…but it can be exciting too!

Just a note that I’m moving my online presence over to Substack. I’ll be leaving Walking Together Ministries up for probably most of the year, but all new posts will be over at Substack.

It’s been a great run! I hope to do more actual writing over there. This site has largely become just a place to post my weekly sermon manuscripts. You can still access those over there, updated weekly, hosted through our church site but accessible through the “Sermons” tab on the homepage of my Substack.

I’ll likely also pull some of the more interesting and interacted with posts from here over there along and along, but, in general, just a new day and a new platform.

Here’s a bit of an explanation:

Matthew 16

²¹ From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” ²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

I was once asked to speak at an associational outreach event at a lake picnic area in Georgia a number of years ago. There were a few of us who spoke and then some folks sang and then some folks shared their testimonies. The people enjoying the lake and picnic area were invited to join us.

One of the speakers was a guy who was a bit older than me. He was a solid guy, a strong guy with big hands. He told his story: how he came to know Jesus and the difference that Jesus had made in his life. At a certain point in his story, he took up a large nail and what looked like a 2×4 board. He began to talk about the cross, about the crucifixion of Jesus. He talked about how Jesus was nailed to a cross of wood, much like the wood that he held in his hand. He held up the large nail and talked about how the nails were driven into the hands and feet of Jesus.

At a certain point, he called two men forward and asked them to hold the board. He told them to brace themselves and to hold the board firmly and outright before them. He then continued to talk about the horror of the crucifixion and how Jesus was nailed to that cross. The two men stood before him, holding the 2×4 out. He, the speaker, held the nail.

He built up to a crescendo and proclaimed, “They took our Savior, and put Him on the cross, and drove nails into His hands! They nailed Jesus to the cross!” And then, he took his hand, the hand with the nail in it, and reared it back, and then brought it forward, slamming it into the board and, to our amazement, driving the nail all the way into the board with his hand until the head of the nail was flush with the board.

In one fast, strong, powerful moment, that man drove a nail through the board with his hand!

He then called those watching to remember the pain that Jesus felt and to give their lives to Jesus!

It was all quite moving and powerfully dramatic. I saw him do that with a nail and a board once again at another event sometime after that.

That was what he would do. That was his great moment of invitation to audiences. He would drive nails through boards with his bare hands. He must have done it countless times.

Some years later I was talking with a friend of mine from that area. I mentioned that story. She remembered the man well. She knows him. She told me that, at one speaking event, he went to do the trick with the nail and the board. Two guys held the board out before them. He reared back his hand with the nail in it. He brought his hand slamming down on the board. But something happened. Maybe the nail hit a knot. Maybe it was something else. Regardless, when he brought his hand down on the board, the nail did not go forward through the board. Instead, the tip of the nail stopped fast on the board and the back of the nail was driven up into and through the man’s hand.

Church, sooner or later, the cross must become real to us. The spectacle of it must become a living reality for us. What happened to that gentleman physically, needs to happen to all of us spiritually! The cross must become real to us.

In Matthew 16, Jesus talked about following His way. What He said was startling:

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Let us consider the place of the cross in walking The Jesus Way.

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Lamentations 1

¹² “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. ¹³ “From on high he sent fire; into my bones he made it descend; he spread a net for my feet; he turned me back; he has left me stunned, faint all the day long. ¹⁴ “My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by his hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck; he caused my strength to fail; the Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand. ¹⁵ “The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. ¹⁶ “For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.” ¹⁷ Zion stretches out her hands, but there is none to comfort her; the Lord has commanded against Jacob that his neighbors should be his foes; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them. ¹⁸ “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity. ¹⁹ “I called to my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city, while they sought food to revive their strength. ²⁰ “Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death. ²¹ “They heard my groaning, yet there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. You have brought the day you announced; now let them be as I am. ²² “Let all their evildoing come before you, and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my groans are many, and my heart is faint.”

The words of the classic 1787 hymn, “How Firm a Foundation,” describe the purpose of God’s discipline:

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design

Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

If you listen closely to that, you will see that the author points to three aspects of discipline that God sends upon the believer:

1. Our “dross”: those things in our life that should not be there.
2. God: He who designs and implements the flame of discipline.
3. “The flame”: God’s instrument of discipline.

