On "staying awake!"

Today I was reading the words of Jesus in Mark 13 where he is talking to his disciples about his second coming. He tells them that no man knows the day or the hour, so we must be on guard and keep awake. He warns them (and us) that he could come suddenly and find us asleep, so once again he says, "...I say to all of you, 'Stay awake!'"

Ever since my late teens, I have believed that we are in the last days. However, I don't believe that Jesus will come in the next hour or day or month. I am NOT looking for the pre-trib rapture (see one of my posts on that subject), but I AM looking for the 2nd coming of the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). 

We read in Revelation 16 about three major armies coming from the north, the east and the south to converge in the battle of Armageddon, located in the valley of Megiddo, located in Israel, I see that this easily points to the armies of Russia, China and the Arab states coming together to destroy Israel. I believe that this could possibly happen in my lifetime. 

Until then, what must you and I do to stay awake? What does that mean? Do you down a lot of "No Doze" or Red Bull, or drink lots of coffee? Of course not--that's not the kind of "awake" of which Jesus is speaking . He's talking about staying connected to our brothers and sisters, focusing on loving one another, serving one another, praying for the saints, looking for ways to honor one another, hating evil, loving what is good, showing hospitality, contributing to the needs of the saints, not repaying evil for evil, doing what is honorable in the sight of everyone, etc. Read more at Romans 12:9-21.

Staying awake doesn't necessarily mean immersing ourselves in church activities. Much of our church activity can be an escape from being "in the world, but not of it." I think Jesus might want us to be involved with something like Big Brothers or Big Sisters, the Salvation Army, Teen Challenge, a local hospice, going to your local prison or jail, serving families of prisoners, or helping the poor, etc.

I think "staying awake" means doing what Jesus would do, hanging out with sinners, loving them and serving them. After all, the Bible says that Jesus was "a friend of sinners." Can the same be said of me or you? Do your non-Christian co-workers want to hang out with you, or you with them? Most Christians I know here in the Bible-belt don't have too many non-Christian friends, and the thought of going to a bar is anathema (like being "damned to hell"). But personally, the Jesus that I worship would go to a bar and be very comfortable and at home there, even as he was at the Wedding at Cana where he performed his first miracle. 

Even as I write this, I am convicted and fall far short of the mark. I'm not doing most of what I've written, at this present time. In the past, yes--but right now, no. So I need to take my own words to heart. I need to focus on what it means for me to "stay awake" where I live. Grow where you are planted. Tend to the garden where you live  

Last of all, for us to "stay awake" as believers, I think we need to love the Jews and Israel. We need to pray for Israel. We as believers need to seek the salvation of the Jews--not to try to turn them into good little Christians (which has been our self-imposed stumbling block and the major reason why most Jews don't want to hear about Jesus). We need to talk to them about the Messiah, Yeshua, who is their Messiah, the chosen and anointed one. We need to explain to them Isaiah 53 that the Messiah has come. He was born according to the prophet Micah in Bethlehem, and he was sacrificed for our sins and raised to life on the third day. We need to invite them to become "completed Jews," not Christians. I'm not so sure I want to be called "Christian" so why would a Jew want to be? I'm more comfortable with being a follower of Jesus (Yeshua). Jews need to be introduced to Yeshua, their Messiah and Savior.

Paul writes in Ephesians 3 that the great mystery of the ages is that Jews and Gentiles are now members of the same body. They are One in Christ. For sometime now, I've thought that Islam which is a thorn in the side of both Jews and Christians, will not be overcome or arrested in its worldwide expansion until one thing happens: A oneness between Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus, the Messiah and Our Savior. 

For starters, as believers, we need to be reading the Old Testament because Jesus is found on every page of the Old Testament (Luke 24:25-27). Timothy became a believer, not because he read the Gospels, but through reading the Old Testament scriptures which made him wise unto salvation (there was NO New Testament for Timothy to read, he was saved through the Old Testament scriptures). If your pastor doesn't regularly preach from the Old Testament, you need to ask him, "Why? Because "All scripture is inspired of God" and you can't understand the New Testament if you don't know the Old Testament. You can't understand what the John the Baptist's statement, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" means if you haven't read Leviticus. You can't really know what Paul means in Romans 4 about Abraham being justified by faith if you haven't read Genesis.

The writer of Hebrews begins by saying "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets..." That's the Old Testament. In Hebrews 3:7-10, it says for us to not harden our hearts as they did in the rebellion on the day in the wilderness." What rebellion? What day? If you haven't read Numbers, you'll be clueless. How did they harden their hearts in Numbers? in the wilderness? Again, I repeat, if you aren't reading the Old Testament, you'll be fairly clueless as to what is really being said in the New Testament because the Old Testament is the key that unlocks the New Testament. 

As the Church, we need to be praying for our Jewish friends and neighbors and loving them and looking for opportunities to serve them and present the Good News that the Messiah has come! We need to visit and support Israel which basically is hated by the entire world, including many in the U.S. and some in the church. That should tell you something--that Israel is hated by so many--which to me reveals that Israel is holy and set-apart by God and the world is trying as always, to destroy that which belongs to God because they hate God and anything that God loves, namely Israel. 

