Roger Bothwell

In the beginning of the twentieth century one in every four trees on the Appalachian Mountains was an American Chestnut tree.  Historical records here in Leominster, Massachusetts record seeing the mountain range here in Leominster being white in the springtime when the chestnut trees were in bloom.  Today there are only young chestnut trees which grow to about five feet and then they die from the blight that wiped out literally billions of trees in the first half of the twentieth century.  There is one mature left in New Hampshire and small groves in Michigan, Wisconsin and California.
 
This afternoon during a walk in the forest I stopped by one of the five footers, soon to die, and rued its coming death.  It will never reach its potential.  It is like us.  Man was created with endless potential and then the blight came.  Now we get only so smart and then we die.  In this life we never will reach what we could be.  God needs to use the old army recruiting slogan “Be all that you can be” as an appeal to accept the gift of Jesus’ grace.  It is only by living forever that we will be all that we can be. But wait, if we live forever and continue to develop forever then we will never be all that we can be, because tomorrow will bring new opportunities and new experiences.
 
Is there something you wish you could do?  Have you ever longed to play the piano, organ or some other instrument and never had the time to learn?   What about golf?  Sure you will slice and hook in heaven.  It isn’t a sin.
 
Accept the gift.  Be all you can be.

According to today’s Associated Press report, “Dozens of bills opposed by Gov. Paul LePage have become law because he misinterpreted the Maine Constitution and didn’t veto the measures in time, the state’s highest court said Thursday.”  And so we add another chapter to human history the results of what was either misunderstanding or procrastination.
 
Genesis 7:16 tells us after the animals and Noah’s family were loaded “the Lord shut them up.”  The Lord in His kindness to Noah did not give him access to opening the door so Noah didn’t have to say “No” to the latecomers.  The Lord had been very patient, 120 years patient, with the masses.  Finally, the day came when it was too late.  Just as the law said to Gov. LePage, “It’s too late” God said to the masses, “It’s too late.”
 
About halfway through a semester I can predict with about 75% accuracy which student will not have their term paper done on time.  There are certain personality types that are late for most things including not being on time for class each evening.  Last weekend while I was preaching three people arrived for church when I was two minutes from my conclusion.  I wanted to stop and do Porky Pig’s famous, “That’s all folks.”  I restrained myself.
 
God is still patient and loving.  But don’t misunderstand that to mean it is never too late.  Peter wrote, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 

I have a set of books called “Harvard Classics – The Five Foot Shelf of Books.”   It is a collection of the greatest literature of the world.  It comes with a daily reading guide that suggests reading selections for the day.   I have all 51 books but my volume #7 does not match the set.  My set is blue and my volume #7 is brown.   Am I being anal because this bothers me?  On Amazon.com I can get a matching #7 for a very reasonable price of less than ten dollars including shipping.  My problem is why?  I already have #7.  The only reason I would purchase this is because of some mental quirk.  When I look at the set it is not perfect. This is ridiculous.  I need to see a shrink.
 
However, there is much to be said in favor of perfection.  In Hebrews 2 Paul tells us that because Jesus was perfect He is now able to be our high priest and save us by His grace. “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
 
I have known sincere, serious Christians who have been miserable because they were trying so hard to be perfect because they believed it was the only way to be saved.  However, the Gospel is very clear about our salvation.  It is a gift.  Accept it and live and then together with the Holy Spirit’s help, out of gratitude, strive to be like Jesus.  Enjoy the teamwork.

I am a believer in secondhand cars and houses.  Let someone else take the depreciation on the car and let someone else plant the grass and the shrubbery.  I am even wearing a secondhand shirt.  I have even performed marriages for couples who are getting a secondhand wife and a secondhand husband.  There is much to be said for experience and learning not to repeat certain mistakes.
 
There is one thing I am not high on.  That is secondhand spiritual experiences.  It doesn’t work to be a fan or devotee to another person’s experience.  I have heard people say, “If Pastor Soandso says it.  It has to be true.”   I’m sure Pastor Soandso is a good woman or man and what she or he said works for them.  But what is important is for each of us to build our own relationship with God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into understanding.  First and foremost, we should be followers of Jesus and not another human.  The only way this can happen is spending the time necessary to build that relationship with God.
 
