the importance of the gospel in death

Today was the funeral for the good Beth Karn. She was 87. She loved Jesus. She died a death that pointed people to the greatest news that has ever been told.

There is never an inopportune time for the sharing of the Gospel, but there are few that are as appropriate as a funeral. Death is part of the curse that came when Adam and Eve disobeyed the command not to eat. Death is a fearful thing for many people. Death keeps us from experiencing eternal life.

Ah, but death met its maker when Jesus came and died. And, to the praise of the glorious God in heaven, it was not victorious. Death could not hold Jesus in the grave, it had no power over God. And now, because of Jesus glorious resurrection we have the same hope.

We no longer have anything to fear by death. We have no longer any reason to wonder at what happens after we die. We don't need to mourn the inevitable. But, if we don't believe in Christ, we have much to fear.

There is life after death. It can either be one of great joy, surpassing joy, overwhelming, unending, soul-quenching joy. Or, it can be one of pain, torment, anguish, guilt, fear and unceasing loneliness. It is death that leads to these things.

And so, the appropriateness of the Gospel at a funeral is seen. There is no hope without the Gospel. There is no good that comes aside from the Gospel. And as we mourn the death of a person, we see in them our own selves awaiting the day of our own lifelessness. But, with the Gospel we have hope. We can live our last days filled with joy because, truly, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

The first few verses of Hebrews 12 give us a picture of life with an end. We are called to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangle and run the race set before us looking, only, to Jesus for he looked to the joy set before him and was able to endure the cross. His life had an end. Our lives will end. But how great is the knowledge and truth that if we look to Him and believe we will also have a great joy awaiting us that we can fix our eyes on and endure all things.

If death is sure, then Christ is the guarantee of a better life to come. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

-joe

death...one of the surest things

There are only two (to my knowledge) who have never tasted death. Elijah and Enoch are both recorded in Scripture as having been caught up to heaven before they died. And there are those who will be alive at the Lord's coming (even so, Lord come quickly). For the rest, there will be a day when death will come.

Today a great lady of our church passed away to be with the Lord forever. I knew at 7:30 this morning. It didn't hit home until midway through this song (which I was leading). I had to hand the mic off to the pastor. The tears flowed freely as I celebrated and mourned Beth Karn.

Here are the lyrics:

Jesus, keep me near the cross;
there a precious fountain,
free to all, a healing stream,
flows from Calvary's mountain.

Refrain:
In the cross, in the cross,
be my glory ever,
till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river.

Near the cross, a trembling soul,
love and mercy found me;
there the bright and morning star
sheds its beams around me.
(Refrain)

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me;
help me walk from day to day
with its shadow o'er me.
(Refrain)

Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
hoping, trusting ever,
till I reach the golden strand
just beyond the river.

Hallelujah and amen!

-joe

the end

As I have been studying 1 Thessalonians this week in preparation for Sunday School, I have been struck by how much Paul references the coming of Christ. Four out of the five chapters mention the idea. Chapters 4 and 5 are almost explicitly dealing with the idea.

Now, to be clear, it can negatively affect your life to live completely in the future; waiting for Christ to return and not living for him here and now. However, I think I fail in the other aspect.

I think to little of the great coming of Jesus. We are to encourage one another with the thought. And so, I encourage you to look to the great coming of Christ that will be the end of the age and the beginning of life in the presence of God for many. It is a great thing. It will happen. He is coming and his coming will be magnificent.

Brothers, God has destined us for salvation. Be reassured and invigorated to live righteous and holy lives because one day we will obtain an inheritance so great that we can scarcely conceive it.

Amen.

-joe

when to cut and run...or stay and fight?

I've never had much of a problem fighting for things or standing up despite the opposition. For instance, I distinctly remember refusing to do any homework related to evolution in the 7th grade. I took F's on every assignment. At the time, it was more important than my teacher, my grades or my parents misgivings. I stood and fought.

Another time, I spoke out against what I saw as a wrong choice for youth minister. In the end, after fighting, I cut my losses and moved on.