These three elements are likewise present in Lamentations.

Lamentations is a fascinating book in that it considers the causes of Judah’s woe and desolation and destruction from different angles. We might say there is an order to these causes. We have argued earlier that not all human suffering is punishment for sin. To say that it is is to heap guilt upon people who may be hurting because of calamities arising from Satanic attack or simply the treachery of living in a fallen and dangerous world. No, not all suffering is punishment for sin. But to say that is not to say that no suffering is punishment for sin. In fact, sometimes suffering is punishment.

This is the case with Judah in Lamentations. The second half chapter 1, verses 11–22, will make this perfectly clear. But it will also give us deeper glimpses into the multi-faceted “causes” of their suffering. This is helpful insofar as the three causes mentioned here are always present when suffering results from sinfulness. To miss one of these, is to have a skewed understanding of what is happening when God punishes sinfulness.

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John 14

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

In a fascinating 2017 article entitled “Italian Runner Wins Venice Marathon After All The Favorites Take A Wrong Turn,” we read the following:

It’s fair to say things were not supposed to go this way at the Venice Marathon.

It would’ve been little surprise if Kenya’s Gilbert Kipleting Chumba had won the race Sunday — or maybe it could have been his countryman David Kiprono Metto. And, in fact, both of those favorites were among the leaders roughly 16 miles into the marathon.

Then, they took a wrong turn.

A cluster of motorcycles and cars that had been in front of the runners left the planned route—as they were supposed to, Enrico Jacomini says…

But the small group of runners leading the race followed them anyway, straying more than 100 hundred meters off course and apparently onto a main thoroughfare…

Delayed by about 2 minutes…the favorites ultimately lost out to Eyob Ghebrehiwet Faniel, a local who was reportedly running in only his second marathon…

Now, he is the first Italian man to win the Venice Marathon in 22 years. He won the race in 2:12:16—which is better than all but two times set by Americans this year, according to Sports Illustrated.

“He was doing well,” Jacomini says, “and this was just a lucky circumstance.”

I believe my favorite part of the article may be what the winner, Eyob Faniel, said:

“Today’s race shows that the work is paying off,” Faniel said after the marathon, according to the IAAF. “It was not an easy race as I had to run alone on the Ponte della Libertà. I dedicate the win to myself as I have always believed in my work despite all the difficulties.”

I mean…I suppose what happened in that race might show that Faniel’s work is “paying off,” or it might show that those who were faster than him were just really dedicated to following the pace cars!

Enrico Jacomini concludes with the following:

“I’ve been following athletics for 55 years and I’ve been a part of the international federations, I’ve been manager of many organizations,” Jacomini adds. “And I’ve never seen anything like this.”[1]

Pretty amazing story! It illustrates something that is true of marathons as well as of life: Winning the prize depends a lot on choosing the correct way!

Tellingly, Jesus will use this word of Himself, in one of the most famous verses in the New Testament, John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

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Lamentations 1

 ⁴ The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly. ⁵ Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe. ⁶ From the daughter of Zion all her majesty has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer. ⁷ Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was none to help her, her foes gloated over her; they mocked at her downfall. ⁸ Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away. ⁹ Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible; she has no comforter. “O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!” ¹⁰ The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her precious things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you forbade to enter your congregation. ¹¹ All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. “Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised.”

On May 11, 1895, Stephen Crane published his book of poems, The Black Riders and Other Lines. The first poem reads:

Black riders came from the sea.

There was clang and clang of spear and shield,

And clash and clash of hoof and heel,

Wild shouts and the wave of hair

In the rush upon the wind:

Thus the ride of Sin.[1]

Crane was an atheist, but he certainly got the nature of sin right here! By depicting sin as “black riders”—heavily armed, loud, chaotic, emerging from the sea—Crane rightly pointed to the ruthless and destructive nature of sin.

Sin destroys.

Sin ravages.

Sin wreaks havoc.

This is certainly the picture of Judah’s sins that emerges from Lamentations 1.