Reading the Bible for oneself, praying over a passage, opening up one’s thought processes to new ideas is the way to make this occur.  Find what works for you.  It could be reading an entire book of the Bible through at one sitting.  It could be reading each day until a verse speaks to you.  That might result in reading chapters or maybe reading just one verse.  When you find that verse stop reading.  Make it your marching orders for the day.  Write it on a card and come back to it several times.  The result is you and God will develop a fresh one-on-one experience.  It is yours.  It is not secondhand.

After going the same direction on our evening walk for about a hundred times, this evening I decided to go the opposite way.  My dog was very confused.  The resistance began at the end of the driveway and continued for almost the entire mile.  Every time we stopped for her to sniff she tried to reverse course when the sniffing ended.  She finally stopped wanting to go back when we rounded the last corner and she could finally see home ahead. 
 
For over a half a century I have been encouraging people to repent.  “Repent” meaning to reverse course in life.  Maybe it is less difficult for a human than a dog, but I doubt it.  Actually, I believe it is more difficult for us.  To let go of isms and ologies is very difficult.  I have watched Christians struggle to undo a history of hearing sermon after sermon telling them they have to do this and that to be saved, then suddenly try to “by faith let go and let Jesus.” It is easier said than done.  Repenting of a past understanding of the Gospel is not an easy task.
 
How much more difficult must it be for someone coming from a non-Christian background to repent of ingrained biases and habits that were forged in childhood. It is so easy for someone like me to stand up and say “repent” and then go home and not think about the burden I have just cast upon some sin-weary soul.
 
Just as my dog struggled to walk the opposite direction, we must understand and be patient with people who have set upon a new course in life.  The challenge of being like Jesus is not easy.  Words are easy.  Repenting can be very tough.

According to Leviticus 16 before the high priest could officiate on the Day of Atonement he had to change into the simple white linen garment of a common priest.  The symbolism was prophetic regarding the nature of Jesus’ coming to earth.  Jesus came, not as a king or ruler but, as a common man. In Philippians 2 Paul wrote, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!”
 
According to the book of Hebrews Jesus became our high priest after His ascension.  He is a unique priest.  He was our sacrifice.  Now He is our priest. There is no one and never has been any being in the universe that by personal experience so understands us. Notice how Paul says, “He made Himself nothing.”  Someday when we have the opportunity to see a replay of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem (You can be sure every detail is carefully preserved in Heaven’s libraries.) we will be shocked at the gruesome details of that wretched stable.  We are told Lucifer was taken aback and thought a mistake had been surely made.  How could the glorious King of the Universe so degrade Himself?

The next time we think someone isn’t giving us the respect we think we should have, let us remember Philippians 2 where Paul admonishes us to “let this mind be in you.”  He was speaking of Jesus’ mind.  Jesus “was treated as we deserve that we might be treated as He deserves.”

There was a time before our time before the time of earth itself when all was well in God’s universe.  Yet He knew it would not always be so.  He knew how it would be spoiled and who would spoil it. God could have used that knowledge and chosen not to create the great angel Lucifer. Should He have done so He would have been forever a fraud.  Freedom of choice and self-determination is the foundation of love.  Angels would never have known that God’s government of love only existed because He used His foreknowledge to not create anyone who would choose to rebel.  God’s universe of peace and love would have been based on a lie.  Freedom would have been non-existent and thus love would be polluted.  God’s character would be flawed even if He were the only one to know.
 
Romans 16:25 is a fascinating verse.  It reads, “Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past.”   The mystery was sin would happen and God had a plan; the details of which were horrific.  It all involved Jesus stepping from His throne, becoming one of His created and submitting to a time of torture and death.
 