In both cases, looking back, I was basically just an arrogant stuck up punk. I wasn't a believer and the convictions I had were based in large part on what I felt they should be...not what they actually were. I acted in my own best interest and not God's.

There are two situations at present that I am dealing with that need action. One, is immediate. I must stand and fight for a teacher (a music teacher) to keep his job. Despite all the minor things going on, despite some discrepancies, this guy deserves his job. And so, I will fight for as long as the option is available. Right now, it looks like the chances of the job remaining are about 0%. But, still, I fight on principle. I believe that this man was stripped of dignity afforded to him by being a human being and made in the image of God therefore I will stand.

The other issue is much more difficult. It has to do with my current church association. (Not the physical church where I pastor, but the larger body that governs my church.)

You see, there is a person who teaches (not as a pastor, but as a layperson) at a sister church within the association what I deem as heretical things. Now, before you get all out of place about things (because I know some of you will) this has nothing to do with any famous persons that rhyme with shell, mcfaron, or legit.

I'm fairly familiar with his teachings and I know that they don't fly with the Bible, orthodox Christianity, or what I think is the association. But, here's the issue, I'm not sure.

So, in order for the good name of God not to be made a mockery of by this man, I have resolved to write a letter to the powers that be in the organization to inquire whether or not they are upset by this guy. My hope is that they say "He teaches what?!" and then they talk with the individual church and the guy is removed from teaching.

If, however, they say something more akin to "What's wrong with this stuff?", I will be forced to again decide whether to work to reform the organization for the glorious name of God or to abandon ship and leave them to their demise.

These type of things are not peculiar to me, we each face them often. Like Paul throughout the book of Acts, we must seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and determine whether to stay or go.

A great assurance in these things comes from Philippians 2:12-13. In it, we are encourage to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." So, we are to be constantly working to be more Christ-minded and Christ-acting. And then the great promise comes in v.13 "for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to act according to his good purpose."

It is here that I rest assured. God is at work in me and I am confident that as I strive to be more like Christ that his good will is accomplished through my decisions to fight or flee.

Rarely, if ever, are we to flee when it is the great name of God that we are defending...for we should never fear anything when we are defending him. It is only when we think of protecting our own good name that it may be appropriate to flee. I think if you read through Acts and the OT history that you will see that that is the case.

As I consider what my decision will be (of course, hopefully, it will not come to this) I must make sure that I am doing this for God's glory and not mine.

-joe

the flavor of God

Tonight at senior high youth group I tasted the goodness of God...and it was sweet.

The lesson was Romans 10. I walked the group through much of the early exodus, the 40 years, a few kings and finally to the time of Christ. Israel, because of their ridiculous human nature, missed Jesus because they forgot God. Now, to the praise of His great grace, those outside of the Jews are opened up to the good news of Christ.

That is sweet. That is grace. That is the sovereign God loving a people not His own for the sake of His glory.

It amazes me as I read about Israel how they could forget God in the desert. They had (and I have to yell this) A PILLAR OF CLOUD BY DAY AND A BLAZING PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHT. AND THEY FORGOT THAT GOD COULD DO ALL THINGS.

If I didn't see the same idiocy and hypocrisy in my own life, I wouldn't believe that it would be possible to forget God when He blatantly shows himself. But, just like those stubborn Israelites I forget God even though (to quote Piper) the blazing center of the glory of God sits daily before us. Jesus death on the cross is always there...and I miss it. All the time I miss it.

Oh, Father...grant that we might not forget the grace bestowed to us through your sovereign love. If it were up to us, we'd forget you in a heartbeat. Thankfully, you love us and you won't let us run away.

-joe

p.s. something new. you can (if i'm available) talk to me live via google talk on the post. so, if you want you can click below (if there's a little green dot) and you can chat with me. pretty sweet, eh?

trying out

you can ignore this post, i'm trying out a google talk application.

birthday

It is my younger sister's 17th birthday today. (Well, probably yesterday by the time I actually post this.) I was going to try to get her out of school for lunch today, but I was denied by the secretary at the school, and although I could have pretty easily persuaded her to let me do, I decided not to press the issue.

