The Alpha and The Omega

A comes before B. B follows A. This is the essence of sequential ordering. You might say that B's being B is a direct consequence or undeviating result of A's being A. Its happening and meaning comes from its context. We prepared and distributed a musical documentation entitled A Collision. It would be anarchical nonsense to have begun with B Collision. And thus, B follows A. It heaves its inspiration and signification from that which was ordered before it. It consists of a number of songs. Most of them rendered in the acoustical fashion. Simple constructions. Wood and metal strings. Vibrating the air.....Wood and metal singing. Moving the air. Telling of how things will be ok. Regardless of how they seem right now. Something will follow. We are in sequence. And it just so happens we know the beginning and the end. (From the CD cover of B Collision by the David Crowder*Band)

Maybe that didn't make much sense to you. If you don't know much about the David Crowder*Band then you probably won't grasp entirely what it's talking about. Mostly I just want to emphasize what he said about sequence. If I started singing the ABCs you would know what order things were coming. If I were to begin counting you would know that "1" comes first and "2" follows "1" and so on. The thing is, "we are in sequence. And it just so happens we know the beginning and the end." We know how life begins. And we know what sort of tragic happening will eventually come to us all.

Solomon talks a lot about this in Ecclesiastes chapter nine. He says that "the same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad." He says that "good people receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who make promises to God are treated like people who don't."(9:2) And he says that "it seems so tragic that everyone under the sun suffers the same fate."(9:3)

Now, maybe I've just brought a cloud to your sunny day, but this is a realization that we all come to at some point. "Someday my life will be over. I am going to die." Maybe you were having a great day and now you're sitting here, reading about how someday you're going to die. Think about the typical old man. When I think about an old man I think about someone who has lived a lot and has gathered much wisdom from his experiences. I think about someone who is somehow completely selfless, someone who thinks only of others. And I wonder how it is he came to being so. The truth is, it probably comes from this realization. The realization that he is standing on the edge of his life and he will soon be gone. So he no longer thinks of himself so highly, instead he willingly gives things to his friends, his sons, his daughters, his grandchildren. My grandparents are some of the most selfless people I know. I only wish I could see life the way they see it.

I think the fact that everyone dies is something that leads men and women to atheism. They feel (or fear) that all they will ever have is here and now, so they just have their fun and don't worry about being righteous or making promises to God. Solomon thinks so too. He says, "that is why people are not more careful to be good. Instead they choose their own mad course, for they have no hope. There is nothing ahead but death anyway."(9:3) And that seems to be true judging only from what we know in this life.

Let's talk about sequence again. We know that "A" is before "B" and that "2" follows "1." We know there is birth and there is death. We know there is a beginning and an end. Let me brag a little bit about my theatrical debut earlier this month. Our school did a production of Godspell (a musical based on Matthew) and I managed to play the role of Jesus. One of my favorite things about our specific production of Godspell were the costumes, mine specifically. During Act I my shirt had an Alpha (the first letter in the Greek alphabet). During Act II my shirt had an Omega (the last letter in the Greek alphabet). The reason for this is because Jesus says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." (Revelation 22:13) What exactly does this mean?

Considering all that we've already talked about sequence this means that Jesus is life and death, or that he is above and beyond both of them. In Romans chapter six it says that Christ died and "was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God." (6:9-10) Death had no power over Jesus, because he is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega.

Solomon was upset and frustrated that the same fate seems to belong to everyone. Atheists believe that here and now is the only thing that exists, and they have no hope for the future. Paul wrote about this. He says, "We want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)

Jesus broke the power of death and because of this we have the hope of life. Death in this world may seem like the end of the sequence, but Jesus is more than that. Jesus is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega. With Him we can be so much more than the simple sequence of this life.

After Godspell was over Rosemary, my step-mom, gave me a lovely charm. I put it on my key ring and keep it in my pocket. It serves as an awesome reminder of how Jesus is so much more than just a man who walked on Earth and taught a bunch of new ideas. Ever since playing Him in Godspell I've felt a whole lot closer to Him and I feel like I understand a little bit more of what He went through. He is the Son of God. He died for our sins. He was raised and broke the power of death. He is the Alpha and Omega. And because of Him I have a hope of so much more after this life!

Selfish Intelect vs. God's Love

Man guys, it's been over a month! Are any of you feeling kind of burnt out right now? I sure am. I'm really hoping that this here lesson will lift us up. Hopefully I won't bring you down and make you start feeling sad or anything.

This afternoon I've been feeling, just, really burnt out (like I already said). I had one of those afternoons where you seem to be driving around a whole lot, but never getting anywhere. I was going somewhere, but the plans kept changing as I was on my way, or the directions I got were just plain bad, so I ended up driving in circles for awhile. Over all -- I was pretty frustrated. When I went to church tonight I just wasn't in the mood. The worship just really wasn't doing it for me. The lesson tonight just really didn't say anything to me. The people around weren't cheering me up any. -- And then I stopped and realized what all had just happened. Let's back up a second. Those past few sentences: "I, I, me, me, me..."

