pathoflifedevotions Devotions, March

March 5, 2017

Forgiven

There is a deep healing in forgiveness.
In His home region of Capernaum, a crowd filled a house to hear Him speak of the Kingdom of God. Perhaps there were as many motives for being there as there were people: curiosity, despair, pain, desperation, boredom. Any crowd is a gathering of such emotions as well as one of names, faces, and stories.

Friends of a paralyzed man brought him to the door but not through it; it was blocked by people in the crowd, each one focused on his own situational paralysis with no thought for the invalid and his friends.

So they came through the roof.

This gained them the full attention of the Lord Jesus. He saw men of compassion, ingenuity, and organized strength. He saw their faith. He looked at their paralyzed friend and said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

That was nice but it wasn’t what they came for. They needed for Jesus to break the brokenness of their friend, to relieve him of his misery and them of their burden. The paralysis was real—it was present and unrelenting. Sins? Everybody had sins. Forgiven sins would not make their friend any lighter in their tiring arms.

He crossed a line.
Others in the crowd were surprised by the line this “son of Joseph and Mary” had crossed. Miracles were wonderful to see. They brought hope for more miracles and a faint confidence in the Jehovah they had heard about all their lives. But forgiving sins? That was a whole different issue. Miracles could be seen, like mental before-and-after-photos today. But sins, forgiven or otherwise, were spiritual things, blurry to the mind and invisible to the eye. Anyway, miracles were useful to people but sin forgiving was only God’s business and it was best left to Him.

“Which is easier,” Jesus asked, “To heal the body or to forgive sins?”

He had a way with questions that tended to silence the questioners.

“So that you may believe in me,” Jesus turned to the man on the mat and his friends still breathing hard from the work, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

He did exactly that, to the amazement of the crowd.

In this season of Lent, each of us tries to get to the real Jesus.  We need to touch Him, to see Him, and to be changed by Him.  We see His sufferings and beyond those we see His triumph–not just the crucifixion, but the empty cross and the forsaken tomb.

To look at the empty cross is like

  • Looking into the manger to see God in the flesh, or
  • reading the Gospels to see the Son of God at work, or
  • hearing the matchless music of His voice, or
  • beholding His glory in prayer and worship.

To do these things is to be changed. Not only are we forgiven—no longer guilty—but we are welcomed into His presence.

And we didn’t even have to come through the roof.

There is a deep healing in forgiveness.

Scriptures:
Mark 2:1-12 NIV
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
1 John 1:9-10 NIV
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, all I have to do is believe in You, to somehow touch the hem of Your garment with my faith and repentance and I will be forgiven of my sins. Paralyzed by disobedience no longer, I can rise, take up my life and walk. As I walk in this amazing forgiveness today, help me also be a forgiver of those who have struck at me. My freewill offering today is one of humility, repentance, and thanksgiving. I will know your deliverance in my heart and see it in my friends. Amen.

Song:
The Healing Waters
Words: H.H. Helmar; Music: L.L. Pickett

1. Oh, the joy of sins forgiv’n, Oh, the bliss the blood-washed know,
Oh, the peace akin to Heav’n, Where the healing waters flow.

Refrain:
Where the healing waters flow, Where the joys celestial glow,
Oh, there’s peace and rest and love, Where the healing waters flow!

2. Now with Jesus crucified, At His feet I’m resting low;
Let me evermore abide Where the healing waters flow.

Refrain

3. O, this precious, perfect love! How it keeps the heart aglow,
Streaming from the fount above, Where the healing waters flow.

Refrain

4. Oh, to lean on Jesus’ breast, While the tempests come and go!
Here is blessèd peace and rest, Where the healing waters flow.

Refrain

5. Cleansed from every sin and stain, Whiter than the driven snow,
Now I sing my sweet refrain, Where the healing waters flow.
Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, March

March 3, 2017

Foolishness

Seldom does “foolishness” sound a positive note. In musical terms the foolish song is usually dissonant or disjointed or pointless or pretentious, or simply silly.

But foolishness, like beauty, can be found “in the eye of the beholder.”
It is possible for the finest art or science or invention the hands and minds of men may produce to actually be only foolishness. When compared with the creativity and ingenuity of the Holy Spirit, “foolishness” is a predictable result of the arrogance of ignorant men and women. Foolishness may make millions of dollars, produce names and terms that become common usage and move whole civilizations to foolish pursuits wasting God-given talent and energy in what the poet Solomon called “vanity and vexation of spirit”—like eating the wind—an emptiness of soul and spirit.