When we start to reach out to Jews and to Israel, we'll begin to see the hold that Islam has on this world broken and weakened. We will also be that much closer to the second coming of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 

Turning Water Into Wine: God loves a party!

In the Gospel of John, chapter 2, Jesus attends a wedding in Cana, about 8 miles from Nazareth. Jesus' mother is already there, and as with all weddings at that time in Israel, they lasted seven days and the hosts invited as many friends and family as possible. To run out of wine at a wedding was a major social disgrace. The host was supposed to have enough wine for all seven days.

When Renee and I were married at the Brockport Presbyterian Church in Western NY in 1979, our wedding did not last seven days and we had no alcohol at our wedding. ZERO, unless you count the alcohol that some of our guests discretely brought in undercover. We should have invited Jesus to do something similar, since he was at our wedding. He could have made it special just like he did here in Cana. Many of our guests (not from our local church) felt awkward and ill at ease because of no alcohol.

In retrospect, I believe we did a disservice to many of our guests by not serving alcohol; we didn't even serve champagne for the toast. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not pushing alcohol. At this point in time, I seldom drink, but if I'm at a wedding, I'd probably have some champagne or a glass of wine. The issue for me is those who try to make the Bible say something that it doesn't say. The issue for me is those who paint God's character as one who is a celestial killjoy. Some of the Christians who abstain from alcohol and everything else look like they've been baptized in lemon juice. They are not fun people--in fact, some of them don't even know how to have fun or to enjoy a wedding or a party.

Here at this wedding in Cana, Jesus' mother asks  him to do something. There were six stone jars there which were used for purification rites and held 20-30 gallons of water each. Jesus commands that each jar be filled with water and then he tells the servants to draw out the water and take it to the master of ceremonies. In John 2:9-10, we read

"The person in charge tasted the water that had become wine. He didn't know where it had come from, although the servers who had poured the water knew. The person in charge called the groom and said to him, “Everyone serves the best wine first. When people are drunk, the host serves cheap wine. But you have saved the best wine for now.” 

I want you to notice what the MC (host) said to the bridegroom. He says that usually at weddings, they serve the best wine first and then after people are drunk (did you notice that--Jesus is at a wedding where people were drunk, and he created wine for people to drink who were already drunk?) the host would serve the cheap Red Mountain wine which no one would even notice because they taste buds and senses were dulled. But now the host is astounded because he says they've saved the best wine for last. This is the wine that Jesus had just created in his first miracle.

Here's what I want you to see in Jesus' first miracle: God is no killjoy! He loves weddings and parties and does not have a problem with people drinking alcohol.

In Matthew 11:19, we see that Jesus did NOT abstain and he was considered a drunkard by his critics. God made everything and everything is good, including wine. Paul tells us that nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. The problem with those who argue for abstaining because alcohol is being used wrongly is that it's not a consistent argument. Sex is abused and misused and we don't tell married couples to abstain because there is sexual perversion. We don't get rid of sex, but instead we use it rightly. When we see people engaging in gluttony and overeating to the point of obesity, we don't forbid eating food and we don't abstain from eating food including desserts.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that "whatever you do, do it to the glory of God." Men have abused all kinds of things including children and women and we don't get rid of them, do we?

Proverbs 3:9-10 (GW) 

⁹ Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the first and best part of all your income. ¹⁰ Then your barns will be full, and your vats will overflow with fresh wine.

Here's what God tells his people to do after they've worked hard, paid their bills, paid their tithe, taken care of the poor--in Deuteronomy 14:25-26 (GW)

²⁵ If so, exchange the tenth part of your income for silver. Take the silver with you, and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. ²⁶ Use the silver to buy whatever you want: cattle, sheep, goats, wine, liquor—whatever you choose. Then you and your family will eat and enjoy yourselves there in the presence of the LORD your God. 

Here's the problem in some Christian circles today, especially here in the Bible Belt, we selectively take different issues which are debatable and turn them into "forbidden sins." We don't like cigarettes and smoking so that's a sin because it harms your body--never mind that these same legalists usually carry more weight than is healthy for their "temple." We don't like certain music and it's sinful unless you can buy it at your local Christian bookstore. We don't go to movies because they are evil and sinful, but if the movie is "Christian" or made by some church in Alabama, then we can give ourselves permission to darken the doors of our local cinema complex.

There are two gospels at work in the Christian church today: One is a gospel of works where we achieve a degree of righteousness based on what we do or don't do. We are "good Christians" if we don't drink, smoke, chew, go to movies, watch TV, etc. The other gospel which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ says that we cannot attain His righteousness by any of these legalistic "dos and don'ts." Only the blood of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross can make us righteous and holy.

If you don't drink, be blessed but don't look down on those who drink--don't fall into the trap of classifying them as "lost sinners" because they frequent a bar or drink wine with their meals.Otherwise, you become like the Pharisees who called Jesus and his disciples drunkards.