Escaping the Anaconda

Since at least 1998, an email has been making the internet rounds.  It claims to be from a manual given to Peace Corps volunteers, and it’s entitled, “What to Do If Attacked By an Anaconda.” 

      1. If you are attacked by an anaconda do not run. The snake is faster than you are.

      2. Lie flat on the ground. Put your arms tight against your sides, your legs tight against one another.

      3. Tuck your chin in.

      4. The snake will come and begin to nudge and climb over your body.

      5. Do not panic.

      6. After the snake has examined you, it will begin to swallow you from the feet and always from the end. Permit the snake to swallow your feet and ankles. Do not panic.

      7. The snake will now begin to suck your legs into its body. You must lie perfectly still. This will take a long time.

      8. When the snake has reached your knees slowly and with as little movement as possible, reach down, take your knife and very gently slide it into the side of the snake's mouth between the edge of its mouth and your leg, then suddenly rip upwards, severing the snake's head.

      9. Be sure you have your knife.

      10. Be sure your knife is sharp.

      anaconda, do not run; the snake

           I know this will disappoint some of you, but that list is a myth.  Snake experts will tell you that an anaconda doesn’t swallow anything alive; it squeezes them to death, then swallows.  Sad to say, if you get attacked by an anaconda, I have no advice for you at all.  But think about how the instructions end: “Be sure you have your knife.  Be sure your knife is sharp.”  I don’t know how to prepare you for an anaconda attack.  But today, I do have a much more important--and helpful--warning.  We’re in a series now on what it means to be the church.  We’re looking at seven letters Jesus wrote to seven churches in the first century…letters that I believe were intended for all churches in all times, including ours.  And we’re asking the question, “Based on what Jesus said to that church, what would He say to us today?”  This Sunday, we'll take a look at Rev. 2:12-17, in which Jesus tells us what we REALLY need to watch out for.  Want to make sure your knife is sharp?  I'll see you Sunday. 

Don't Be Afraid

Do you know what command is found most frequently in Scripture?  “Fear not.”  It’s what God told Moses before he went to confront Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world.  It’s what Isaiah told king Hezekiah when an army hundreds of thousands strong was on its way to invade tiny Judah.  It’s what the angels said to the shepherds on the night of Christ’s birth.  And it’s what Jesus said to a church in modern-day Turkey 2000 years ago.  We’re studying the seven letters found in chapters two and three of Revelation because I believe that Jesus meant them to encourage and warn and instruct all of His churches until He returns.  As we get ready to celebrate 50 years of our church’s existence, and as we get ready to start some exciting new things, I think we need to see what these ageless letters have to say to us.

            This second letter (Rev. 2:8-11) was written to the church in the city of Smyrna. Smyrna was a large city, with over 200,000 inhabitants.   Smyrna was also a wealthy city, because it had a long history of loyalty to Rome.  Perhaps that’s why, during the lifetime of Jesus (23 AD), the Roman Senate voted to allow the Smyrnans to build a temple for the worship of the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar.  Emperor worship was compulsory throughout the empire.  All you had to do is go once a year to one of these temples, burn a handful of incense and say “Caesar is Lord.”  For the average Roman citizen, this was no problem.  They believed in dozens of gods; why not add Caesar to the mix?  They thought of it more in patriotic than religious terms; for them, it was like pledging allegiance to the flag or taking one’s hat off when the national anthem was played.  But for the Smyrnan Christians, this was a huge fact of life.  Smyrna was proud of its status as an extremely patriotic city.  To have a small group of people who refused to pay homage to their emperor was intolerable. 

            Jesus mentions three things the Smyrnan Christians were going through.  First, He mentions “afflictions.”  That same word is translated “persecution” in v. 10.  Second, He mentions poverty.  Why would the Christians be poor in a city that had great wealth?  Because the Christians were seen as unpatriotic heretics, most of them couldn’t find work.  Third, he mentions slander from a “synagogue of Satan.”  Now, before you conclude that there is serious anti-Semitism going on here, remember that this is a letter dictated by Jesus, a Jew, and written down by John, a Jew.  Judaism was seen in many parts of the empire as a respected alternative religion, and therefore in many places, Jews received certain benefits.  They could, for instance, opt out of emperor worship without being prosecuted.  Some scholars believe that a group of Jews in Smyrna, jealous and hateful toward the Christians, were telling the government, “These people may have Jewish blood, but they’re not Jews.  You shouldn’t give them the same exception you give to us.”  That may be one of the ways they slandered the church.

              In view of all this, how could Jesus say, "Don't be afraid?"  And how does He expect us to respond to the things we fear most?  We'll explore these questions and others this Sunday.

The Long Lost Love Letters

In November of 1944, the height of World War II, Lt Joseph Matthews wrote a letter to his wife, who lived in Greenwich Village, New York City.  In the letter, he shared the kind of intimate thoughts that a couple in love feel for one another.  He told about a mutual friend in the army with him at the time.  He assured her he was okay. And he signed off with, “God is with you.  I love you.”  The letter never reached his wife.  Earlier this year, it arrived at its address, where the current resident, a 27 year old New York woman, opened it.  She was immediately captivated by the letter, and became determined to find Lt Matthews and his wife.  This past May, she managed to locate Matthews’ daughter, who confirmed that the handwriting on the letter was definitely her father’s.  Both he and his wife had passed away, but she and her sister were overjoyed to receive this long-lost note.  No one knows where it had been for nearly 70 years. 

