How many times have you misjudged someone, thinking they were weak, incapable, or a push-over? Then, unexpectedly, they act out of unforeseen strength to save the day and make a mockery of your precipitous assessment.   King George VI of England was such a man.   Encumbered with a speech impediment, a man of great natural reserve and deference, he was considered by English society to be a royal embarrassment.  He had none of the eloquence, confidence or charm of his elder brother and heir to the throne, Edward VIII.  

But for all of the appearance of strength, Edward had none.  His great love was not a love of duty or country, but a love of self.   His sordid affair with Wallis Simpson led him to abdicate the throne on the eve of Great Britain’s entry into World War II.    In his stead, the timid and unpromising, George VI ascended to the throne.   George hardly looked the part of King.  But for all his apparent weakness and inability, he had a strength none guessed.  His love of country and of duty and his strength of conviction guided Britain through its “finest hour.”  The remarkable story of George’s reign is told in the 2010 movie, “The King’s Speech.”

Outward appearances never define a king.  Samuel learned this when he went to the house of Jesse to anoint a successor to King Saul.   Saul had possessed a kingly bearing.  A head taller than every other man in Israel, Saul had looked like a King.  So Samuel looked for such a man among Jesse’s sons.  But the Lord warned Samuel,

“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  For the Lord sees not as a man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Samuel’s search led him to David, the smallest and least promising of Jesse’s sons, but the one who was a man after God’s own heart. (Acts 13:22)  Outward appearances never define a King.  

Luke’s account of the crucifixion is remarkable in many ways.  It gives scarcely any details about the crucifixion itself, but focuses attention on the reactions of those Jesus encountered as He traveled the way of suffering.   He was met with pity, mockery and bitter anger, but also remarkable and unexpected faith.   At every turn Luke declares the Kingship of Jesus.   Yet, Jesus hardly looks like a King.  To the eye he appears to be victim, not victor.  Luke uses the word ‘spectacle’ to describe the scene.   Those who looked upon this spectacle without faith saw Jesus as anything but a King.   But through faith others saw the King entering His kingdom.   Outward appearances never define a King. 

The “Daughters of Jerusalem” are warned by Jesus not to weep for Him, but for themselves.   They were looking at the cross and the Christ all wrong.   They did not understand what was unfolding before them.  They saw a victim suffering injustice, rather than a King bearing justice.  How do you look at the events of Good Friday?  What is your response to the cross?  Does it evoke pity, mockery, or despair?  Or does it call you to repentance, faith, and hope?

Join us this Lord’s Day as we examine Luke 23:26-49 and consider the Kingship of Christ, powerfully declared, brazenly rejected and savingly believed. 

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

Southerners are lousy at isolation.  Untrained in this discipline by a lack of inclement winter weather, we tear through our stock of quarantine supplies by noon on day one.  We love to prep for disaster, but have little patience to live within the parameters of our preparations.   We cancel everything in order to stay home, then stand all day with our noses pressed to the glass, itching to get out to see “what’s going on.”    Like school children after the first two weeks of summer vacation, we become quickly bored.

As long as our internet does not go out and take with it our Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, we may actually make it.   Surrounded by bread, milk and our snack trove, we survive our brief isolation by binge-watching.   For my wife and I, our nightly habit is British crime drama.  We especially like the adaptations of Ann Cleeves’ crime novels.   Her stories are complex.   The obvious culprits are never the perpetrators.   Only slowly does the truth come into focus as the “DCI” sifts through seemingly endless strands of contradictory evidence.   Cleeves’ stories give an appreciation for the complexity of criminal investigation, warning of the dangers of precipitous judgment.   To get to the truth, we cannot take a cursory look.

Perhaps we love fictional crime drama because it satisfies our need to see justice done, without complicating it with the complexities of our own sin.   In sixty minutes, confusion gives way to clarity and good triumphs over evil no matter what means it uses to get there.   But our lives are not so tidy.  In our real story, we are the fugitives who face a justice none of us can bear.   Yet the scales of God’s justice do not weigh the arguments for and against our guilt, but rather God’s justice and His mercy.

