Revelation Advent Calendar - Chapter 3

And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (Revelation 3:14–17)

Jesus' message for the church at Laodicea is a harsh one—Steve Camp realizes that sometimes it applies to him, to you, and to me.

Oh Lord, take Your plow to my fallowed ground
Let Your blade dig down to the soil of my soul
For I've become dry and dusty, Lord I know there must be
Richer earth lying below

For I've been living in Laodicea
And the fire that once burned bright, I've let it grow dim
And the very Word I swore that I would die for all has been forgotten
As the world's become my friend

We have turned from Your Law to try to find a better way
Each man does today what is right in his own eyes
We will pay the price for our sinning
We can never know true living, we've exchanged His truth for lies

For I've been living in Laodicea
And the fire that once burned bright, I've let it grow dim
And the very Word I swore that I would die for all has been forgotten
As the world's become my friend

It is no small of a thing that He's done for you
By shutting the gates of hell upon the cross
We were sentenced once but now we are pardoned
And He chooses to use us though we fall

So while we're living in Laodicea
Keep the fire burning bright, don't let it grow dim
For the very Word we swore that we would die for, it must not be forgotten
Fear the world become a friend

For the very Word we swore that we would die for, it must not be forgotten

BONUS QUOTE:

If you're wondering whether there is a way to get outside the Laodicea city limits in your life, never fear—Jesus is waiting for you! The below quote is often used as an invitation for people who don't know Christ, but it was really written to those who had lost the plot like the Laodiceans.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

 

Revelation Advent Calendar - Chapter 2

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (Revelation 2:2-5)

When I read those words, the phrase "the love you had at first" stood out to me. If you've read this in other translations, you might have read it phrased "...you have left your first love." Reading it in context, though, you'll see that it's not saying "I Jesus am your First Love, and you have left me!" It is saying that the church at Ephesus is still working hard for God, but has forgotten to do the work in love. We learn in the first three verses of I Corinthians 13 that doing good works without love is not what God wants: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."

BUT that doesn't stop people from writing cool songs that use the phrase to mean something a little different. Like, for example, this groovy track from Joe English!

Well the single most thing that's certain
If ever a truth was true
It's that in spite of my many failures
My very first love was You

Lord, the world is filled with lies that make the truth fade from You
But nothing in all creation will ever lessen my love for You

Having Jesus for my first love
Makes the darkest day shine
He has filled me with His Spirit
And I'll love him until the end of time
(And that's a long time!)

There's been a very long list of heartaches
Other loves long ago
But when I finally felt love from You, Lord
I let the loose feelings go

All the pain that hurts the heart and makes the tears freely flow
Will never turn me from You, Lord, or of the love that I've come to know

Having Jesus for my first love
Makes the darkest day shine
He has filled me with His Spirit
And I'll love him until...

If ever there comes a dark time
Where love is nowhere in view
I know that nothing in all creation
Will lessen my love for You

Having Jesus for my first love
Makes the darkest day shine
He has filled me with His Spirit
And I'll love him until...
(And that's a long time!)

Having Jesus for my first love
Makes the darkest day shine
He has filled me with His Spirit
And He's mine for all time!
He is!
Oh yeah!

Revelation Advent Calendar - Chapter 1

 "I've been reading the book of Revelation," I told my son this morning, "and I keep noticing parts that inspired songs that I know. It's been pretty cool. I'm thinking about doing some blog posts about it."

And then my son had an inspired idea.

"Why don't you do a blog Advent calendar?" he said.

Today is December third... a bit late to be starting an advent calendar.

EXCEPT... guess how many chapters there are to the book of Revelation? Twenty-two! That means that if I start today, the last entry will fall on Christmas eve! PERFECT!

So now I present to you: The Christian Life With Michael Blog Music Video Advent Calendar!

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So, the idea of this advent calendar is to find songs that may have been inspired by something from the book of Revelation. In most cases we're not trying to actually tell the story laid out in the book - you can (and should!) read that for yourself. But maybe a little snippet here and there will whet your appetite! Each day I'll start out with a quote from the chapter, then I'll include a YouTube video with the song in it, and I'll paste in the lyrics as well. If you like these songs, seek them out and buy them from the artists, because this will be good stuff. Be forewarned: there will be everything from worhip standards (like day 1) to Christian heavy metal here. Revelation is an eclectic book, so I think it allows for some eclectic music!

Behold, he [Jesus] is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. (Revelation 1:7 ESV)

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet... (Revelation 1:10a ESV)

 

These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the Word of the Lord
And these are the days of Your servant Moses
Righteousness being restored
And though these are days of great trials
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still we are the voice in the desert crying
Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun, at the trumpet call
Lift your voice, it’s the year of Jubilee
And out of Zion’s hill salvation comes

And these are the days of Ezekiel
The dry bones becoming as flesh
And these are the days of Your servant David
Rebuilding a temple of praise
And these are the days of the harvest
The fields are as white in the world
And we are the laborers in Your vineyard
Declaring the Word of the Lord

There’s no god like Jehovah

 

Suffering vs. Faith

I've always had trouble understanding the point of this Bible verse:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. - James 5:13–14 ESV

Today I read that, and suddenly it was crystal clear to me. These aren't actually specific instructions to follow. I mean, those are good things to do, but that's not a "how to" formula for those specific situations. What if you start suffering but you forget to immediately start praying? What if you're cheerful but you're in a library and can't just bust out your favorite Chris Tomlin song? What if you're sick but your cell phone battery is dead, and there are no church elders in shouting distance??

