Follow-up remarks

Earlier this month, I reported how I had endured another loss; a friend both of the Bauer family and of my father.  This loss was a painful reminder of mortality.  In that blog, I mentioned how I had heard a sermon from Jonathan Evans where he relayed that the Dallas Cowboys had faced a painful loss; Jerry Brown Jr. had tragically passed away at age 25 from a car accident in 2012.  Jonathan stated that, as chaplain of the Cowboys, he decided to change what he was originally going to share with the team, and he decided to share the gospel instead.  It dawned on me that someone may wonder what “the gospel” even means.  Thus, I began to map out a blog with these questions: 1) What is the gospel?  2) How does one obtain it?  3) What difference does it make?  So that’s where we are going today.

#1: What is the gospel?

The gospel literally means “good news”.  God created us to be in an intimate relationship with Him, but that was wrecked by sin.  We humans are sinners, both by inbred nature, and by personal choice.  Greg Laurie once described sin as missing the mark.  One archer may come closer to the bulls-eye, but we all can’t hit it perfectly.  But Jesus, God in human flesh, lived the perfect life we could never live.  He died a bloody death on a cross as payment for all of humanity’s sin; and then He rose again, unequivocally proving His divinity as God.  Because of Jesus and His death and resurrection, humanity can be restored to a relationship with God.

#2: How does one obtain it?

The truth of the gospel is powerful and profound.  One does not obtain the gospel message through trying harder to be good or practicing works of merit.  No, it’s through simple faith and trust in Jesus.  The Bible says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).  We can have our sins forgiven, washed away, and remembered against us no more.  That really is good news!

#3: What difference does it make?

Someone may be wondering what all of this means for a person today.  Sure, it’s great to have sins forgiven and assurance of Heaven one day, but what about everyday life today?  There are multiple answers that could be given here, but my answer is it makes all the difference in the world, even on a daily basis.

Life can be painful.  We can be thrown curveballs we never thought possible.  For example, as I was preparing this blog today, I was thrown a curveball regarding the health of a loved one.  Health is so fragile.  And I’m learning that it’s worse to see someone you love sick than to actually be sick yourself.  A few hours later, I found myself sitting in an emergency care clinic, waiting on the diagnosis.  That venue is just dreadful because your mind can race with hypothetical situations, the dread of the uncertainty, and wondering what is going to happen next.  In the midst of all this, I had to remind myself, more than once, to practice what my pastor had just presented at church.  He had said, in the midst of the stress, fear, and uncertainty of life, Jesus Christ has this offer:

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).  

I’m not making myself the hero here, but I can attest to you that there is rest for a weary soul, through Jesus.  This particular health challenge isn’t over, but my point here is simply this: there is nowhere else to go in the midst of the crushing blows of life but to Jesus.  Where else can you go?  Stress eating?  A bottle of alcohol?  Illegitimate sexual encounters?  Pornography?  Drugs?  All of these leave you empty, longing for more.  Nothing else makes sense but running to the God of the universe whose name is Jesus.    

Kevin 

Daniel in Babylon: "Remember who you are"

We’ve seen in the opening verses of Daniel that the Lord allowed Jerusalem to be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  Daniel and his three friends – Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah – were specifically mentioned as those chosen to be indoctrinated in the ways of Babylon.  Daniel 1:7 says the boys were given new names.  Daniel was called Belteshazzar; Hananiah was called Shadrach; Mishael was referred to as Meshach; Ahariah was named Abed-Nego.  Why is this important?  Why are we given the detail of a name change?

When I read this verse, my mind goes to a storyline from the TV show “Alias” starring Jennifer Garner as CIA agent Sydney Bristow.  It ran from 2001 to 2006.  I’ve seen every episode; I certainly don’t endorse all that was presented, but I still enjoyed this TV show. The conclusion of season 2 of “Alias” presented arguably the greatest cliffhanger I have ever witnessed.  Sydney has an epic fight; she wins, but she is so exhausted from the struggle that she is rendered unconscious.  When she awakens, things have changed.  The love of her life, Michael Vaughn, had married someone else.  It's Vaughn who drops the bombshell: since that fight, everyone thought she was dead; and also: two years have passed!  

In season 3, we finally learn the truth of what had happened: a dangerous organization known as The Covenant had apparently faked her death.  And then they subsequently attempted to brainwash her that she was actually an assassin named Julia Thorne.  Etched in my memory banks is the ominous declaration The Covenant operative delivers to Sydney: “The sooner you accept that you are no longer who you were, the easier this will be.  Sydney Bristow is gone.” 