It is remarkable how much legal imagery the Bible uses to picture our condition.  The Old Testament anticipates a redeemer who will set prisoners free.  In the New Testament, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are pictured as advocates, God the Father is often likened to a judge, redemption depends upon a declaration of judicial righteousness and our condemnation is set aside in Christ.  

History’s greatest courtroom drama is recorded in the Bible in Luke 22 and 23.  Following an irregular grand jury indictment, Jesus is brought before the criminal court on charges trumped up religious rivals.  In Pontius Pilate’s courtroom we see the greatest miscarriage of justice in human history.  Everyone is guilty – the judge, the prosecutors, the jury – everyone that is except the one on trial.  He alone is innocent.  Evidence is ignored and the judge is captive public opinion and his own corrupt history.  Despite his declarations of Jesus’ innocence, Pontius Pilate condemns him to death and compounds injustice by releasing a man who is truly guilty of all the charges leveled against Jesus.

As spectators, we recoil at this apparent travesty of justice.  But we must look more deeply.   No cursory examination of Jesus’ trial reveals the extent of the guilty.   It is easy to spot the guilt of the Sanhedrin, of the crowds, of Judas, of Pilate, and of Barabbas.  But the investigation must go deeper.  For we are not just spectators of this drama.  Jesus is not a hapless victim of human injustice, but a willing sacrifice to divine justice – justice that is rightly ours to bear.   It is not just Barabbas’ cross that Jesus bore, but ours.   God is just – His justice cannot ignore our crimes or allow them to go unpunished – but in His mercy He is the justifier of those who have faith in Christ.  Because of this we can have peace with God and with one another.  This my friend is good news.

Join us this Lord’s Day as we examine Luke 22 and 23 and consider the greatest courtroom drama in history as it unfolds Christ’s innocence and condemnation for our guilt and pardon. 

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

“Resistance is futile!”  This infamous malediction from Star Trek’s Borg collective has lodged firmly in the bosom of post-modern pop culture.   Appearing in everything from alternative music to political non-fiction, the Borg’s ominous mantra epitomizes as sense of hopeless resignation – usually resignation to the will of some irresistible power.   History is filled with ‘lost causes’ and futile resistance.  The tyranny of the statement, “resistance is futile” inspires generations of radicals and revolutionaries willing to venture everything on their lost cause.

Our society, birthed as it was in revolution, harbors a spirit of resistance.   Surely resisting every form tyranny is a virtue.   With slogans such as “Don’t tread on me” and “Come and take it!”  our brief national history is one of fierce independence.    Like Pa Ingalls’ we demand a life which is ‘Free and Independent.’   Resistance is woven into the fabric of our culture and consciousness.    Absolute freedom and self-determination are cardinal virtues.   Or are they?

Is resistance always virtuous or does it easily become an outlet for our total depravity?   Long before the Borg announced “resistance is futile” the Bible declared the same truth regarding God’s will.  Job and his friends debated the futility of resisting God’s judgements.   Isaiah wrote of God’s sovereign power over creation.  The Psalmists declare God’s inscrutable wisdom.  And in Romans 9, men facing God’s decrees rightly declare, “who can resist His will?”  

The scope of God’s sovereignty is absolute and pervasive.   It is irresistible.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes God’s the scope of God’s sovereignty well when it asks.

What are the decrees of God? The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 7

Even before the beginning of all things the Lord decreed and ordained every last detail that would come to pass.   He did not consult anyone nor does he change.   He depends upon nothing he has made, nor is contingent upon anything that is. There is no resistance to his will.   Resisting God is futile!  And more than that, when we understand God’s goodness and grace, why would we want to?   Yet, the ugly reality of our sin is that we do resist.  We have rebelled against God’s grace?  Every sin is a rejection of God’s Lordship.  Our spirit of resistance is not merely an American ideal, but deeply ingrained in our fallen nature.  Who can resist his will?  Resistance is futile – but it does not stop us from trying.

But we are in good company.   Many faithful men in the Bible struggled with obedience.   God’s patience toward them should encourage us to stop kicking against the goads.   God’s call to Moses in Exodus 3 is remarkable.   Late in life, Moses receives the call he always wanted.   Out of a burning bush at the foot of a desolate mountain, God spoke and called Moses to deliver his people.   Moses had waited a lifetime for this opportunity.   But now in is waning years, was it too late? 