And on the other side of the fence, the things of God are foolishness to the world.
This is not a hidden secret; the Bible comes right out and says it is so. So, what can we who are thought to be foolish because of the things we believe and know to be true do about this? Do we argue and with unbelievers to try and convince them of their foolishness?

For sure we must answer their questions; the Bible tells us to do that. But how do you answer someone who does not believe? If they don’t believe the Bible is the Word of God, no amount of scriptural evidence will convince them of the truth. What can we do?

Tell the Story!
My mentor, Dr. Robert E. Webber gave the best strategy I have heard for this ministry—Tell the Story! All spiritualties are based on a huge story, a meta-narrative, that tells the story of who made the world and why, why people exist, and what comes after death. (I recommend Bob’s last book, Who Gets to Narrate the World.)

During Lent we tell a tender and tragic part of the story of Redemption—the Passion of the Christ. To the world it is foolish to think of the trials and death of Jesus as anything other than another sad story of a brilliant young man who was so far ahead of his time, the world he challenged had to eliminate him.

Foolish it may be but this was not your everyday brilliant young man—

  • this was God come in the flesh.
  • This was sinless humanity here on the earth for the first time since Adam and Eve.
  • This story is about the greatest of injustices ever seen.

And it was no accident—it was the plan from the beginning.

  • He whom heaven worshiped would abandon the ivory palaces of another world to surface quietly in an obscure stable hewn from a rock in this world.
  • He who knew no sin of His own would drink deep of our many, many sins.
  • He would lay down His life for it was beyond the reach of the law, Jewish or Roman, to take it from Him.
  • Another tomb hewn from a rock could not hold Him for more than three days and He came into and out of death for all who are similarly destined for the grave.

Now He reigns, returned with scars to heaven’s throne, and there in Zion’s holy halls we worship Him forever.

Foolishness?

No. Truth!

Scriptures:
Ecclesiastes 2:17 KJV & AMP
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it.
1 Corinthians 1:20-31 ESV
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Prayers:
Lord Jesus, You promised that the truth would set us free. Let me walk in that freedom today for I believe in You and Your amazing story:
The Apostles’ Creed
BCP (Adapted by are SRP)

  • I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
  • I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
  • I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Song:
Tell Me the Story of Jesus
Words: Fanny Crosby Music: John Sweeney

1. Tell me the story of Jesus, Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious, Sweetest that ever was heard.
Tell how the angels in chorus Sang as they welcomed His birth,
“Glory to God in the highest! Peace and good tidings to earth.”
Tell me the story of Jesus, Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious, Sweetest that ever was heard.

2. Fasting alone in the desert, Tell of the days that are past,
How for our sins He was tempted, Yet was triumphant at last.
Tell of the years of His labor, Tell of the sorrow He bore.
He was despised and afflicted, Homeless, rejected and poor.
Tell me the story of Jesus, Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious, Sweetest that ever was heard.

3. Tell of the cross where they nailed Him, Writhing in anguish and pain;
Tell of the grave where they laid Him, Tell how He liveth again.
Love in that story so tender, Clearer than ever I see;
Stay, let me weep while you whisper, Love paid the ransom for me.
Tell me the story of Jesus, Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious, Sweetest that ever was heard.

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

February 17, 2017

Preaching

Jesus was a preacher.
Paul and the other disciples were preachers, too. They had a message to deliver to anyone who might listen. People did listen to Jesus; some of the scenes are recorded in the Bible.

  • He would talk with a loud voice when He needed to be heard by many people from the crest of a hill or from a boat in a lake.
  • He could also speak softly to a Nicodemas who came to Him secretly at night and to a shy, thirsty woman at a well in Samaria in the middle of the day.
  • Sometimes His sermon was a dialogue as friends asked sincere questions and enemies tried to trick Him with words.
  • It was possible to interrupt Him and change the subject but He could not be silenced until He was done with His preaching.

In the Power of the Holy Spirit
He did all this preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit, not from some inexhaustible personal strength.

  • He said that He preached what the Father gave Him to say.
  • Sometimes the Holy Spirit would reveal to Him what was happening in the hearts of His listeners and those secret things were preached to the crowd. Preaching and secrets do not go well together.
  • No one who heard Him had ever heard anyone like Him before. Some people in the crowd compared His preaching to that of the religious leaders they were used to hearing. It was brutal. “He is not like the others we hear—He speaks with authority!”