We think we are anxious for God to bring this to an end.  He is much more anxious than we.  But with extraordinary patience He endures our heartaches and pains and sufferings to make sure every issue, every question, every accusation, every doubt is clarified.  This sin thing must be settled for eternity.  It must never happen again because God only has one Son to give.  He gave.  He didn’t loan.

Yesterday we talked about catchy advertising and our Christian need to pay attention to something we could use to promote our Jesus.  We talked about Toyota’s “Let’s Go Places.”  Almost immediately I got an email from a friend that reminded me of Hellman’s Mayonnaise’s “Bring Out the Hellman’s and Bring Out the Best.”   That’s a great one.  If we bring out the Gospel we bring out the best.  There is not another religion in the world that comes close to offering what Jesus offers.  Christianity is the only faith that does not require some form of works.  It is the only religion where salvation is a gift of grace.  It’s the best.  If you are a member of a church that claims to be Christian and yet requires some work to be saved they are a sham.
 
May I add that Christianity rightly lived brings out the best in us.  We become a temple of the Holy Spirit.  “I in Christ and Christ in me” makes all the difference in the kind of person we are.  Little by little by growth we exchange the lusts of the flesh for the fruits of the Spirit.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”  Galatians 5.  We become quality people and not because we are so wonderful but because of the wonderful Being residing in us.
 
I am thinking of another product with the slogan “Breakfast of Champions.”  Now I wonder what product that could be.  When we watch people who do things really well we get a bit envious.  I’ve never met anyone who if having the chance would not choose to be a champion.  Jesus makes us so.

Huge corporations like car companies spend enormous amounts of money advertising.  Those commercials are the product of vast market research and are tested on groups of people before being broadcasted over television networks.  We, as Christians, spend large sums of money on evangelism.  We want to obey Jesus’ command at the end of Matthew and take the Good News to all the world.  We are in the marketing business.  It seems that it would make good sense to pay attention to the marketing strategies used by those huge companies.
 
Toyota’s most current slogan is “Let’s Go Places.”  It has a short snappy appeal.  We like to travel and see new sights and hear new sounds.  If we can make the connection of going places with Toyota all the better for Toyota.  Therefore, I want to plagiarize Toyota’s slogan and encourage you to be sure to make and keep your connection with Jesus because by doing so you will be “Going Places.”  Many of those places will be out of this world but many will be right here on planet earth.
 
Jesus will take you to a place of peace and rest from trying to save yourself.  He does that for you.  He will give you rest from guilt.  He might have a special task for you and thus guide you to a faraway place so you can do His will.  So often we speak of Christianity in terms of eternal life.  Let’s also add the idea of unlimited travel to places where no man has gone before.
 
Love Jesus and as Dr. Seuss said, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”  Heaven will be filled with travel agents. Can you imagine the number of frequent flier miles you will accumulate on a trip across just one galaxy?

The glow of the computer screen is the only light in my room this evening.  I am trying to write but a huge house fly is attracted to the light of the screen and I just can’t concentrate.  Every time I think I am ready to start writing it buzzes in circles and figure eights as it dive bombs the screen.  I am having malicious, murderous thoughts regarding this filthy invader from who knows where.  Now it is walking on the screen following the text as it comes up on the screen.  This is almost as bad as one being in your room at night while you are trying to fall asleep.  You are almost in dreamland when one lands on your face and promptly walks across your lips.  Yuck.
 
It is interesting what we get used to.  I have seen Masai children with flies lined up side by side drinking from their eyes.  The children were not concerned at all.  It is very much that way for all of us regarding bad habits or sins.  The first time we are tempted we are disturbed but should we entertain them or tolerate them being a part of our lives we soon grow unconcerned.  It is no big deal.  But the truth is they are bad habits or sins because they are harmful and just because we have grown accustomed to them does not mean they stop harming us.  Not only do we become accustomed to them we grow to love them as an old friend.
 
Be wise today.  Read Proverbs 1 and 2.  It is excellent counsel regarding making right choices and not allowing a persistent sin to nag you into compliance and lead you to ultimate destruction.  
 
Now if I can only kill this ….. fly!!