Remember the last Ecclesiastes lesson I wrote? It was awhile back. All the way back to September 17th. I talked a lot about wisdom. What real wisdom is. Who has any hope for wisdom. All that sort of stuff. Lately I've been reading a lot of 1 Corinthians and when I read chapter 1 it was so in sync with what all that last Ecclesiastes lesson was trying to say.

Christ sent me to preach the Good News -- but not with clever speeches and high-sounding ideas, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. (1:17)

So, starting in verse 17 Paul has already said that God is not speaking to us through really smart words and ideas, but through very simple ways. Let's keep reading in verse 19:

As the Scriptures say, "I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas." So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world's brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe. (1:19-21)

This, to me, seems like the answer that we're looking for. Although the answer isn't very satisfying. Basically, what I get out of that is that no matter how hard we try to understand God there's no way that we can. "...the world would never find him through human wisdom..." I feel like so often we spend our time sitting there discussing God as though he's some sort of math equation that we can solve if only we can find the right formula that we forget the basic, most important part of Christianity. Greg and I had sort of a realization of this at our church's fall retreat where we watched a segment from the "Passion of Christ." It was so sad that even though we spend so much time together talking about and discussing God it had been so long since we had spent any thought on Christ on the cross, the only reason why we have any access to God. We both felt really guilty and cried together on the inside.

Looking back at those verses from 1 Corinthians we know that God doesn't work through discussion of human reason and wisdom and thought. God doesn't present himself in fancy speeches and really smart ideas, because then the smart people telling us those things would get the glory instead of God and instead of Christ on the cross. (vs. 17)

So, I think about tonight and the way that church just didn't do it for me. And I think about how it has everything to do with my attitude and how I approach worship. Tonight I showed up with this really selfish "make-me-feel-better" attitude and I was probably hoping for some sort of fancy intellectual realization. So tonight I take away that I really need to let go of my selfish thought and my human wisdom. The only things that can help me understand God is my heart and His love.

Stressed and Worried

I've been stressed out so much for the past week. I was tired every day at school. One night I even went to bed at 8:30 -- I was still tired in school the next day. I decided that it doesn't have to do with the amount of sleep I got as much as it had to do with the amount of stress I was dealing with. I think most of this stress comes straight from being in band. A lot of times stress can come just from being busy all the time, and boy does marching band keep you on your toes (literally). But in addition to this there's school, where I'm always having to read all sorts of books and remember formulas and equations from Pre-Cal. Last week all of this just circled up and attacked me.

It seems like we're all pretty stressed out all the time. So often when you ask someone how they're doing they'll say, "I've been really busy lately." Not only are we busy, but it seems like today's culture has given us the idea that if we aren't busy doing something that we're completely unproductive and we're wasting our time. I'm pretty sure that this is so far from the truth. So much of my ability to function relies on having time to just relax and not worry about getting something done. I wish I had more of that time, I wish everyone could have more of that time.

I have a story to tell. Tonight the Praise Band played at a church event called "Family Fest." It was a lot of fun, but I feel like so much of the event was people stressing out. We haven't had a lot of time to rehearse and it seems like everyone was worried about playing in front of people. It's really easy to lose sight of what we were there for. "Praise Band" is supposed to be all about worshipping God, but it's easy to lose the part about worship and just worry about the notes and rhythms. Tonight, God totally took control and brought everything together. The Praise Band played wonderfully and we worshipped. It seems like, though, even after playing when we were packing things up that there was still some stress all around. We were rolling up chords and I just wanted to take a moment and say a prayer together praising God for how successful the night was, but a lot of people were so worried about getting things packed up that prayer wasn't the first thing on their mind.

So, what I want you to take from this lesson is just that God doesn't want us to be stressing out about stuff all the time. We need to try to put some time in our day just to relax and calm down. Some time to let everything go and just pray. So I encourage everyone to do that this week. Try to put in, maybe just 30 minutes a day, where you can read your Bible for about 15 minutes and then spend the next 15 minutes or so reflecting on it, praying about it, and maybe even journaling about it. I'm going to make an effort to do that this week. I encourage all of you to try and do the same.

There's an awesome verse that I basically lived on last week. It kept me going all week long and gave me a feeling of safety and security in God's arms. I'm going to end this lesson with the verse. Here it is, from Philippians 4. Take these words and live by them this week. I know you'll be able to stress out less, worry less, and be more at peace.

"Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Amen. I love you guys. God Bless.

Much love in Christ,
Drew

New Bible For Life Wiki!

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Forgive and Forget?

Sorry for the lack of a bible lesson yet this week. It's been a super hectic-crazy week for me so far. In the mean time I'll share this short little lesson called "Forgive and Forget?" that Eric Schumann posted on the Message Board. It seems to be a lot along the theme of the lessons that Greg wrote in the past couple of weeks.

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“…If you forgive men of their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Says Matthew 6:14-15. This is very easily understood: If you want God to forgive you, you must forgive others.

A common myth is that you can intentionally sin because you know that God will forgive you. Understand that only if you ask forgiveness and repent will you be forgiven. (“…Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.− Luke 13:5) By the way, now is a good time to tell you what repent means. Webster’s English Dictionary says, “Repent- to wish one had not done something, and to feel regret and wish to change from evil ways”. So, how can God forgive you if you have no intention to change your ways? He won’t! Remember that Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Thus, you can be saved (grace) if you believe (faith) in the scripture, which, again, says that you must repent or you will perish.

