DAY 302 - Core Family Values

Matthew 10:37-39 (NIV) ³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Ephesians 5:21-22, 31-32 (NRSV) ²¹ Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. ²² Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ³¹‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ ³²This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.

The Scriptures give us many family values to guide us in making decisions regarding the relationships in our households. They talk about permanence in marriage, about open communication in marriage and of speaking the truth in love, about the value of discipline. But, is there a core value that could be an even stronger guide for us? Yes, there is. It is the core value proclaimed and practiced by Jesus and applied to the family. It has to do with putting God first. Paul applies this guide for the family when he says be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Mutual subjection is the core value. Mutual subjection is serving one another out of respect for and obedience to Jesus Christ. Mutual subjection is the way we do the life of Christ in our families.

The responsibility of mutual submission was frowned on in Jesus day, and it is now. There is an image about being submissive that we still resist. The responsibility of mutual submission was revolutionary then, and it is now. Even if we are willing to practice mutual submission in our family, many of us are not sure just how to do it. It is so contradictory to the pulse of our feelings and to the pressures of our culture. Mutual submission cannot, should not, and will not be practiced apart from Jesus Christ. We do not understand submission apart from Christ. We do not have the wisdom or the power to practice subjection apart from Him. Jesus rejected the power and prestige that was so popular in His day. He served men and gave them the humility they needed. He served women and gave them the sense of worth that was rightfully theirs. He served children and affirmed their value as children.

Submission flavors all of the other values given to us as Christians. There is a difference in nice love and submissive love. There is a difference between being authoritative and being an authoritarian. Servant authority offers power and authority and responsibility to others. Have you felt the power and healing that mutual submission gives to a family? Living out this value of mutual submission is a life long challenge, and it is accomplished by a strange mixture of hard work and miracles of undeserved grace. The value of mutual submission becomes real by practice, and comes as a gift.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 22, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)

DAY 301 - Worship and See

Revelation 5:6-14 (RSV)  ⁶ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth; ⁷ and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.  ⁸ And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints;    ⁹ and they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, ¹⁰ and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth." ¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" ¹³ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, "To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!" ¹⁴ And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. 
 

John says in Revelation that you and I need to see that the future is in the hands of Jesus, the Lamb who was slain. Until we see it, the message about Jesus holding the future is mumbo-jumbo, or wishful thinking, or a bit of pure fantasy put out by well intentioned but stupid people who refuse to face the hard reality that the future is either under our own control or headed nowhere. Until we see it. How do we see it? And the twenty-four elders fell down and sang a new song, “worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals” … and thousands upon thousands said with a loud voice, “worthy is the lamb who was slain.” John is describing worship. The basic definition of worship is “to ascribe worth.”

When we think about the future, how many of us find ourselves asking questions like “How am I going to make sure that this doesn’t happen? Am I doing enough? Am I going to have enough money to be happy? Am I going to have the right opportunity?” These are questions that are never answered by asking them. They are questions that get settled when our focus is on Jesus and His will for our life today.

Worship helps us to see the truth about the future. Sometimes the events of our lives cause our thoughts about who is holding the future to get a little distorted and we lose sight of the fact that Jesus is the key to our future. When worship is offered rightly and rightly entered into, this kind of re-focusing, and re-seeing of the truth should take place. Worship helps us to see again and again that who we are and what we have are gifts and all is to be used in faithfulness to the Lamb who was slain. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb who made us to reign and to serve. In worship, this is the truth that should come back to us again and again. And this is the truth that should lead us into the future.

 

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 30, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)

DAY 300 - Who Holds the Future

From Revelation 4 and 5 (NIV)   … the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ² At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³ And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby … Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ² And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁵ Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” ⁸ And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.¹¹ Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, … They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹² In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” ¹⁴ The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Just as learning the language of another culture opens up a new world for us, so Revelation opens up a new way of understanding the Good News of Jesus Christ.