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Philippians 2

⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus

I would like for you all to meet an interesting and controversial man. This is Neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero. Who is Sergio Canavero? Perhaps the headline of an article that appeared last year at IFLScience.com will help answer that: “Controversial Neurosurgeon Behind 2017’s ‘Head Transplant’ Now Working towards a Brain Transplant.” And then this charming subtitle: “The brain of an old person would be put into a body that is young.”

That is right. Sergio Canavero wants to do a full brain transplant.

Now, I am not great at matters of science. But, I must say, this is the kind of science I find fascinating. Listen to this:

Neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero hits headlines every now and then, usually due to claims about taking heads from one thing and placing them on the body of another. As well as several head transplants performed on animals, he has even claimed to have operated on humans—albeit dead ones—at Harbin Medical University in China in 2017.

“The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done,” Canavero said to The Telegraph after the dead human to dead human head transplant.  “A full head swap between brain-dead organ donors is the next stage. And that is the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition which is imminent.”

Such claims have been met with skepticism by other neuroscientists and medical professionals. Author and neuroscientist Dean Burnett wrote in The Guardian that calling the head transplant a “success” as certain publications had, was a stretch.

“Call me a perfectionist if you must, but I genuinely think that any surgical procedure where the patients or subjects die before it even starts is really stretching the definition of ‘success’ to breaking point,” he wrote, adding that he may have “attached” major nerves and blood vessels between the two cadavers, but that’s a far cry from what you’d need to be able to achieve to conduct a head transplant.

“You can weld two halves of different cars together and call it a success if you like,” he added, “but if the moment you turn the key in the ignition the whole thing explodes, most would be hard pressed to back you up on your brilliance.”[1]

Canavero goes on to say that brain transplants are inevitable. The writer of the editorial scoffs at the idea.

I do not pretend to know if that is possible or not. As an ignorant outsider on such things, all I can say is I have questions! And, based on other articles, so do many others. But is a fascinating idea, even if it does sound like science fiction more than science: Putting a new brain in somebody and having it function.

Interestingly, the New Testament speaks of us getting a new mind, the mind of Christ. The mind is different than the brain, of course. The brain is an organ. We associate it with the mind and consider the two to be linked, but the mind involves the intangible aspects of thought and awareness.

The scriptures speak of our minds being renewed, being changed. This idea is so fundamental to the Christian life that we can say that one simply cannot walk The Jesus Way without having the mind of Christ. But what does this mean? How does this work? The key text for this is Philippians 2:5.

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We stood and watched the house burn. I was a pastor in South Georgia, a little town called Dawson. Just a couple of houses down from the parsonage where my daughter, wife, and I lived, a house was on fire. I cannot remember if it was the firetrucks or a concerned church member who alerted us to what was happening, but we quickly found ourselves standing across the street with some members of the church and the young lady who had grown up in that house.

And we watched the house burn.

The girl was in tears. We tried to comfort her and encourage her as best we could. I said something like, “I am so sorry. I truly am. But I thank God that nobody was in the house, that nobody was hurt.”

An elderly lady in our church was standing there. She decided that I needed help in understanding what was happening. “It is not losing the house that is hurting her. It is losing all the memories that happened in the house.”

That is always how it goes with such tragedies, is it not? It is not the home, it is the memory of all that happened in that home, of lives lived in that home.

In other words, there are emotional and mental realities that transcend wood and paint and nails and shingles. It is about more than these things.

In 586 BC, Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, and the temple was destroyed. The Jews were taken into captivity in Babylon. The loss of their home was devastating. And, here too, it was not merely the physical devastation, though that was hard enough. It was more than that. But, in fact, it was more than even memories and emotions that so inflicted the Jews. That temple represented the presence of God with His people.

In other words, for God’s people, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was, above all else, a spiritual upheaval, a spiritual devastation, with deep theological and psychological ramifications. The loss of that city and the loss of the temple said something about their relationship with God and about what was happening in their relationship with Him.

Lamentations reflects the depths of the Jews’ woe concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the exile of the people of God to Babylon. The first three verses of the book carefully lay out the fundamental components of the calamity.

