Jim Died A Most Prosperous Man

I am very proud to tell you I live in a house that Jim built. Jim was a builder from Michigan who arrived here in Texas in the early 1970s. The house building business in Michigan was at a standstill. People were leaving the state in droves, looking elsewhere for work. But in the Houston area things were booming. So Jim ended up here. Sylvia and I contracted with Jim to build us a new house.

Jim was a very devout Christian lay member of our congregation. During the days he worked on our house a very strange disease he had already in Michigan worsened. Blood circulation to his extremities was cut off for reasons the doctors could only guess at. Little by little the tips of his fingers and toes died and had to be removed. As the disease progressed he finally lost his hands and feet, then his forearms and calves. By the time he died—a little over a year after the disease began—he had but stumps where his arms and feet had once been.

BUT! Jim never lost faith in the mercy, forgiveness and love of God! Astounding. How was that possible? I learned so much from this humble man, so very much about real faith. Jim was my Job. It was as if Job were there in the hospital bed as I visited and prayed with Jim.

"Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may. Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand? Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face." - Job 13:13-15 ESV

That was Jim. He believed that he was unworthy of God's love. He was a sinner and deserved, as we confess week by week in our liturgies, "Your present and eternal punishment." That prayer of confession continues:

"For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen."  

When Jim left this life, we joyfully committed what was left of his suffering body to the hands of his Lord in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. The congregation I served at the time later named a pre-school building in Jim's honor.

Here's where I return to my critique of the prosperity preachers.

Jim came to Texas to prosper. He believed in God and in His love. For a time he found work and gained money to care for his family. And then his illness. Why? I never heard Jim ask that question. He simply submitted and did his work until he had to be confined to a hospital bed.

It was as if God was hiding Himself—or at least so it seemed. In Martin Luther's terms, God was speaking from behind a mask. And what was he saying to Jim—as well as to all of us? Certainly that He has poured out abundance upon us, giving us all that we need in this life. We have homes, food, good weather, basically good government, protection from our enemies, friends and family. And what are we doing with all this? Honoring Him? Thanking Him? Serving Him? So often, so very often the answer is no, no, no. We forget about loving Him and serving Him with all of our being, with our hearts and minds as well as our bodies. We forget to reach out to share this abundance with the weak, needy and helpless.

So He spoke a word of warning to us through Jim's illness. He told us that this is what we each deserve—to die and to be separated from Him for eternity. BUT! Yes, but . . . He bent down low to speak to us another Word. And this is the good news, the most unexpected, wondrous news that ever there can be, the message that Jim believed and to which he clung until he drew his final breath. That Word is that the very WORD of God became flesh, incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He did what the ancient prophet Isaiah (to whom I referred in my previous post) said He would.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. - Isa 53:3-5 ESV

From behind this wondrous mask, our hidden God has spoken His Word of forgiveness. It was all for us sinners. Because Christ died, we died. With His stripes our broken relationship with God is now restored.

Jim never became a prosperous man. He died from his sickness. His family struggled to recover from the loss. Yet we are all confident that Jim lives in the endless abundance of the Lord and God in whom he put his trust. He died in faith, faith given to him by the generosity of God, faith given to him by God's Holy Spirit at work in that Word spoken in Christ. Jim was unable to accept the bread of the Sacrament with his hand when we celebrated it in his hospital room. He no longer had hands. But he ate the bread and drank the wine and believed that in that precious gift of God he received forgiveness for all his sins. He believed that he received the very body and blood that Jesus offered up for him. And he rejoiced to know that by God's priceless grace he was God's child and would receive a renewed and eternal body on the great Day of Christ's return. He has been invited to the feast (Isaiah 25:6-8).

We thank you Jim. You are a saint, made holy by the blood of Jesus. And your works follow you.

I'll have a bit more to say about all this in my next post.