In the center of this ethereal setting is a magnificent throne. On the throne is a Being that we recognize is God. In God’s hand are seven scrolls, each with a special seal. Who is worthy to open the scrolls? The four creatures around the throne are silent. The twenty-four impressive people are silent and pensive. Something is wrong. Everyone wants to know what is written on the scrolls, but no one feels adequate or worthy to read and understand. Out of the shadows steps One who looks like a Lion, and suddenly all begin to chant, “Worthy, Worthy, Worthy.”

This is a picture that is meant to say something to us, and the word that is central in the picture is the word “worthy.” Clearly, the picture says that Jesus, the Lion of Judah, has the wisdom and power to open the scrolls. And what do the scrolls say? Because John introduces the heavenly scene by writing, “I will show you what must take place after this,” we assume that the message of the scrolls is about what the future holds.” Jesus holds the scrolls. He holds the key to understanding what the future holds. The future is not in the hands of the devil, nor of a human government, nor of blind fate. The point is that if we know the Lamb that was slain, we know something about the future, and what we know is important. The gentle Lamb is also a powerful Lion. The victim is the victor.

John called the Church then and he calls the Church now to see that the future is in the hands of the Lamb. This helps us see through the temporary appearances of things to the more permanent truth of the way God is unfolding the future. Jesus gives us the wisdom to see God even in the events that seem to deny that plan and that purpose. Jesus gives us the power to respond with a trust in God even when events overwhelm us. 

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 30, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)

DAY 299 - I Deserve

Luke 15:3, 11-32 (NIV) ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. ¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. ²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. ²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Does the story of the Prodigal Son tell us the truth about God or is it just another “feel good” panacea for dealing with the hard realities of life? One thing that is different about this story is the one telling it. Jesus offered more than just a compelling story about the goodness of God. He also offered His life. Our faith is not founded simply on a story, but on the verifiable fact of the Cross. Our faith is that while we were still sinners God showed His goodness and love for us.

If the story of the Prodigal is true, then this goodness of God should be the motivating center of our life. It should be the motivating center in our relationship to other people, in the way we raise our children, in the way we spend and give our money, in whether there is peace or worry inside us. The story of the Prodigal Son should be the motivating center of our life, but it won’t be if it is also true about us.  Are we the Prodigal? God repects our Leave Me Alone commitment. God did not interfere in the choices the Prodigal made. Sometimes it appears almost mean of God to do so. But we know that behind the appearance is a God of love, waiting for us to come to ourselves.

Both Sons suffer from the same sense of deserving, a sense that sneaks subtly into our lives. The Father of the Prodigal allowed real life to open the heart of the Son. In the same way, life hammers on us and brings this underlying sense of deserving to the surface. We see the truth of ourselves and then the Cross begins to make some sense.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 26, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)

DAY 298 - When Bad Things Happen

Luke 13:1-9 (NIV) 13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” ⁶ Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. ⁷ So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ⁸ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹ If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

“Why did this happen to me?” This is an instinctive reaction to the experience of human suffering, in everything from the rejection of a friend to the loss of a loved one. Some people will try to help by saying things like, “It is just God’s will; something good will come of this; this is going to make you a stronger person,” and other well known phrases that sound good but help little. Regardless of what people are saying to us, we still hear the question “why me, what did I do to deserve this?” In Jesus’ time, the stock answer was that it happened because you deserve it. Somehow you sinned and got what you deserved. Of the Galileans who were killed, though, Jesus emphatically states that God does not punish people by causing misfortune to happen to them. This message is repeated in the Gospels. But Jesus does talk about God’s punishment. We are held accountable. We do pay a price for refusing the good way of life God has ordained and ordered.

Tragedy and misfortune represent warnings that carry a message more powerful than words can say. Did God cause the death of the rowdy, crude Galileans? No. Did go push the Tower on some hard working, upstanding folks in Judea? No. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. And what are we to repent of? Repentance is recognizing where we have drifted away from God. It is the shock of seeing how we have dug in our heels against God, or sealed away our life from God in the callous, cold cell of self-centeredness. Sometimes the pains and miseries of life help us to see that. But that seeing is not automatic. Misery can lead us to repentance or it can drive us deeper into trouble. Once we get past the “why me” and “I don’t deserve this,” we discover a God who is like a tender gardener, not desiring to cut us down with misfortune, but to nurture and care for us in all that happens to us, a God whose will and desire is to give life.

