Game of Thrones -- Final

This is it—the grand experiment comes to an end with such a simple yet profound truth.

One verse

Not even the last verse.

12:13 says, “The end of the matter, all has been heard. ‘Fear God and keep His commandments,’ for this is the whole duty of man.”

Admit it. Isn’t this one of those moments in life where you want to grab this Solomon character by the lapels, shake him, and say, “THAT’S IT??! Seriously? You take us on a rambling, moral/immoral, ethical/unethical, hedonistic, schizophrenic, contemplative, physically and emotionally draining roller coaster ride just to sum it all up with…

“Fear God and keep His commandments?!”

-       “I want my money back!”

-       “I want my Sunday mornings back!”

-       “I want my study time back!”

“All of it, because, honestly—I think a saved 7 year old could have told me that! Why on earth didn’t you just share that with us to begin with, Solomon?!”

And I can just see him—hunched over, shuffling along with the aid of a cane. His beard is more white than gray. His eyes bloodshot and deeply lined. To smile seems like it takes every ounce of effort the man has, but he does so anyway. And he looks at me, gathers himself—draws a deep breath and finally says, “Because you wouldn’t have listened. No matter what you say now, no matter how much you brag about ‘knowing life inside and out,’ no matter how ‘simple’ you claim these few words to be…

Almost no one ever believes them without at least a short grand experiment of their own—an experiment complete with disappointment and pain, betrayal and boredom, cheap thrills and moments of real joy as well as a million other life lessons unique to us all."

“Then why even try?”

Because I said, “almost no one.”

Every now and then. In every generation. There’s someone who prays like a Daniel, has the courage of an Esther, leads like a Moses, has a heart for God like my father David, perseveres like Job, or has faith like Abraham—All different, but all giants of the faith. And all these had one thing in common—something they learned and learned young…

 “Fear God, and kept His commandments.”

Shouldn’t we do the same?

Game of Thrones -- Part 3

"Objects in mirror are closer than they seem!"

How Old Are You?

The day is coming—there’s no way to avoid it—right after we’re born, it draws closer each day.

Death comes to us all.

I probably lost half my readers right there, but I hope not. You see, death is nothing to be afraid of for the Christ follower. In fact, it isn’t even something to push from the mind.

“What are you saying, pastor Rob? You want me to think about death?! Embrace the light, walk toward that warm glow? No thanks!”

Ok, suit yourself, but this is straight from God’s Word, not Rob’s book of opinions. And God tells us that only a fool ignores death. Only a fool fails to see the good of it. Look at Ecclesiastes 7:1,

“A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.”

"What?! That just sounds crazy!" Well then, keep reading,

Hebrews 2:14, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil”

Death has no power whatsoever over the believer! Why fear it then? It’s like being afraid of an attack butterfly—it can’t hurt you—you just look silly by avoiding it or running from it. And those fears eventually lead to a life of bondage. Look what Paul said in the very next verse…

Hebrews 2:15, “and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

So, either we will look ahead realistically at death as a way to adjust and refocus our lives around the Savior, or we will live silly lives of naivety and denial, doing anything and everything to extend this physical life and push back our own expiration date. And we might even succeed in buying a little more time on this miserable orb inside these fallen tabernacles we call bodies. But in the end…

Death still comes to us all.

So, Solomon suggests a different approach—a realistic approach. First, he urges us to take a sensible look at what happens as we get older. We find this vivid description in verses 1-8 of Ecclesiastes 12. Let me just paraphrase for a moment…

The day is coming when…

·      our shoulders will slump (v. 3)

·      our teeth will fall out (v. 3)

·      our legs will become weak (v. 3)

·      our eyesight will begin to go (v. 3)

·      our hearing will fade (v. 4)

·      our sleep will be restless

·      our fears will increase (v. 5)

·      our caution will grow (v. 5)

·      our hair will gray (or fall out)

·      our sexual passion will diminish (v. 5)