Birthdays (and holidays in general) have always been scattered and haphazard at my house. Today, for instance, there was really no formal celebration. We will be having lasagna together on Sunday but there isn't any formal celebration. Sometimes we try...and it usually is pretty uneventful.

I've found that I like this way of celebrating these things. I don't like lots of extravagance for a day out of the year when someone was born or something great happened. I don't mind acknowledging the fact and praying a special blessing on them...but the idea of celebration of birth has always been a little weird to me.

Call me crazy, but I kind of enjoyed it when I missed a couple of my own birthdays in college.

I wonder if anyone back in the day (meaning Jesus and earlier) celebrated birthdays...what about those who lived to be 900? Do you think they had some weird thing equivalent to us putting candles on a cake? Somehow, I doubt it.

May our lives be continually bent on this then: magnifying the grace of Christ displayed on the cross in all things. And instead of asking the questions "what's wrong with celebrating a birthday?" instead we should ask "how does this celebration magnify the one who redeemed me?"

(For the record, I'm not going Jehovah Witness and rejecting holidays.)

-joe

a little late

I was busy yesterday evening so I didn't have a chance to check this over and post it. So, I'm doing it over my lunch hour (after holding my nephew for 10 minutes or so.)

Recently, there have been lots of things springing up in the church that I perceive as good things. There is a study going on discussing Mark Dever's The Gospel and Personal Evangelism that is sparking some great conversation and action.

There are several women who are now holding an outreach Bible study at a (for the most part) retired apartment complex here in Rochester. That makes my heart sing. (It would sing more if some dudes would step up to the plate, but...at least we are talking about Jesus.)

There is a swell of people wanting strong discipleship from the leaders of the church. There are youth getting excited about missions abroad. There are new folks coming to church every week. There are two baptisms in the next month.

These are great things. I'm excited for them.

And then, I hear that at the book study on Dever's book there was a lengthy discussion that went on concerning who is really saved. Now, the discussion came about because the book warns against emotional responses to the Gospel instead of heartfelt and true repentance and belief...it is good to know that there is a difference and to do our best to guard against it. But...it lead to some folks saying that you basically have to be perfect in order to be saved. You have to lead the "sermon on the mount" life or you don't have saving faith. Hold the phone...Put down the fish. Did you hear that? That is absurd. Ridiculous. And a great insult and de-glorification of the great salvation offered through Christ on the cross.

Thankfully a friend of mine (I am not in the study because I work with the youth) stopped things and said. "HOLD UP! Are you insinuating that unless you live a perfect life that you are not saved? Are you serious?! Let me lay it down John Piper style. We are saved because of Jesus substitutionary death on the cross and we are renewed to life by the same Spirit that resurrected Him from the grave. That is the "blazing center" of the Gospel. That is what we are talking about here. The center. The middle. The most important thing. We are talking about evangelizing and you are talking about the effects of sanctification and whether or not you can tell someone is saved. That is absurd. Jesus saves and then we live holy. Living holy means nothing without the cross and that is what we are to be doing...evangelizing the good news of the death of Jesus."

Whew. I am glad that he was there. I am also glad that through God's providence I am preaching on sanctification this Sunday. Oh Lord, let me speak openly and honestly and through the power of your Spirit so that these wretched thoughts will be cast out from among our midst.

-joe

missions

Last week after Senior High youth group I told the kids that starting this Sunday we would be spending time in prayer for a nation or people after the regular meeting.

Tonight, we spent some time hearing about Kosovo from one of the guys in the group and then I cast some vision to them about the unreached people of the world. My lesson for the night was the majority of Romans 9 and the lead-in to Romans 10 and that our duty is to faithfully and joyfully preach the Gospel so that God will redeem His people.

We are taking the vision of John Piper and calling everyone to be a "Goer or a Sender." Tonight we began the first step in sending: getting a heart for the unreached of the world.