Moses’ response to God is somewhat unexpected.   The man who forty years ago rose quickly and decisively to right every wrong and to seek justice for every injustice, now wavers.   He attempts repeatedly to excuse himself from God’s call.   Four times Moses makes excuses and offers objection after objection.   Finally, he simply asks God to find someone else.    But resistance is futile.  God’s call is a command not an offer – a promise, not a proposition.  

Have you resisted God’s calling?   The calling to come to Christ or to serve Him?  How is that working out?  Peace will never come by resisting the Lord’s good and gracious calling.   Resistance is futile.   Moses had to learn this.  And so do we.   God was patient and kind to Moses, even in his struggle to obey.  And he is patient and kind with us.   Join us this Lord’s Day as we examine Exodus 3:11-4:17 and consider the futility and the foolishness of resisting God.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

No caller is more persistent Rachel from ‘Vehicle Services.’   She has been trying to reach you.   She wants to speak to your vehicle’s owner with critical information about the warranty.   And no anti-spam strategy dulls her enthusiasm or tenacity.  

If you ignore her, she barrages you with even more calls.  If you attempt to speak to Paul, her associate, to explain that you have no warranty and need no warranty, she continues to call.   If you register her number with donotcall.gov, she uses another of her 10,000 listings.   She is unstoppable.   And despite her bold claims, even Attorney General, Leslie Rutledge cannot impede the indefatigable Rachel or her friend Veronica who calls about your student loans.

Most calls these days are from spammers and scammers, suspicious characters who are up to no good.   So, we don’t answer numbers not in our contact lists.  Our phones routinely report incoming calls as ‘Spam-Risk’ or ‘Telemarketer.’   Even familiar numbers are often spoofed by anonymizing software to give numbers in the Caribbean a local area code and exchange.   I have even gotten spam calls from my own number!   This intrusion of suspicious callers makes us suspicious of any calling.  And of every calling.

In a recent interview with NPR, Adam Smith, editor of the Nobel Prize’s official notification website, NobelPrize.org, laughed that often Nobel Laureates are suspicious when he calls.  And they often hang up on him, thinking he is a crank caller.  Especially since he calls them late at night or in the wee hours of the morning to preempt the flood of calls that inevitably follow once the announcement becomes public.  

How many calls have we ignored or hung up because we suspected a crank caller or spam-risk?  We all want to pursue our calling — to fulfill the great purpose for which we exist.  But every calling begins with a caller.  And while some callers cannot be trusted, there are calls we need to take.  Are you able to distinguish the spam-risk from the life-changing call?

Moses felt as sense of calling.  But he ran ahead of the God’s call.  He did things his own way in his own time.  As a result, Israelites rejected him and Egyptians sought to kill him.  He fled to Midian and settled into mid-life in the obscurity of life as a shepherd. Hardly the mighty hero, he grew into old age with the sheep, while Egyptian oppression continued unchecked.  But God was at work. He was not through with Moses.  At just the right time, God calls him into action.   Out of a burning bush at the foot of a desolate mountain at the far reaches of Moses’ pasturage, God spoke and called Moses to deliver his people.

Moses receives the call he always wanted. But why now? Why him? Why not someone else?  Perhaps this is a divine spam-risk? A scam? A crank call? Moses fears the caller and repeatedly attempts to hang up on the calling.   But for all Rachel’s persistence as a caller, God is more so — tenacious and effective.  His gifts and his calling are irrevocable.  His calling cannot be dodged or declined.  And the calling of Moses has important things to teach each of us about our own calling. 

Every Christian has a vocation.  Every follower of Christ is gifted and called to serve the Lord, the Body of Christ, and the world.  What is your calling?  Have you heard?  Have you heeded?   Or did you hang up, thinking God’s call was a spam-risk, a scam, or a crank-call? Join us as we examine Exodus 3:1-10 and consider how the call of Moses is unique, but also an important pattern for God’s call in every Christian’s life.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.