Joel Osteen: Modern Christianity Without Christ

Like so many other critics I have profound difficulty with the deceptive teachings of prosperity preachers like Joel Osteen. I fully agree with Dr. Michael Horton of the White Horse Inn in his evaluation of Osteen's new book "Become A Better You" for which Osteen got a multi-million dollar book contract. Horton's assessment:

"Make no mistake about it, behind all of the smiles, there is a thorough-going religion of works-righteousness: "God's plan for each of our lives is that we continually rise to new levels. But how high we go in life, and how much of God's favor and blessings we experience, will be directly related to how well we follow His directions." God "is waiting for your obedience so He can release more of His favor and blessings in your life...My question to you is: How high do you want to rise? Do you want to continue to increase? Do you want to see more of God's blessings and favor? If so, the higher we go, the more disciplined we must be; the quicker we must obey." "You don't get the grace unless you step out. You have to make the first move. God will see that step of faith and He'll give you supernatural strength to help you overcome any obstacles standing in the way of doing the right thing...Remember: How high you go in life will be directly related to how obedient your are."

How absolutely in contrast to what the Bible teaches about repentance, faith, grace and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Even TIME Magazine called him a prosperity preaching wolf.

Most unnerving for Osteen's critics is the suspicion that they are fighting not just one idiosyncratic misreading of the gospel but something more daunting: the latest lurch in Protestantism's ongoing descent into full-blown American materialism.

To be sure, the Bible does promise victory and hope, but not in the way Osteen proclaims it.

Let's take a look at what Isaiah, the true prophet of God, has to say.

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." - Isa 25:6-9 ESV

The prophet presents us with an astounding vision, a vision that grew out of an era of devastation and destruction. The glory days of King David and his son Solomon were gone, gone, gone. Step by step the worship of idols, greed, pride, jealousy and hate divided the great kingdom of Israel into minor, warring northern and southern states. Weakened by internal strife, the chosen people became a wide open prize for Babylon, the rising world power to the northeast. Because of Israel's widespread apostasy and disobedience, the LORD had withdrawn His loving hand of protection. Towards the end of the seventh century before Christ, both kingdoms ceased to exist. Those who survived the destruction of their homes and villages and the mass murder of their families were dragged off into slavery by the rapacious Babylonians.  The prophet Jeremiah pronounced God's judgment upon them:

This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste. - Jer 25:11-12 ESV

A glimmer of hope out there in the future, but for generation after generation they had to face the loss of everything. Psalm 137 describes it well.

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? - Psa 137:1-4 ESV

How could both Jeremiah and Isaiah offer hope to these helpless slaves? Was it because they had suddenly started doing the right thing? Was it because they now made a decision to become disciplined and ready to follow God's directions? Was it because they realized they were as far down as they could ever be and so finally decided to go higher? Was the promise of feasting on rich food and fine wine their's if only they had the internal guts to reach for it? Would tears and hate become a thing of the past if only they claimed the victory? Was God only waiting for their obedience so that He could release His favor and blessings into their lives?

How absolutely, totally and radically stupid a thing to say and to teach! In my next post I want to help you to understand that repentance, remorse and contrition for disobedience follow from and flow out of God's grace. God's grace, mercy and blessings are not, cannot and will not ever be a result of our decisions. We can make no bargains with Him. As the blessed Apostle John says,

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. -       1John 4:18-19 ESV

But more on this next time.

Fat and Old — What An Idea!

I wrote yesterday about how old people are not particularly held in high esteem in our culture. In response, one of my readers asked, "What about the fat?" I'd like to respond to the question by opening up my promised meditation upon Psalm 92 and a verse that deals specifically with fat, particularly with believers in the LORD who are both old and fat. Here's the verse:

"They shall still bring forth fruit in old age: they shall be fat and flourishing" (Psalm 92:14)

The KJV, the WEB and the YNG translate the Hebrew word into English as 'fat'. Some of the others prefer to translate, "They will stay fresh and green" (NIV); "they are ever full of sap and green" (ESV).  These translations feel the Hebrew word refers to being fresh and full of sap rather than to that obnoxious modern word fat—yuk! No one wants to be called fat as well as old. Below is an example of how we view such a concept. This is supposed to be funny.

The Hebrew word translated is Dä·shān', a word in Isaiah 30:23 that refers to rich soil that the LORD promises His people who will return from captivity. The "produce of the ground" will be rich (Dä·shān') and plenteous. The word occurs again in Psalm 22 where the sufferings that came upon our LORD Jesus are described in detail. The psalm concludes that as a result the poor and humble, those who seek the LORD, shall eat and be satisfied. These prosperous (Dä·shān') people will worship Him, proclaiming all that He has done to the yet unborn.


