January 10, 2014
“And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’” (Deuteronomy 25:10)
One Law of Moses stated that if a man died and had no son his widow could go to one of his relatives and ask him to marry her. If he refused to marry her she could subpoena him to court. If he affirmed that he was not willing to marry her, they had a ceremony: before the court she spit in his face and removed his sandal. He was then disgraced and boycotted in business. The man who obeyed this law, however, was called “a kinsman redeemer.”
This law is the background for one of the most beautiful love stories in all of inspired and secular literature: the book of Ruth. As a widow Ruth has the right to ask a man named Boaz to marry her. Although they meet and he shows her he loves her and would love to redeem her, she has to ask him to be her redeemer.
When we understand the ways this story relates to our redemption we will realize that we must personally ask the risen, living Christ to be our Kinsman Redeemer. To redeem Ruth, Boaz pays off all her debts and marries her. Our Redeemer pays all our sin debt through His death on the cross. Then, through His resurrection He enters into a relationship with us the New Testament describes as a marriage to Him.
We also read in the New Testament that He is standing at the door of our life showing us, like Boaz, that He loves us and would love to redeem us. Like Ruth we must have a “romance in reverse” individually proposing to Him, asking Him to be our personal Redeemer.
Have you ever done that?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 7, 2014
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” (Deuteronomy 6: 6, 7 NKJV)
Have you discovered that parenting is emphasized in the Bible? The Bible mentions mothers more than 300 times. Since God assigns the spiritual nurture of children primarily to fathers, the Bible mentions fathers more than 1,400 times. Children are mentioned just under 6,000 times, which shows how important they are to God.
This teaching method of Moses in Deuteronomy rests on four foundations. The first one is responsibility. Moses gives the responsibility for the education of children to parents. There are 8,760 hours in a year. Since children receive about thirty minutes of instruction in the average Sunday school class, if that is their only source of spiritual education, they are only spending .02% (one-fifth of one percent) of their time being spiritually nurtured. If you send them to a Christian School they still spend 87.3% of their time with you. Can you see why Moses gave this responsibility to parents?
The second foundation is revelation. We are to teach the revealed Word of God to our children. The third foundation is relationship. You cannot apply this teaching method without having a relationship with your children. The fourth foundation is reality. These words must dwell in your heart and life before you teach them to your children. Your children will remember your example far more than your teaching.
Is your parenting built squarely on these four solid foundations?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 3, 2014
“Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NLT)
According to Moses, we should realize that life is like a game of Monopoly. We all begin with the same amount of currency. When we begin a new year we are given 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week and 8,760 hours a year. You often hear the remark: “I haven’t got time for that!” This implies that we are not given the same amount of time. It would be more accurate to say: “I don’t value that activity enough to spend some of my time in that way.”
The dictionaries tell us a value is “that quality of any certain thing by which it is determined by us to be more or less important, useful, profitable and therefore desirable.” We all have a set of values. We spend our time on the things we consider important, useful, profitable and desirable.
When we ask God to teach us how to spend our time He will challenge us to consider the values of Jesus Christ. One of the many reasons He became flesh and lived among us for 33 years was to show us how to live. He did that by presenting us with a set of values. As we read the four Gospels and follow Jesus every time He models and teaches a value, that spiritual discipline will revolutionize the way we spend our time.
I challenge you to ask God, “How should I spend my time?” I also challenge you to let the values of Christ revolutionize the way you spend your time in 2014.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Disciples of Jesus, eternal values, faith, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, New Year Resolutions, Psalm 90, spiritual wisdom, Wisdom | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
December 31, 2013
“It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)
Have you ever considered these questions about your life: what it is, how much life you have, and why it is so valuable? I challenge you to study all the metaphors the Bible uses to answer these questions. According to James, our life is a little thing like the vapor of smoke that appears and then disappears. Now you see it – now you don’t.
Moses tells us that we spend our years like a tale that is told and forgotten (Psalm 90:9 KJV). In his culture people would sit around a fire and tell tales. After a fourth or fifth tale was told nobody would probably remember the second or third tale told in that setting. That is our life according to Moses.