·      our time at funerals will increase (v. 5)

·      our spine will grow weak and sore (v. 6)

·      our memory will fade (v. 6)

·      our breaths will grow short (v. 6)

·      our heart will grow weak (heart attacks) (v. 6)

·      And, finally, death comes to us all

Okay, I admit, that wasn’t much fun, but it was necessary—Solomon thought it was—more importantly—God thought it was. That’s why it’s included in God’s Word. And the point of it is that God wants us to know that a life spent pretending that none of that is going to happen is the most meaningless life of all, “Vanity of vanities, “says the preacher, “all is vanity v. 8”

So, what do we do with all this dismal, death talk?

Here it is—three things…

1.     Aging is inevitable

Aging is nothing to be embarrassed about. Instead, we should embrace it. With aging comes wisdom and understanding—grace and forgiveness. The more we understand what all has been done for us along the journey of life (by Jesus) the more empathetic we are toward others.

2.     Aging is essential

It’s essential because through all the aches and pains, memory loss and stooped shoulders—we have constant reminders of eternity—constant reminders of no more tears, no more pain, no more aging and an eternity with the Savior that loves us and gave Himself for us.

3.     Aging is not eternal

Death is usually thought of as the end, but it’s really the beginning of something beautiful for the Christ follower (see above). For those who reject the Savior? Well, that’s another story. There’s only one way to heaven (John 14:6) and that’s through Jesus Christ—ignore Him and death becomes pretty intimidating.

So, maybe I gave waaaaaaay too much time to the Grim Reaper, but no more than Solomon did. So let me just encourage you to take a moment and bravely approach the reality of your own death. Have you ever considered the wisdom that could be gained by thinking about its rapid approach rather than pretending you’re Cher or Dick Clark and that it will never happen to you?

I realize this goes against everything our culture tells us, but trust God on this one. Think about it a little today, then ask yourself the following questions:

-       Am I living my life with an eternal perspective or just living for the here and now?

-       Am I afraid to die? Why? Why not?

-       Do I view the aging process with nothing but contempt?

-       What can I do to embrace the aging process and finish strong for God?

I can think of more, but that should get the ball rolling.

Game of Thrones -- Part 2

Ok, here we go with the wrap up of, “Game of Thrones.” Chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes

The first section is verses 1-8,

“12 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; ² before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, ³ in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, ⁴ and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— ⁵ they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,^[a] and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— ⁶ before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, ⁷ and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. ⁸ Vanity^[b] of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.”

Now, to really get the best idea of what this text is talking about, allow me to go to I Samuel chapter one...

Often over the years, where I pastored, we would have a special dedication time for children. The passage I would almost always use for these child dedications was 1 Samuel chapter 1. In it we find the barren woman, Hannah, grieving because she so desperately wanted children. Even so, year after year after year would go by where it seemed as though God simply wasn’t hearing her prayer.

But was this really the case? Or was something else going on with the Almighty?

Of course it was something else—the Lord hears all our prayers! What was going on was a refining and spiritual maturing within the heart of Hannah. True, she already loved and honored the Lord, but her reasons for wanting a child may not have been as holy and beautiful as God wanted. You see, Hannah wasn’t the only wife of her husband, Elkanah. There was also Peninnah—it was like an early version of HBO’s, Sister Wives—right there in the Bible.

Now, several things set these two women apart. First, verse five seems to indicate that Elkanah loved Hannah more than he loved Penennah—not a smart move when dealing with a couple feisty,redneck, hillbilly women.

“Whoa, pastor Rob, where do you get that?!”

Easy now, I just noticed where the text says they were from in verse one—Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim. See? You can’t make this stuff up! These were the Real Housewives of the Hill Country of Ephraim (That’s the redneck part). And you better not mess with them. However, according to the official Ephraim handbook of conduct, they could mess with each other all day long—and they did. Which brings us to the next thing…

Verse 2, “…And Penennah had children, but Hannah had no children.”