Authority also came with His hands and the commands of His voice.

  • Things that just don’t happen happened with a shouted command or with a fleeting touch. Afflictions undid themselves.
  • Demons departed to parts unknown with great haste.
  • The best minds of the day were left speechless, as if they had been struck as dumb as the dumb had been set free to speak.

His actions were unconventional to say the least.

  • He ate with sinners and crooks and women of the streets.
  • He spoke freely to Roman soldiers as if He understood their authority.
  • He was afraid of no one yet He was not threatening to those who sought Him out; children thronged Him with laughter and running little feet to always find His lap and a friendly hug.

His sermons came from life.
Life went on around Him when He preached the Good News and He incorporated the details of life into His sermons: agriculture, fishing, public prayer—both true and false—the marketplace, family life, all found a place in His repertoire of illustrations. He told great stories, full of memorable characters, high drama, and poignant moral lessons. Often His meaning was clear to those who heard Him and the impact of His presence somehow validated the things He said. At other times His sermons confounded the people so much that His disciples would ask for private explanations.

His prayer life was private.
He was known to pray, off by Himself before the break of day. Somehow this gave Him the strength He would need to fulfill each day’s mission: souls to be touched, bodies to be healed, comfort for the distressed, and rebukes for the fakers. It is safe to say that no one walked the earth the way Jesus did.

The Disciples
Paul and the other followers of Jesus preached and performed miracles in the name of Jesus for He was with them—in them—by the power of the Spirit of God.

  • They needed no show to gather a crowd.
  • They desperately sought to disappear into the story they told—they knew there was no power in their names or in the touch of their hands and certainly not in the sound of their voices.
  • Jesus had called them to preach and now He was continuing His preaching through them.

Whether with words or with deeds, let Jesus be the story we tell today. Let His truth be seen in the work of our hands and let His song be heard in the music of our lives.

Scriptures:
Luke 4:18-19 NIV
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Mark 1:38 NIV
Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, empower my life today to be a witness for You, a sermon preached in sweetness, in serenity, and in simplicity. May my words tell Your story, my actions illustrate Your life, and my attitudes reflect Your peace. You are my message today. Your praise is the song of my life. Holy Spirit, set my heart on fire with the truth about Jesus. As I live today, let me preach the Good News. Amen.

Song:
Our God Reigns
Words and Music: Leonard Smith

1. How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him
Who brings good news, good news,
Announcing peace, proclaiming news of happiness.
Our God reigns! Our God reigns!

Refrain:
Our God Reigns! Our God Reigns!
Our God Reigns! Our God Reigns!

2. He had no stately form, He had no majesty,
That we should be drawn to Him.
He was despised and we took no account of Him,
Yet now He reigns with the Most High.

Refrain

3. Out from the tomb He came with grace and majesty,
He is alive, he is alive.
God loves us so, see here His hands, His feet, His side.
Yes, we know, He is alive.

Refrain
Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 29

Calvary

The wrinkled face of the earth offers many hills, from smooth, worn, grassy mounds to rugged, sharp, barren crags. The most prominent hills are given names so references to them are clearly set forth. Mt. Calvary was such a hill—the Place of the Skull. It must have reminded onlookers of death—a wicked apparition possessing the broken rocks like a doomed soul tortured by demons.

Calvary was chosen for executions by the Roman authorities and thus it was the workplace of the Roman soldiers. Like flies drawn to a dung heap the scavenger birds circled above the Place of the Skull, riding the thermals that boiled upward from the sun-heated rocks at the pinnacle.

It was all so routine. There were so many crimes against the state; the people in this corner of the Empire were a rebellious lot. They returned any kindness offered by a professional soldier with sneers and curses.

But today the duty on the ugly mountain of death would prove anything but routine. Three criminals, three crosses, and a crowd of onlookers climbed the hill today. Some of the people mourned—unusual for rebels and thieves—and other jeered, hurling insults at one of the victims. They put Him, the object of both the grief and the derision, on the center cross.

None of the men put up any kind of resistance. They were exhausted from the ordeal of getting to and up the hill bound to the crosspiece upon which He would die. It was a nasty business, but the soldiers had seen all there was to see many times before. They made quick work of the hammers and the nails and the raising of the crosses.

The Man on the center cross said things—that was unusual—and the things He said were even more strange:

  • something about forgiveness,
  • a prayer to His father,
  • something about His mother, and strangest of all—
  • “It is finished!”