            Put yourself in the position of those daughters.  How exciting would it be to read a letter written by your dad to your mom when they were both in their early 20s?  Wouldn’t you want to know everything it said?  Wouldn’t you treasure every word?  Now think about this: What if God wrote a letter to our church 2000 years ago?  Would you want to read it?  Would you want to interpret it carefully, so that you knew exactly what God was saying to us?  The truth is, God did write a letter to this church 2000 years ago.  In fact, He wrote seven letters to this church, and to all of His churches.  Most people think of Revelation as a book about the end of the world.  But there is more to the last book of the Bible than trying to figure out who the tenth horn of the beast represents.  All this year, we’ve been talking about how to represent Christ well in a non-Christian culture.  But we need to acknowledge that nowhere in Scripture are we told to do this alone.  God created the Church for a reason.  As we here at WBC get ready to celebrate 50 years since our founding, and as we look forward to putting in place some important changes through our Westbury 20/20 plan, I think it’s important for us to talk about what a church is supposed to be.  That’s where these seven letters, found in Rev. 2-3, come in.  For the next seven weeks, all the way up to our 50th anniversary, we'll be looking at these letters on Sunday mornings.  What was Jesus saying to these churches?  What is He saying to us today?

The Point of it All

School just started a couple weeks ago.  One of my least-favorite memories from my school days were the infamous big projects that teachers assign.  Somewhere, in some long-forgotten textbook they use in education schools—probably authored by Heinrich Himmler—there is the suggestion that kids don’t learn best from reading books and listening to lectures and taking tests.  They need to do some big projects.  So we have, for instance, Science Fairs.  Here’s a tip for teachers: Kids hate the big projects.  We don’t really learn anything.  We put it off until the last moment, throw something together, then pray for the school bus to run over us the morning of the science fair so we won’t have to face the wrath we deserve for doing a terrible job.  You know which kids DON’T hate big projects?  The ones whose parents did the projects for them.  So you have little Timmy, who wins the Science Fair.  Little Timmy, who can’t even tie his own shoes, has managed to build a working internal combustion engine.  He has charts and graphs that look like they were produced by a Fortune 500 marketing firm and a power point presentation narrated by Morgan Freeman.  And you stand next to him with some earthworms in a Dixie cup full of dirt, and a few notes written with a sharpie on the back of a pizza box.  And here’s the worst part of all:  Little Timmy has the nerve to boast and brag and lord it over you and every other third grader that he won the Science Fair.  This is infuriating and unjust, because everyone knows his engineer father and graphic designer mother did all the work.

For the last several weeks, we’ve been talking about hope as we've studied 1 Corinthians 15.  Our hope is in Jesus Christ.  Because of Him, we know where our life is headed.  Our destiny is so incredible, it by far outweighs the very worst that can happen in this life.  Yet if we’re not careful, our hope can turn into triumphalism.  We can become like little Timmy: arrogant, self-righteous hypocrites who look down on the rest of the world because we’re headed for Heaven…when the cold truth is, we didn’t do anything to deserve this hope we have.  So what is the point of it all?  What difference should this hope make in the way we live?  That’s what v. 58 is about.  We'll explore v. 58 this Sunday in my sermon, and talk about how our hope should change the way we live. 

Books to Recommend

Someone asked me Sunday if I had any good books to recommend.  As a matter of fact, I have read three books recently that made a significant impact on me:

Who is This Man, by John Ortberg is excellent.  It was a tough one to put down.  Ortberg looks at the remarkable impact that Jesus made on our world.  Reading this book, I was struck by how, even if I didn't believe Jesus was the Son of God, I would not be able to deny the fact that He is the single most influential person in human history; pretty amazing for a homeless Jewish teacher from 2000 years ago.  This is the best book on Jesus I've read since The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey (more on him below).

The Searchers, by Joseph Loconte.  No, this isn't the John Wayne movie, although that's one of my personal favorites.  It's the story of the two men who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus.  Loconte takes that story of two men searching for spiritual truth and brings it into the present day.  This is a very well-written book that is a pleasure to read.   It's also a great book to give to a non-Christian who is asking spiritual questions.

Every Good Endeavor, by Tim Keller.  Keller's book is written for non-ministers who wonder how to do their job in a way that is honoring to God.  As always, Keller makes some great, thought-provoking points. 

One more that I HAVEN'T read:

The Question That Never Goes Away, by Philip Yancey. This book was written after the Newtown shootings and the Boston Marathon bombing, and explores the old question of why God allows such things to happen.  I haven't read the book yet but I list it here for three reasons: 1) Yancey is my favorite author, and all of his books are worth your time.  2) This is the question that he has explored time and again in his writing.  He never fails to shed life on this difficult topic.  3) For a limited time, you can get the book (which hasn't even been released by the publisher yet) for $7.99 on electronic devices only. 