I know, I already mentioned that Hannah had no children. So I’m not repeating myself (actually, I am, but there’s a reason), I just wanted to add in that Penennah did have children—apparently a full quiver of them—Elk and Pen plus Ten—or something like that. And she didn’t mind bringing this up to Hannah 24/7.

Verse 6, “and her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord has closed her womb.”  That’s the feisty part!

Verse 7, “⁷ So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.” That’s the 24/7 part!

So Hannah begins begging the Lord for a child and the Lord just seems to turn a deaf ear to her pleas—almost seems cruel at first glance. But a deeper look at the whole story makes it clear that the Lord desired something greater from Hannah then simply to get into a birthing competition with Penennah—something greater than to simply have a son to give to her husband—and something greater than to simply have God do her will. The Lord wanted her to realize that our children are really not ours—but His. The Lord wanted her to realize that while she only wanted to give a child to her husband, God wanted to give a prophet to a nation! For those of you who do not know the story—Hannah did bear a son and fulfilled her vow to give him to the Lord for service unto Him (v. 11). His name was Samuel and he was arguably one of the very greatest prophets Israel ever had.

“Um, pastor? Can I interrupt a second? Ah, we were talking about Ecclesiastes 12 and Game of Thrones and all of that…Remember?"

Click the 'read more' link to continue...

Game of Thrones

Game Over

I've preached a lot of series over my 12 plus years as a pastor but I don't think I ever left any of them unfinished. "Game of Thrones" is the exception and here's the problem with that...

You see, if one decides to undertake a study of the great book of Ecclesiastes, the only thing that would be worse than not reading the book at all, would be to study it right through to chapter 11 but skip chapter 12.

Why?

Because so much of Solomon's godly wisdom is woven together with his extremely flawed, earthly wisdom in the first 11 chapters. In fact, these first 11 chapters have to be approached like ancient Israelites went about harvesting wheat. What they would do is throw the wheat up in the air and allow the breezes to carry away the chaff. What fell to the threshing floor would be the grain they were really after. In the first 11 chapters Solomon almost seems schizophrenic as he shifts back and forth between spiritual thinking and carnal thinking. Chapter 12, however, leaves the double-minded thinking behind and sees an end to the grand experiment--the game of thrones ends and answers and freedom await all those finally ready to live a life pleasing to God.

So, hopefully my readers can see why I simply could not leave my last series ever at Southbrook Church "open-ended."

Stick with me then, for this 4 part series intended to close the book on one of my favorite series ever, "Game of Thrones."

Why Impact?

Why call this blog--"Impact?" Well, if you spent any time with me (in person or listening to the messages I preached) the last few years then you know that the Lord placed upon my heart about 3 years ago the intensified conviction that He did not come to this earth to bring religion, but rather, He came to bring relationship. Wherever there is mere religion there is cold, heartless, robotic ministry. But where there is a deep and loving relationship with the Savior there is passion and life change--transformation and IMPACT.

The desire to minister at a church that went beyond religion to actually leaving a permanent mark for Christ soon became an unshakable conviction for me and it wasn't long before a deepened purpose statement for my life (as well as any church I would ever lead) was born. In fact, some of you who have been around me most have even heard me talk of how Impact would have been a more appropriate name for the church I pastored--it better reflected who I believe God was calling them to be then any name that merely talks of flowing streams and peaceful, non-threatening brooks ever could. Sadly, changing the name of a church is often treated like scaling Mount Everest in a bathing suit. People insist it can't be done. Don't rock the boat. Just leave things as they are. And so on. Ridiculous. I'll never back off like that again when the Lord is so clearly calling me to do something. His ways may seem scary but they are always best.

As I said in yesterday's post, the Singleton's are actually excited about where God will take us next--whether that be planting a church again or leading an already established and passionate group of Christ followers on a journey to Mark the World with the love of Christ. One thing is for sure though--the mission will have God's "spiritually delivered branding--to me" all over it...

IMPACT