Why were the disobedient Israelites brought back to their homeland? Why are the poor and humble to be given food and made prosperous? Because of the grace and mercy of their God. All the sacrifices of the Old Covenant proclaimed this and pointed forward to the final sacrifice made for them and us all upon the cross of Calvary.  The Gospel of Matthew refers to this sacrifice as a fulfillment of what the prophets wrote about. The apostle writes, "Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: "They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots" (Matthew 27:35; Psalm 22:18). 


It is interesting that the Hebrew Dä·shān' is used in its verb form also in Psalm 20:3, "May He (the LORD) remember all your offerings, And accept your burnt sacrifice." And this He has done. The final sacrifice has been made. As Jesus proclaimed, "It is finished" (John 19:30). 


So we return to our psalm and the promise given to the old. They who put their faith in the LORD Jesus and in His completed sacrifice for their sins "shall still bring forth fruit in old age: they shall be fat and flourishing" (Psalm 92:14). That is the promise of our LORD and God. Trust Him. 


And by all means rejoice, especially if the LORD has granted you old age and fatness. Such fat old people will stay "fresh and green, ever full of sap." Even they will continue to produce fruit. That is the promise of our LORD!

Seek The Peace Of The City

My grandson Patrick stopped by for an overnight visit this weekend, joined by his brother Shawn, Shawn's wife Marian, accompanied by Shawn and Patrick's parents, my daughter Cheryl Lee and husband Derrick. Sylvia and I joined them for a steak at Salt Grass Steakhouse to celebrate an important milestone: Patrick received his senior ring at Texas A&M University this weekend. He has only the spring semester left before graduation. We're all quite proud of him. He's quite aware of national events, but voices a deep distrust of all elected politicians.

Of course, his upcoming graduation brings back memories of my own, now nearly 54 years ago! And that takes me back to the world of the fifties, the hopes, plans and dreams of my generation. Any thoughts of the lives of my grandchildren back then were vague at the very best. Yet, from what I recall, we were positive and hopeful about our nation's future.

I paid relatively little attention to the 1954 national elections of representatives and senators. General Eisenhower, a Republican party war hero, had already been elected two years before during a time when Cold War tension between our nation and the Soviet Union was escalating. Eisenhower's election ended twenty years of the Democratic party's control of the White House. There was much concern about the stalemated Korean War and Senator Joseph McCarthy was finding communists hiding in closets everywhere. Yet with all those momentous events going on, I focused primarily upon my studies and my personal life. I was preparing for a lifetime vocation as a clergyman.

From what I hear, young voters broke voting turnout records this year. They doubled and in some cases tripled their presence in caucuses like Iowa, energized by the heated contest to decide whether, for the first time, a black candidate was to become the Democratic nominee and later president. They responded to intensive youth outreach from Republican and Democratic campaigns by volunteering, and used social networks to amplify their own opinions.

Perhaps that says something about the media making our youth more conscious of what's going on around them or perhaps they're feeling more pressured than many of my classmates and I did in the fifties. Each generation, it seems, brings its own uniqueness to the national scene. Yet each generation of believers must heed to what I did not give much attention in my youthful zeal for the kingdom of God. It is summarized in the words of the prophet Jeremiah (29:7).

"And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace."

The Israelite nation had lost its land to the marauding Babylonian empire over 600 years before the birth of Christ. For seventy years they remained slaves, their homes destroyed, relatives, parents and children slaughtered. And yet the LORD commanded them to seek the peace of the city and pray for it.

That word 'peace' is Shalom in Hebrew. It is an all-encompassing word, referring to safety, soundness (in body), welfare, health, prosperity, peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment, friendship, peace (from war) and above all, a peaceful relationship with God. And note that in the peace of the city or town where you live "you also shall have peace." In other words, when we Christians are prayerfully involved in the affairs of our towns and cities, the blessings abound for all.

Many are the issues facing our nation: poverty, immigration, financial crises, care for the elderly, education, the end of a most hated war and on and on. My prayer is that all of us in my generation, my children's generation and my grandchildren's generation take very seriously the guidance of the LORD and, according to our various callings, seek the welfare, health, prosperity and peace of this wonderful land in which we live. And, above all, let us seek to share that peace that surpasses all others, the peace offered by our heavenly Father through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.