one and it didn’t work, or maybe they tried to use one as a means of capital punishment only to have the intended enjoy his last meal.  They could always throw them at bad public speakers.
 
It’s marvelous that tomatoes grow from those tiny white seeds. One would never know what a tomato looks like by only looking at a tomato seed.  Paul had this in mind when people asked him what we will look like after the resurrection.  So he wrote the following in I Corinthians 15.  “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.  But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.”
 
So the answer to the question is Paul didn’t know and neither do we.  What we do know is it will be splendid. “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.”  Verse 49   In verse 51 Paul calls it a mystery.  This is a mystery we all should love because it is about us, His redeemed.  No wonder sometimes we refer to someone as a “real tomato.”