The last thing He said was a shout—how could a man that weak have the strength, even as He breathed His last?

Wind and clouds and lightning and crashing thunder followed as the day grew as dark as the watch in the middle of the night. The earth trembled in protest to this execution and even as the tremors ran like sea waves through the rocks and sands on the hill, Jesus slumped in death.

It was finished, at least for now.

Scripture:
Mark 15:25-26 NKJV
Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, on this day, I stop the contemplate Calvary. Before I rush into the day, I pause to remember. Oh, I wasn’t really there but, as the old song said, “I’ve been to Calvary. I can say I’ve seen the Lord. I’ve been to Calvary through the witness of His Word.” Thank You for going only where You could go. Thank You for doing what only You could do. Thank You loving people so much—for loving me so much. Thank You for finishing the work of redemption, for it is finished—salvation is here! Your Kingdom has come in our hearts! The sin barrier is down so people and God can talk again. Into Calvary-cleansed hearts the Holy Spirit has come to abide—to live in us! Today we remember that horrendous hill, the Place of the Skull, the domain of death as the place where live begins again. For the glory of the Father!
Amen.

Song:
Calvary Isn’t just another Hill
Words and Music: J.D. and Steve Phifer

1. Oh how true the story told of Calvary,
Where with pain and blood Christ purchased you and me.
And no matter how the world at large may feel,
Calv’ry isn’t just another hill.

Refrain:
Calv’ry isn’t just another hill.
It’s the place of submission to God’s will.
Dying there Jesus stamped redemption’s seal.
Calv’ry isn’t just another hill.

2. Now each day I make my way to Calvary.
There a crimson stream is flowing full and free.
That can cleanse your soul, your mind and body heal.
Calv’ry isn’t just another hill.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 17

Reflection

Reflection may not flash and shine like many activities that catch the human eye, but it is a demanding and rewarding part of worship.

Every day is a gift from God and is a day for reflection, for thinking deeply about life and the author of life and for fully engaging the imagination God gave us for just this purpose—the contemplation of the divine. Reflection in prayer does not happen by accident; it is a conscious choice involving specific exclusions and inclusions. The worshiper must close his/her mind to many things and open every window in his/her heart to everything God has.

Reflection is the process of intense study. Another word might by contemplation. Biblical words include meditate, consider, behold. Reflection begins and ends with Jesus. Just as He is the center-holder in heaven’s throne room, Jesus must be the center of our reflection. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in both private and public worship is to help us center our hearts on Jesus, moving other personalities and other considerations to the periphery.

  • If we wonder about the nature of God, we should think on Jesus; He has revealed God to us in terms we can understand.
  • If we are to contemplate the justice and judgment of God, we must reflect on what Jesus said and did in this life.
  • If we desire to really care for people, we should enter into the Love of Jesus so that we can experience it and pass it on others.
  • If we want to be wise, we must study the Master’s every word, parable, prophesy, and prayer. As the Old Covenant says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

As we read the scriptures, the contemplation of Jesus and the saving acts of God must be the lenses through which we read every account. We must hear the name Jesus every time we read the name “Lord.” When we read the gospels we must imagine ourselves in every scene:

  • We are standing in every crowd who hears Him speak. We can almost taste the fish and bread from the little boy’s lunch.
  • From the mountaintop we hear Him present the constitution of the New Covenant, the world’s most famous sermon.
  • We are in the shadows when Nicodemus conducts his nocturnal interview about the new birth.
  • We are seeking shade in the heat of the day at the well in Samaria where New Covenant worship was introduced to the world through the questions of a wicked woman.
  • In the book of Acts we can accompany the Apostles on every journey and we can consider every letter in the New Testament to be addressed to us.

Today, as you worship in the Secret Place, reflect on Who Jesus is. His presence will gently flow through every window in your heart that you open to Him.

Scriptures:
Psalm 119:15-16 NKJV
I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
Psalm 27:4-5 NKJV
…one thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NKJV
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Prayer:
From the Book of Common Prayer
Before Worship
O Almighty God, who pours out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and of supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to You, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship You in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Song:
Think about His Love
Words and Music: Walt Harrah

Think about His love, think about His goodness,
Think about His grace that’s brought us through.
For as high as the heavens above,
so great is the measure of our Father’s love.
Great is the measure of our Father’s love.

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

For more on this topic go to http://stevephifer.com/thinking-carefully-about-jesus/