Biblical metaphors tell us that our life is brief, short and like a dream when we awake. We are given 70 or perhaps 80 years and they are full of trouble. We are to learn to value our days and receive wisdom from God about what we should do with them.
Another metaphor tells us our life is uncertain. Our life is like a thread that is about to be cut by the scissors of the Weaver. God is the one with the scissors and we do not control when He will cut that thread. So, for us life is uncertain.
Jesus tells us He can join our little, transitory, uncertain life to Him and to God by faith and make our life eternal and everlasting.
What is your life? It is the opportunity to make that transaction with Christ and live for Him. Have you made that faith transaction?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
December 27, 2013
“Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.” (Romans 8:28, J.B. Phillips)
“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines of never failing skill
He fashions up His bright designs and works His sovereign will.
You fearful saints fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread
Are rich with mercy and will break in blessings on your heads.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense but trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter, and He will make it plain.”
If you ask me for my favorite hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” by William Cowper is my answer. If you ask me for my favorite verse of Scripture I will point you to Romans 8:28 which summarizes my faith journey with Christ. As we approach the end of 2013 and cross the threshold into 2014 the combination of this verse of Scripture and the lines of this hymn express the thoughts of my head as I lay in my bed.
At this time of the year I like to look back with reflection, look in with a time of confession, and look ahead with resolution. Applying the three perspectives these words can reveal what God has done, what God is doing, and what God wants to do in our lives and in our world through us.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: confession, faith, hymns, New Year's resolutions, Romans 8:28, spiritual perspective, Trusting God, William Cowper | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
December 24, 2013
“There are three things that will last — faith, hope, and love…” (1Corinthians 13:13)
When Paul tells us there are three things that will endure, have you ever wondered why one of them is hope? The other two are love and faith: love will last because God is love, and faith is the way we know God. But why is hope one of the three?
Hope is the conviction that something good exists in this world and we are going to experience it. God plants hope in the hearts of people and it keeps them going. While studying psychology in college we analyzed the 25,000 suicides in 1952. Psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and sociologists determined that those people committed suicide because they lost hope. That same year a man committed suicide by jumping off the top of my dormitory which was located where Hope Street ended in front of the Los Angeles Public Library. The newspaper reported that he jumped to his death at the end of Hope Street. That accentuated what we learned in the classroom, big time!
Tonight is Christmas Eve. Millions of people will gather in families and extended families to celebrate, but many millions more will be alone. Pastors and those who work with people know that life is unspeakably sad and millions are hope-challenged because they have experienced nothing good.
In his famous carol Philips Brooks wrote that the hopes and fears of all the years were met in Bethlehem when Christ was born. God intersected human history that night but what the Bible calls the blessed hope of the church and the only hope for the world is that God is going to do that again when Christ returns.
Are you guilty of criminal negligence because you are not sharing that hope with hope-challenged people?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
December 20, 2013
“I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all people!” (Luke 2:10)
A great man named Tim Hansel lived every day with excruciating pain. He wrote in his book, You Gotta Keep Dancing, that pain and suffering are inevitable but misery is optional. That is true for a Spirit controlled disciple of Jesus. Tim also wrote “I can choose to be joyful.”
Joy is one of the nine fruits of the Spirit the Apostle Paul wrote about in his letter to the Galatians (5: 22, 23). As evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives joy could be paraphrased “happiness that does not make good sense.” The derivation of the word “happiness” has to do with what happens to us. But this joy, which is the fruit of the Spirit living in us, is not controlled by what happens to us. That is why we say it does not make good sense, especially to secular non-spiritual people. In the very short letter the Apostle Paul wrote from prison to his favorite church, the Philippians, he used the word joy 17 times!
While appearing to the shepherds the angels explained why their declaration would bring great joy to all people: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
Great joy came because the One born is the Savior. He is the Christ, which is the Greek way of saying the Messiah. And He is to be our Lord. Joy came because He gives the Holy Spirit to those who follow Him. This joy is intended for all people, including you.