“The grace of the LORD Jesus be with you all forever. Amen.”

New Mailing List Set-Up

Hey guys, I just wanted to let all of you know that I've set up a new way for y'all to get the lesson's on e-mail. It's no longer the cool, fancy html email anymore (which is sad), but it's something that will automatically send out emails of the stuff posted on the blog. For instance, this right here. I'm posting it on the blog, but if everything works out right then you should be reading it in your email. If you didn't get it in your email then you might not be subscribed. Here's the new way to subscribe and unsubscribe:

• If you want the blog updates to be sent to your inbox then send bibleforlife@gmail.com an email with the subject "Subscribe"
• If you no longer want to get emails then you can send an email to bibleforlife@gmail.com with the subject "Unsubscribe"

Hopefully this works out for everyone. It's slightly less exciting without the pretty colors and the logo, but it's automatic, therefore it's easier for me. Let me know if you have any problems!

-Drew

A Life Given To God

So, the thoughts from this lesson have been on my mind because of another book that I've been reading (called Don't Waste Your Life, by John Piper), but I read some more in Ecclesiastes and I learned some important things about God and about wisdom that seemed to jive with chapter two from this other book I've been reading. (I've actually found that the two books have a whole lot in common, except that Don't Waste Your Life talks more directly about Jesus because it was written after he came.)

All along I have tried my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions. I said to myself, "I am determined to be wise." But it didn't really work. Wisdom is always distant and very difficult to find. (Ecclesiastes 7:23-24)

I not only know, because the Bible is talking about it, that this statement is true, but I can feel that this is true. I can feel that wisdom is such a hard thing to find and to know. Being wise is something that takes a very long time and many, many years of experience to have. I know that I am barely even on the edge of being wise. I'm somewhat wise in the percussion scene because I've been actively playing it for four years and now I'm a section leader in band because of that. I have a tiny bit of wisdom when it comes to talking about girls because I've had several girlfriends and learned a lot from them. I have a little wisdom when it comes to scriptures for no other reason than because the Holy Spirit dwells in me and blessed me with the gift of understanding the Bible. So, I know a little bit about wisdom, and I try my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions, but it seems like so often wisdom is just difficult and hard to find.

Later on in chapter eight Solomon is talking about his own search for wisdom. He says,

"In my search for wisdom, I tried to observe everything that goes on all across the earth. I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night. This reminded me that no one can discover everything God has created in our world, no matter how hard they work at it. Not even the wisest people know everything, even if they say they do." (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17)

This spoke a great deal about God to me even though he's only mentioned as a side note in this verse. I just thought that it was interesting how the guy who has a "wise and understanding mind such as no one else has ever had or ever would have" (1 Kings 3:12) is saying that not even the wisest person (which would be himself) knows everything. Solomon is pretty high up there on the list of people who know a lot. It's pretty crazy to me that he is spending all this time searching for wisdom even though he's been made the wisest man ever. This is all so crazy to me because all this stuff that Solomon can't quite wrap his mind around, God created.

God, once again, is clearly a ridiculously powerful and amazing god. All this ceaseless stuff going on day and night, God knows. No man can possibly even discover all the things God has created and set in motion. I mean, there's really no words to say it. I could say that God is the wisest being that there is, but that's not right, because God created wisdom. In times that I seek wisdom all I can do is turn to God. Ecclesiastes says, "The wicked will never live long, good lives, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows." (8:13) I think that when this is talking about length it is not talking about the earth, because the verse before that Solomon is talking about how many people who sin live long lives. I think the main focus of this verse is the quality of life. That's why I italicized the word "good." I think the point that is being made here is that "Well, they might live long lives, but they won't live long, good lives." And it's because they don't fear God. It's because they don't follow Him. Because of this they loose all hope of gaining wisdom.

People who live in wickedness not only loose their hope of wisdom, but also any hope of an eternal life, stretching out like the evening shadows. Not life on earth, but life after earth. Talking about death Solomon says, "None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue those who practice it." (8:8) It is inevitable that someday we will all die. But those who follow God have been rescued from spiritual death, however wickedness will never save the wicked.

So, here's the part where I start wrapping up, and here's the part where I bring everything full circle and start talking about Don't Waste Your Life. When it comes down to wisdom and eternal life the only place we can receive these things is from the hand of God. No man, not even the wisest man, can know everything. So the only way we can become wise, and we can receive the gift of eternal life is to turn away from ourselves and to give our self to God. And I'll close with a quote from Don't Waste Your Life:

[Eternal life] is to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ. No thing can satisfy the soul. The soul was made to stand in awe of a Person--the only person worthy of awe. All heroes are shadows of Christ. We love to admire their excellence. How much more will we be satisfied by the one Person who conceived all excellence and embodies all skill, all talent, all strength and brilliance and savvy and goodness. This is what I have been trying to say. God loves us by liberating us from the bondage of self so that we can enjoy knowing and admiring him forever.