So, perhaps you should spend some time in prayer for the Serbs and Bosnians and Albanians involved in the recent declaration that Kosovo is independent. Be in prayer for the political unrest, but most importantly be in prayer for people to faithfully declare the great goodness of the Gospel to the folks over there. Feel with Paul the anguish of knowing that there are countless perishing without a saving faith in Jesus and pray for the people that God would be gracious and move withing in them and provoke them to believe and call on His name.

Amen.

-joe

i need thee every hour

I don't think that any song that I've ever sung in my entire life has ever even come close to the power of these lines:

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

The truth of these lines when you think of the Lord's prayer (lead me not into temptation) and 1 Corinthians 10:13 and so many other passages just makes my soul go crazy.

I sing this song constantly. When I feel the rush of my flesh welling up I pray this song to God and He graciously answers many times. When my mind begins to delve into matters it shouldn't this song burst forth and drives many wretched thoughts away.

The rest of the song is nearly as good. Here are the rest of the lyrics:

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Refrain: I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son.

May God keep us all from temptation,

-joe

the new kid

Well, it's official. My brother and his wife just had the first grandkid in the family. Josiah Benjamin Helt was born just 1 day ago at about 4:30pm. He's already talking and had this to say:

"Uncle Joe is easily the coolest and best person that has held me."

I know that today was supposed to be a deep theology day according to my new plan, but hey...there's a new kid in the family and he deserves some airtime. So here are a few pics of Josiah.

The second picture was the face he made when he saw me...so maybe that earlier comment was a bit on the false side.
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So, keep my sister-in-law and my brother and their new kid in your prayers and be thinking of your new birth in Christ. Although none of us were as cute as this kid, we were all infants at one point.

-joe

the deal

Here's my new plan of action so that you can be ready for my postings. On Mondays (Sunday nights) and Fridays (Thursday nights) I will be posting light theology and personal stuff. On Thursdays (Wednesday nights) I'll probably delve a bit deeper into things. So, now that you know, you can be prepared to read stuff on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. I hope you like the new system. It seems much better to me.

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This morning I preached my first of two sermons while Mark (my senior pastor) is on vacation with his wife. Pray for them both. His wife has ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) so they are spending some quality time on vacation before things get too bad.

I encourage you to spend some time meditating on 2 Corinthians 5:21 today. A good portion of my talk today was on the transfer of our sin to Christ and that he literally became sin. He was your worst (and my worst) sin. He had to deal with being a lustful pervert, a greedy overlord and a self-righteous jerk. He had to deal with the guilt of those sins and the pain of bearing them. And then he had to die--because he loved us.

How great is the love that comes to us. Spend some time thanking him for his sacrifice and have a great few days.

-joe

life in rochester

My life is almost back into a rhythm. It seems like every time I get things going, then something comes along and messes everything up.

Lessons learned:
1. God isn't so dependent on me that if I shoudl die, His purpose would stop.
2. At the same time, while I am alive I should seek to be used by God for any and all purposes that He has for me.
3. Weddings and funerals freak me out.
4. Disorganization is a killer.
5. Prayer keeps me joyful.
6. Scripture makes me happy.
7. Fellowship gives me peace.

Starting Sunday night I'll be blogging again. Be ready. I've got ideas.

-joe

ps. I'm growing the beard back. I shaved for about a week...and now I have to trim everything so that it looks decent.

i know

I know. It has been a couple of weeks with nothing from my end of the table. I apologize. Here are my excuses:
1. I'm lazy
2. I'm crazy busy
3. I'm moving
4. I'm more devoted to real life ministry to friends and youth and family than to blogging. And those areas have really taken over.

So, because I have left you with nothing for 2 weeks, I'm not going to post anything deep or inspiring. Instead, I will leave you with some pictures.

Here, in their basic order of appearance, are my looks since 2005 (the goatee is first...and i think it should be brought back). The last one is me after getting my "Extreme Makeover" for a youth fundraiser. Which one do you like?