While it was much more dramatic in “Alias”, this was essentially what was happening to Daniel and his friends.  Nebuchadnezzar was trying to get them to forget who they were, and the lives they were living.  You see, there is something in a name.  Names matter because they carry identity.  Just as Sydney Bristow’s name carries with it identification to the CIA, so Daniel and his companion’s names carries identification to God. 

By the way, just so I don’t leave you hanging, Sydney Bristow didn’t succumb to The Covenant’s insidious plot.  One memorable scene of this saga is when Sydney, while seeking answers for what happened to her during those two years, actually kills the man who had previously tried to brainwash her.  It was entirely out of self-defense, and when she realized he knew something, she tried to interrogate him.  But, in his last moments, all he sputtered out was, “You were my favorite; you never broke.”  For months, he had tried to condition her, but Sydney always held on to the truth.

Daniel and his friends held on to the truth as well.  We see this right here in Daniel chapter 1.  Where the boys won’t partake of the king’s delicatessens; a stand that makes Ashpenaz, the one they directly answered to, fear for his own life (verse 10).  But I actually want leave that part of the text until next time.  Many other examples can also be cited. 

For instance, in Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a golden statue and demands that everyone bow down and worship it.  But the boys courageously tell the king that they will not do so.  The furious king orders them to be thrown into a fiery furnace as punishment; in one of the great scenes of the entire Bible, God miraculously spares their lives from that fiery death.  In a public decree, Nebuchadnezzar ends up acknowledging God’s mighty power; “Because,” he concluded, “there is no other God who can deliver like this” (Daniel 3:29).  By Daniel 6, Daniel’s faith in the Lord is so recognized that another king, King Darius, refers to Daniel as the “servant of the living God…whom you serve continually” (verse 20). 

To conclude, I recently heard a sermon by Jonathan Evans, son of Tony Evans.  His words led me to modify what I was originally going to end with today.  He announced that one of his favorite movies is “The Lion King”; a film he called “powerful.”  You know the story: Simba – the main star – was told a damaging lie by Scar, the villain, regarding the death of Mufasa, Simba’s father.  It was so damaging that Simba left his homeland, and he lived without purpose and responsibility for decades.  “He started thinking this is the way of life,” Jonathan continued.  “But then his father came back to remind him… ‘You need to remember who you are.’  And then it reverberates, ‘remember, remember, remember,’ that’s when I got goose bumps.”

In the 1994 version of the movie, Mufasa’s words are potent: “You have forgotten who you are, and so forgotten me…you are more than what you have become.”  And then that line: “Remember who you are.”  Simba does remember who he is; as Jonathan Evans puts it, he remembers he is “a child of the king.”  This inspires Simba to face the pain of his past, and to confront (and ultimately defeat) Scar.  I took this as an encouraging challenge; I am to live in step with my name or identity – a child of God, or better stated: a child of the King.

Kevin

"These days on Earth are short; they are numbered"

I’ve chosen to deviate from Daniel again because I come to you reeling from another loss.  A friend – both of my dad’s and the rest of the Bauer family – passed away last week.  This came as a quite a shock because this individual was younger than my dad.  This loss seemed to reopen the wound of losing my father all over again.  I say this for several reasons, but primarily because the day of his homecoming to Heaven was close to the day Dad passed away 6 years ago.  Needless to say, I have been thrown for a loop emotionally and physically as a result of this news.

Years ago, I heard Rebecca St. James make a statement; I never knew just how right she was until I began walking through my own valley of the shadow of death.  She said, “These days on Earth are short; they are numbered.  Let’s seize the day – let’s be radical for God.”  

One of the gifts I received for my 40th birthday was a collection of sermons by Jonathan Evans – the son of Tony Evans.  I’ve been blessed by the life and ministry of Jonathan.  Here’s a man who dreamed of playing in the NFL, but God had other dreams for him.  He wisely submitted to God’s plan, and the Lord has used him for His glory. 

In one of the sermons, he states how one of the hardest times in his role as chaplain of the Dallas Cowboys was when Jerry Brown Jr. had passed away in a car accident.  What are you supposed to tell a shocked, heartbroken team?  So many players showed up at chapel who had never even been there before, because as Jonathan put it: “When mortality kicks in, there’s nowhere else to go.”  That statement made me think of the words of Peter in John 6.  Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life” (verse 68).  Jonathan went on to share how he changed what he was going to originally going to deliver in that chapel service to a gospel presentation; several gave their lives to Jesus.

To conclude, I know the subject matter of death is uncomfortable.  We don’t like to think about it.  All I’m trying to say is if there are important spiritual decisions to be made, they shouldn’t be put off.  Why not?  Why can’t we just coast?  Because only God knows what tomorrow holds.

Kevin