Those verses don't contain specific instructions that you must follow to the letter, like a recipe for baking a cake or a medical prescription to make warts go away. Those are examples of how a Christian might respond appropriately in a given situation. You might feel cheerful because you are thinking about what God has done, but you don't burst into song - instead you begin to pray and thank God for all He's done for you. You might feel sick when you're volunteering with your church youth group - not an "elder" in sight, but a dozen faith-filled teenagers pray for you instead. These are not precise procedures that must be followed. The specific instruction from this passage is this: no matter what happens to you, respond in faith. It's as simple as that!

What Jesus Did For You

It's a good day to think about what Jesus did for you! But let's go beyond John 3:16, shall we?

Did God save us because we were "good people"?

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. - Titus 3:4-7 ESV

Do we have something to live for? Is there any hope for us?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. - 1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV

Some days I feel so angry about things! How can I ever be good enough for God?

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven... - Colossians 1:21-22 ESV

I'm nobody special. I don't even understand God. How could I be part of His family?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. - Ephesians 1:3-10

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Teflon

Photo credit: Polka Dot Images

I've been thinking about Teflon. Teflon is the gray surface on your pots and pans that makes it easier for food not to stick while you're cooking. You can put food on Teflon, and it sits there on it and cooks on it. It won't leap off the Teflon on its own, but once the food is cooked, it's easy enough to get it off of the Teflon. In theory it slides right off. (Now I'm no cook by anyone's stretch of imagination, but even I know that it's wise to spray some cooking spray stuff on there too, because the Teflon isn't always perfect, but let's ignore that elephant in the room right now. Let's pretend that Teflon is a perfect non-stick surface.)

I've also been thinking about a Bible verse. Okay, two Bible verses (one of them quotes the other one):

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
   and with his wounds we are healed.
 - Isaiah 53:5 ESV

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. - 1 Peter 2:24 ESV

I've heard about this pair of Scriptures my whole life. "In Isaiah," the story goes, "it looks at Jesus' healing provision in the present tense, as though the healing is being provided right now. When Peter quotes the prophecy, he puts it in the past tense, showing that our healing was accomplished on the Cross and we are already healed."

That certainly "preaches" when I'm at church and feel fine. It seems a little fishy, though, when I'm in bed with a fever, or throwing up something bad I ate, or suffering from some disease a doctor just told me is not healable by medical science.

So if I'm the healed already, and have been since something like 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on the Cross, how come I still can catch COVID-19?

The answer lies in Teflon. When I drop the egg in my skillet, the egg stays there. It cooks and it fries. It may ooze around the skillet a little bit, but it basically stays there. That is, it stays there UNTIL I pick up my spatula and pick the egg up. Turns out it was never stuck to the Teflon at all. At any time, it could have been removed. It was never attached. The only reason it was there was because I left it there.

When I experience sickness, I don't pretend it's not there. I don't lie and say that I'm feeling fine. I might even see a doctor if it's starting to seem serious. But I also don't give up hope when sickness looks bad. Sometimes when I don't feel good it's tough to keep from getting distracted, but I keep my eyes on Jesus. I know what He's provided for me, and I know what sticks to me and what doesn't. I look to Him as my healer, and I know that the sickness can't stick to me.

I am Teflon.

Live Like There's Every Tomorrow

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. - Romans 13:11-14 NIV

Paul wrote that to the church in Rome thousands of years ago. He was writing to Christians — people who had already given their hearts to Jesus "when they first believed." These days, we call that "salvation", but Paul refers to salvation here as a future thing. Didn't they already have salvation? Weren't they "saved"?

Of course they were! At least, they were the way we use the term today. What I realized when I read this passage this morning was that Paul is talking about our full salvation... not just the salvation of our spiritual selves, which we obtain by putting our faith in Jesus, but the salvation of our bodies and minds, which will happen in the resurrection at the end of time. Jesus will come back, the dead in Christ will rise first, we will meet them in the air, and we will all be changed! (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NIV, 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 NIV)

What Paul is telling them and us here is that we need to seek to live our lives as though this had already happened. Live as though you are already in God's kingdom of light, wrapped in his armor, behaving like someone who has been fully saved, spirit mind and body. Act like Jesus has returned, the book of Revelation has been played out, and eternity has begun. This is the life of faith! This is God's best for us. But if we figuratively stay in bed, if we don't "rise and let Christ shine on us," we won't access this best life that Jesus has made available to us until then.

Paul says we can have it now! Don't live like there's no tomorrow... we're living in the first day of eternity! Let's live like there's every tomorrow!