You 2.0

Three guys were drinking coffee together one morning, and the conversation took an uncharacteristically profound turn as one of them asked, “What do you want your family and friends to say when they’re standing around your casket someday?”  He then said, “As for me, I want them to say, ‘He taught me how live.  I’m a better person because of him.’”  The second guy said, “I want them to say, ‘I could always count on him.  He never let me down.’”  The third guy thought a while, then said, “I want them to say, ‘Hey, look!  He’s moving!’”

            I’m with that third guy.  Yet medical science and the Bible both tell me that I will die someday.  Our hope tells us that the third guy will get his wish…if he’s in Christ Jesus, his death is not final, and ours isn’t either.  Last week, we talked about how our ultimate hope isn't that our souls will go somewhere apart from our bodies; ultimately, it’s about being resurrected in a physical, bodily form to live on a New Earth.   I know one major question we all have is, “What sort of bodies will we have in Heaven?”  On one hand, this question betrays our vanity.  We live in a world where countless women would give anything to look like the airbrushed supermodels we see on a magazine cover, where men waste thousands of dollars on fitness equipment, in a vain hope they will magically look like the guy on the P90X commercial.  So when we ask questions about Heaven, some of it is rooted in a desire to look the way we’ve always wanted.  We want to believe that in Heaven, we’ll be able to eat chicken-fried bacon and Blue Bell without getting lovehandles.  But on a deeper level, it speaks to our desire for hope.  It is hard to hope in that which you cannot comprehend.  If God simply said, “Trust me on this one, you’ll have new bodies in Heaven, but I can’t give you any more details,” it would be hard to feel hopeful.  We’d still have questions, like, “Will I look like myself in Heaven?  Will I recognize my friends and loved ones?  What sorts of abilities will my new body have?  Will I still get sick, get hurt, get older, and die a second time?”  Fortunately, His Word has something to say about what our bodies will be like.

This Sunday, we'll look once again at 1 Corinthians 15, and see what sorts of bodies we can look forward to. 

Westbury 20/20: Now What?

As you probably know by now, last Sunday morning this church voted to approve the plan for future growth and outreach that was proposed by the Westbury 20/20 team.  There were 315 ballots cast on eight proposals.  One proposal received 84% approval.  Another received 88% approval, and the rest were all over 90%.  So today, I need to say three things to you, our church family.

               First of all, thank you.  Thank you to the members of the 20/20 team for your vision and hard work and courage.  Thank you to my fellow ministers for showing those same qualities every day.  Thank you to the church family for your difficult questions, your honesty in expressing concerns, your trust in us and your willingness to take some uncomfortable, somewhat scary steps to position ourselves to reach people we’re not currently reaching. I can’t overstate this.  In far too many churches, if a pastor proposes change—especially change to the worship service and the sanctuary—he might as well start looking for another job.  I feel very, very grateful to be pastor of this church. 

               Second, I want to speak to those who feel very anxious about all of this.  Some of you voted no.  Some of you voted “yes,” but have real misgivings about what this is all going to mean.  I realize that change and growth aren’t easy or painless, so I understand your feelings.  In fact, I share your concerns.  Every member of this church is valuable, not just the people we haven’t reached yet.  In the future, when you have concerns or questions, please feel free to talk to me or another staff member.  As families go, we're a big one, but we are a family still, and you matter to us.

               Third, now the real work begins!  These eight proposals aren’t all going to get done in the next few weeks.  My fellow ministers and I are presently working on a list of action steps to get these proposals accomplished in the most effective way possible, and we will let you know when we need your help.  For now, here’s what you can do:

               You can get ready.  We will need many people in this church who don’t currently have a ministry to embrace one over the days to come.  Some will be needed in the nursery.  Some will be needed as greeters.  Some will be needed as leaders or behind-the-scenes workers in our new worship service.  And there are dozens of other volunteer needs that will arise as we go.  Pray about how you can be a part of this process of growth. 

               You can give.  Our church budget needs your continued faithful giving, but nothing about 20/20 will be in our new budget.  So for those of you who feel led to give over and above your regular tithe, our finance committee has set up a designated account.  This account will fund expenses that come up this year related to operational part of 20/20, like expenses involved in the new worship service, new small groups, etc.  It will also raise funds to purchase the new sign or screen. If you have a preference which of these projects your designated gift goes toward, feel free to let us know on your check.  Or just write, “Westbury 20/20” in the memo line, and we’ll use it where it’s needed most.    

               Most of all, you can pray.  Pray that our church is unified as we move forward.  Whenever a church does something to reach out, the Devil doesn’t like it.  He is going to try to divide us; you can count on that.  But greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world.  Pray that we would reach new people and lead the lost to saving faith and the saved to spiritual growth.  Most of all, pray for the Holy Spirit to revive us, to give us a hunger for more of Him and a passion for the lost. 

               Once again, thank you for agreeing to go on this journey.  I am excited about the future of Westbury Baptist Church!