This is not an invitation to rejoice in our misery. It is a hope that in whatever misery we experience and for whatever reason, whether caused by circumstances beyond our control or by our own self-will, that it will drive us toward God rather than deeper into our darkness.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 19, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)

DAY 297 - Are You Tempted?

Luke 4:1-12 (NIV) Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ² where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” ⁵ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If you worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” ⁹ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; ¹¹ they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” ¹² Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

In three different ways the devil tried to lure Jesus away from His mission and purpose in life. The first was the temptation that challenged the basic instinct of survival and the temptation to take care of His needs without any trust in God. The second temptation met the dream Jesus had for His life, the Kingdom of God. And the third was spiritual temptation, the one that wears away our faith in God until it just isn’t that important anymore, and we don’t know why and we don’t really care. Like the draining of our dreams, this temptation is almost impossible to detect until we are awakened from our spiritual slumber.

Do you get the feel for the temptations to 1) let the pressing, basic need of our life crowd out our trust in God; 2) to let God’s plan and purpose somehow get derailed; and, 3) to get to that point where the inspiration is gone and our faith seems old and warmed over? If we see the temptations, we also see how to deal with them. Jesus resisted temptation with the Scripture. Three times He is tempted. Three times He quotes Deuteronomy. If we are being tempted by a power greater than ourselves, we also need a power greater than ourselves to resist, and the empirical evidence is that millions of people in countless centuries and from every culture and walk of life have found that power in the Scripture. Can the same be said for you and me? Has it given us the security to deal with our basic need in trust? Has it helped us in the fulfillment of our dreams, even if we have to revise those dreams? Has it been a source of renewing inspiration to our life? We need the Scripture to resist and refute temptation.

But, if you have read carefully, you have also heard the devil quote Scripture. The big question is How do we use scripture like Jesus and not like the devil? Part of the answer is that we read Scripture in the spirit of Jesus. We bring what we know of Jesus and look for more. Jesus is the standard by which we understand Scripture and use Scripture and are empowered by Scripture.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 5, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)

DAY 296 - How to Love Those We Hate

Luke 6:27-36 (NIV) ²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you. ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

How are we going to love those we hate, those who are our enemies? That is a difficult question. We may make it easier by saying that we don’t have to like them, just love them. But, we are to love our enemies the way Jesus loves them. That is our ultimate standard and guide. For right now it is as if Jesus is saying to start out by simply loving our enemies the way we love ourselves, and treating them the way we want to be treated. We know this as the Golden Rule, but the Golden Rule is not simply the way we treat other people. The Golden Rule is something that begins within. If we simply try to be respectful of other people, our real spirit often come through and that real spirit is not usually very loving.

Sometimes we are told to have positive thoughts about other people. Don’t think of their irritating habits. Focus on the good things about them. If that helps, we need to do it. But, loving our enemies does not mean that we can mask our real feeling and pretend. Loving our enemies must come from genuineness within, whatever we do. The loving of our enemies begins on the inside so we can DO GOOD … BLESS … PRAY FOR … AND GIVE to them the real love God wills and desires. When we love our enemies, we get an inside feel for what it is like for God to love you and me. And that does something to us. It does something good, like gratitude, like truth, like wow. We not only get a feel for what it feels like for God to love us, we also get to know our real true selves. As we love our enemies we discover that we are sons and daughters of the Most High. When we love an enemy, we are contributing to God’s plan and purpose for human life, to build a Heaven in Hell’s despair. When we are able to love an enemy, we also discover the marvelous paradox that love is a gift as much as a command, a power as much as it is a responsibility.

But here is the catch to the reward. We do not get the reward because we talk about loving our enemies and how we really ought to do that, or because we are trying so hard to love an enemy. The reward comes when we do it. It is an inward signal to us that this is what Jesus meant. We love the enemy not to conquer them, not even to conquer them by love. We love them to conquer ourselves.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 19, 1995

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)