Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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Many of my most
treasured memories and friendships revolve around and remain with Clark, New
Jersey's Osceola Presbyterian Church on the corner of Raritan Road and the
Garden State Parkway.
While I left
Osceola sooooooo prematurely
to satisfy my ego needs for high steeples along with their fame and fortune
only to discover too late that
my ladder to ecclesiastical success had been leaning against wrong buildings,
they forgave my selfish exit as we continue to savor love that never lets go.
I'll never forget
one particular kairos moment
that I now know was the genesis of my passion for undershepherding in consonance with the red
letters of the New Testament (especially Matthew 23 with a confessionally
empathetic nod to Philippians 3:12-21).
We received a
major gift to purchase chancel furniture as part of the renovation of the
sanctuary.
Gorgeous.
As the three
really, really, really big chairs for behind the communion table were being
unpacked with one of 'em sooooooo
much bigger than the other two and fit for a king, either Eddie or
Frank or Fred remarked for me to hear, "I wonder how Bob will feel sitting
in that one!"
I joined them in
collective laughter.
Yeeeeeeet it caused me to
wonder...think...pray...and...
I never sat in
it.
My ego has gotten
the best of me in sooooooo many
ways on tooooooo many
occasions over the years - go back to the second sentence-paragraph for one
especially lamentable example - but even mine refused to try to fit into a
chair fit for only...the
King!
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Bikers like to
say, "If I have to explain it to you, you'd never understand anyway."
They're paraphrasing Thomas Aquinas even
if they don't know it: "To one who has faith, no
explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is
possible."
Maybe that's why
Jesus told stories: "This is why I speak...in parables, because seeing
they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."
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Here's another
story about who's/what's fit for only...the
King.
After pledging
her estate to his ministry, a woman rang the doorbell of a fabulously
wealthy televangelist who must have cut out Matthew 19 in a Jeffersonian kinda
way.
He opened the
door and said, "I've been waiting for you. I'm so thankful that
you've recognized this ministry's value and have decided to will your estate to
me."
Upon entering
the mansion with no pretense of humility, she looked around at the opulent
excessiveness fit for a king, and said with a sense of shock and dismay,
"I came here today to provide a copy of my will that gives my entire
estate to you upon my return home to Jesus; but as I look around at everything
in your home that must have cost so much, I find myself asking, 'Where
will my money go?'"
"For the
cause," he said; then continued, "For the cause. Everything you
see in my home is for the cause. Everything you see in my home is to
bring glory to His name. Everything you see here is to honor Him. You
wouldn't expect him to live in a barn?"
I wonder if he'd
ever sang, "Away in a manger, no crib for his bed..."
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Now back to the
bikers and Aquinas.
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Another story
from Matthew 15 about who's/what's fit for only...the King.
A woman cried to
Jesus, "Have mercy on me, O Lord. My daughter is severely oppressed
by a demon."
He did not answer
her.
As His disciples
urged him to continue ignoring her, He declared, "I was sent only to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel."
She moved
closer to Him, then knelt, and begged, "Lord, help me."
He answered,
"It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the
dogs."
She said,
"Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's
table."
Then He
announced, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you
desire."
Her daughter was
healed instantly.
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Now back to the
bikers and Aquinas.
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Pastor Ella Jane Coley
of Bixby, Oklahoma comments on the story from Matthew 15 in a way that helps us
to get it/Him.
"She had a
need," Ella Jane observes, "and went to the Source. Her pleas
did not move Him but her worship did!"
Continuing,
"Jesus wasn't being unkind, but was pulling out of her the essential
ingredient that would get His attention and give her an answer - her
worship! She had to worship Him before she could get His response!
Her worship activated her faith which activated her miracle!"
Concluding,
"There is an essential ingredient in you that God demands, deserves, and
desires above everything else - worship! Your worship will get His
attention! Your worship will open doors into His very presence!
Your worship, especially when circumstances look bleak and it would appear God
is silent will cause God to speak a Word to your situation that will change
everything! Worship your way through the unknown, the insecurities, the
confusion, and the challenges. Your worship will unlock Heaven's
resources. Worship Him, not just in the good times, but worship Him when
things look bleakest. There, in worship, you will receive your
answer!"
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Now back to the
bikers and Aquinas.
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Worship, as Ella
Jane explains, turns trickles into rivers.
David said,
"God inhabits the praises of His people."
The magi got
it/Him: "They fell down and worshipped Him."
It's true.
Wise men still
seek Him.
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Who's got the
best seat in your house?
Who gets your
best?
If everyone who
knows anything about God by
the book says our sanity, safety, security, and salvation depend
more upon worship than anything or anyone else,...
Now go back to
the bikers and Aquinas.
Psst.
If you get
it/them, they're just saying every season of life at His best begins, continues, and concludes
with King-sized worship.
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Blessings and Love!
1 comment:
Powerful Christmas Eve message. Thanks for the message that is prompting multi layers of thought. In addition to my mantra of giving thanks in all circumstances. I will add worship, worship, worship.
Merry Christmas!
Suzanne
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