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John 15:1–11

¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

As we sit here right now, a bitter, high profile, public dispute among a recently divorced Hollywood power couple continues to rage. The divorce itself between the two A-list stars has been settled after much fighting and maneuvering. But the conflict continues between the couple, primarily over one, specific, very valuable asset: a vineyard in France, the Château Miraval.

Formerly 50/50 owners of the chateau and vineyard, the husband now alleges that the wife violated a verbal agreement that she would offer him first right of purchase if ever she wanted to sell. She, on the other hand, claims she did offer it to him to buy but that he tried to forced her to sign a restrictive Non-disclosure Agreement disavowing some of her allegations against him in order for him to finalize the sell.

It is a fascinating and very sad situation.

Who knew that the great question in this very public and acrimonious divorce would come down to this: Who owns the vineyard?

That vineyard, again, is very, very valuable. Ownership of it matters, a lot. It is prized, deeply, and it is likely that maneuvering on both sides will continue for some time before the courts ever figure it out.

Who owns the vineyard?

As it turns out, according to John 15, in the Kingdom of God Jesus and His bride are also in partnership in a vineyard. I say “partnership,” but, really, there are major differences! First of all, there is no question of who owns God’s vineyard. The Lord God does. It is His and His alone. And there is no dispute concerning the operation of the vineyard. God’s word is very clear on how the vineyard works. Even so, in John 15, Jesus instructs us on the operation of the vine, on how it works, on how fruit is produced, on what is expected of it, and on how the imagery of the vineyard can guide us as we walk The Jesus Way.

As it turns out, God too is concerned about His vineyard. Let us see how Jesus uses this amazing image to lead us.

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Hebrews 5:11–14    

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

On May 7, 2002, one of the most memorable speeches ever delivered by an American was voiced to the public. It happened in a press interview. Here is how the speech went.

…we’re sitting here, and I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re in here talking about practice. I mean, listen, we’re talking about practice. Not a game! Not a game! Not a game! We’re talking about practice. Not a game; not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last, not the game, we’re talking about practice, man. I mean, how silly is that? We’re talking about practice. I know I’m supposed to be there, I know I’m supposed to lead by example, I know that. And I’m not shoving it aside like it don’t mean anything. I know it’s important. I do. I honestly do. But we’re talking about practice, man. What are we talking about? Practice? We’re talking about practice, man! We’re talking about practice! We’re talking about practice…We ain’t talking about the game! We’re talking about practice, man! When you come to the arena, and you see me play…You see me play, don’t you?

That speech was delivered by Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers, and it has sense established itself as a revered moment in American pop culture. Iverson’s commitment to practice had been questioned. That is what gave rise to that speech. In it, he used the word “practice” 22 times. It was a memorable and fascinating moment, and one that many remember fondly.

Iverson’s point was that if he showed up in the games, why was he being asked about practice?

The writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 5, said:

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Today, we are talking about practice. About training. About growing. In what? in The Jesus Way, in the ways of Christ.

The Jesus Way challenge that we issued last week is this: In 2025—with every decision you face, in every relationship you have, toward every feeling and attitude that is within you, and over the overall direction of your life—will you make a deliberate, intentional decision to ask, “What is The Jesus Way in this situation?” and then live out The Jesus Way?

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Titus 3

¹² When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. ¹³ Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. ¹⁴ And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. ¹⁵ All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Literaryhub.com has posted an article listing some of the more interesting conclusions to letters written by people you might (or might not) have heard of. They are worthy hearing!

“I’m scared,” (Raymond Chandler, 1945, in a letter in which he expressed the fear that his cat, Taki, had developed mind control.)

“With truest wishes for your health and happiness believe me,” (Bram Stoker, author of Dracula)

“Sincerely, later,” (Jack Kerouac, in a letter to Marlon Brando)

“Adieu, adieu, adieu!” (Mark Twain, in “a furious letter to a huckster who tried to sell him an ‘Elixir of Life’ which claimed to cure diseases of which two of his children had died.”)[1]

I love these kinds of lists! It is interesting to see how people of earlier times ended letters and the stories behind them.

Paul ends his letter to Titus in an interesting way and there is a story behind it too. At first glance, it looks like a combination of the mundane and the pastoral, but Paul was a man on a mission and we can be sure that no detail was wasted!

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