Are you choosing to be joyful, anyway?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: A Christmas Word, Christmas, experiencing joy, faith, happiness, Jesus Christ, joy, Luke 2:10, Saint Paul, Tim Hansel | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
December 17, 2013
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a candlestick, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
I love Christmas lights! Where I live in Williamsburg, Virginia, one of the signature features of Christmas decorating is using white lights. We put our Christmas tree up for all of December because we enjoy the white lights so very much.
A very significant Christmas gift I received is a book I wrote this year that was delivered from the printer on the third of December. It is called Marketplace Disciples. The thrust of this book’s message highlights the mandate Jesus gave His disciples to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. A missionary statesman said that if the disciples of Jesus stick together with a fortress mentality, we are like manure. We stink! But if we get spread around we do a lot of good.
The risen living Christ uses the fact that we need to make a living to get the salt out of the salt shaker and the candles He has lighted on candlesticks of His choosing. We should impact the marketplace because we are authentic disciples of Jesus Christ. The values of Christ should revolutionize our ethics and the way we do business. That is why today most evangelism takes place in the marketplace.
When you see the beautiful Christmas lights this year remember that Jesus said His light flowing through us cannot be hidden.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Christmas, Christmas lights, Christmas tree, Disciples of Jesus, evangelism, faith, Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:14-16 | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
December 14, 2013
“Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died… that person shall be cut off from Israel.” (Numbers 19:13)
In 1970 a medical doctor named S. I. McMillen wrote a book entitled None of These Diseases. In his book Dr. McMillen highlighted practices Moses mandated like quarantines and sterilization of medical instruments. As quoted above, if a person had contact with a dead body (and in other verses someone who was sick), they were considered unclean for seven days and quarantined from the rest of the population.
Dr. McMillen referenced the discovery of a low percentage of ovarian cancer at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City, which research traced to the fact that Jewish husbands were circumcised as mandated by Moses. This led to the common practice of circumcising male babies. At the end of each chapter this doctor raises the question: did Moses scoop medical science by thousands of years, or did he have a revelation from God as he claimed?
This should convince us that the Bible is in fact the Word of God. And it should inspire us to follow the wise counsels of the Bible ourselves and then share them with others. As a young pastor I was mentored by Dr. Henry Brandt, a Christian clinical psychologist. He encouraged me to use the wise counsels in the Bible as I helped those in my congregation who had many problems.
As I did I found the Bible to be filled with counseling for the problems people had with worry, stress, personal peace, prayer, guidance, love, marriage, the dynamic to cope and other issues. The best marriage counseling in the world is in the Bible.
Do you believe you can trust the counseling you find in the Bible?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
December 10, 2013
“… Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” (Numbers 21:9)
When the children of Israel complained and griped about Moses God showed how He felt about the gripers. He sent snakes to bite them. (Some pastors may wish they could do the same.) Then God in His mercy directed Moses to erect a pole at the center of the camp with a bronze serpent on top of it. The good news was proclaimed: If any of the snake-bitten gripers would get to the center of the camp and look at the bronze serpent they would be healed of their snakebites.
Some of them said that defied all the laws of medical science and they died of their snakebites. Others said it didn’t make sense but it was the only hope they had. With help they somehow got to the center of the camp and looked at the bronze serpent on the pole. When they looked, they were healed and lived!
This story takes on much greater meaning when Jesus makes His most dogmatic declaration: He is God’s only Son, God’s only Solution and God’s only Savior (John 3: 1-21). As He told a Rabbi named Nicodemus about Moses lifting that serpent in the wilderness, it is a picture of something in the future. If we will look to Jesus on His cross with faith we will be healed of our sin problem.
Jesus made it simple. Just look and live. When you want to solve problems that demand a supernatural solution, look and live. Have you ever done that? Why not do it now?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: faith, God's mercy, Jesus Christ, living by faith, Mercy, Moses, Numbers 21:9, salvation | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
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