Coronado Bible Church

 

Why is there a giant blue E right next to my photo? It stands for the Spanish word “Extranerjo.” After thousands of Balboas (dollars … not beers), countless hours, calls to the lawyer, trips to the city …we are still “foreigners.” We have “Permanent Residency,” but I’m not entirely sure what that means since the card has an expiration date. We were not born here, we don’t speak the language and no one will ever mistake us for locals.

 

Sue and I promised each other that we would do our best to stay positive toward our host country and its people. But there are parts of this country’s pace and ethos that we just don’t get. When too many of those differences pile up, making us starkly aware of that we are outsiders, it’s easy to feel isolated.

 

I think living outside my birth-country is helping me get in touch with my spiritual “E.” I don’t fit in on planet earth either. Every believer in Jesus Christ is ultimately an extranerjo, a foreigner, an alien. That’s the testimony about all the people of faith cataloged in Hebrews Chapter Eleven,

 

 

If you feel out of place … at odds with the world’s values and morals, that’s good (1 Peter 1:17; 2 Peter 2:11). If you find yourself perfectly at home here and long for nothing better, purer or higher, look with concern to your soul (1 John 2:15). This world is not your home … Christian.

 

Here’s the great news about that. Being a foreigner here means that you are a citizen of heaven! However poorly your faith is received here, it will be warmly welcomed in your eternal country. Let these two beautiful statements from Hebrews revive your soul …

 

 

The list is extensive: an astronaut, a first lady, a supreme court justice, a Nobel Laureate, a dictator. Add to those notables a long list of singers, actors, comedians, sports legends, coaches, politicians, authors and journalists. These are the well-known personages claimed by 2016. Each of them was loved by family and friends (people who actually knew them) and so each death is an occasion for genuine sympathy. That said, I have an issue with the public response.

 

News bytes decrying their loss seem beyond numbering. A few articles, went so far as to imply that 2016 was the worst year of loss the world has ever experienced. I was glad that most of the lists called the deceased what they were … stars, celebrities and entertainers. Some pieces grossly overstated their importance and contribution by lumping the entire list under descriptors like; “Greats” … “Luminaries” and “Legends.” What should it take to earn such verbal epaulets? Should a person be considered “great” for combining aptitude in gyration and extreme narcissism?  Apparently, some would say, “Yes.”

 

There was a notable silence in this media maelstrom. A group of men and women who this year earned the highest epitaph possible … “The world was not worthy of them.”That audacious word of praise follows a rambling list of unnamed believers in Hebrews Chapter Eleven, who were,

 

Far from interviews, bright lights and red carpets, these people “wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.” I believe the author of Hebrews left this list anonymous and open-ended for a reason. The roll of those who lay down their life because of their faith in Christ has never been static. It will not be closed until Jesus returns. The new inductees into this Hall of Faith received exactly 24 seconds from Fox News when they reported on the estimated 90,000 Christians martyred in 2016. The world was not worthy of them.

 

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/01/02/christians-most-persecuted-religious-group-2016-terrorism-isis

 

 

“That’s Ridiculous!” Those words are very close to my thoughts way back in 1975 when the teacher handed me a copy of Weekly Reader. Weekly Reader was an educational newspaper distributed to kids in the U.S. school system. What caused such incredulity my nine-year-old brain? A simple math problem: “Your Age + 25 = How old you will be in the year 2000.” I literally remember thinking, “That’s ridiculous! I’ll never be that old!” Even at nine, the forces of cynicism and faith were shaping my world view.

 

On the side of cynicism, was the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and Russia. My nascent views on world affairs were being formed by nightly news reports that graphed the numbers of nuclear submarines, warheads and megatons of destructive force owned by the two superpowers. I remember tests of the Emergency Broadcasting System and videos of entire towns disintegrating in the aftermath of one nuclear detonation. All of this had produced a nine-year-old nihilist who could not imagine the world surviving long enough for me to reach the age of thirty-four.

 

Faith … or the religious leanings of my mother, had its own chilling effect on my thoughts of the future. I was living in the religious aftermath of Hal Lindsey’s 1970 End-times, best-seller, The Late, Great Planet Earth. In 1972, Russel Doughten had released “A Thief in the Night” depicting a modern and sensationalistic interpretation of the events of the book of Revelation. The movie seemed crafted to make a Christians doubt their salvation, and it worked on me. I was convinced that Christ would return before I reached adulthood and was pretty sure I wouldn’t make the cut.

 

So here we are in 2017! Is Christ going to return and bring human history to a close? Yes … I believe God’s Word teaches that. So … what happened? 2 Peter 3:9 explains, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

 

Welcome to 2017, another year of our Lord’s Grace. What will you do with it?

 

Auld Lang Syne appears to have been an existing Scottish folk song, chronicled and amended by their famous poet and author, Robert Burns. Burns sent the first known copy to the Scotts Musical Museum in 1788, claiming he had taken down the words from an old man. The obscure phrase so often repeated in the song, means roughly “old long since” conveying the idea “long, long ago” or “in times past.” It can be found at the beginning of Scottish fairy tales as the equivalent for “once upon a time.” The song has been a traditional favorite in English speaking countries for saying goodbye to the past year. It is also used by some nations for funerals and graduations.

 

This year, I stumbled across Christian words set to this well-known tune by a young writer named Dustin Kensrue . I find them powerful words for reflecting on the meaning of both the passing and the coming year. They offer a Biblical perspective on life and I intend to sing them this week as I hail the coming year. Here they are if you’d like to join me.

 

Should nothing of our efforts stand, no legacy survive;

Unless the Lord does raise the house, in vain its builders strive.

 

To you who boast tomorrow’s gain, tell me what is your life;

A mist that vanishes at dawn, all glory be to Christ!.

 

All glory be to Christ our king! All glory be to Christ!

His rule and reign will ever sing.  All glory be to Christ!

 

His will be done, His kingdom come on earth as is above;
Who is Himself our daily bread, praise Him the Lord of love.

 

Let living water satisfy the thirsty without price

We’ll take a cup of kindness yet, all glory be to Christ!

 

All glory be to Christ our king! All glory be to Christ!

His rule and reign will ever sing.  All glory be to Christ!

 

When on the day the great I Am, the faithful and the true;
The Lamb who was for sinners slain is making all things new.

 

Behold our God shall live with us and be our steadfast light;
And we shall ere his people be, all glory be to Christ!

 

 

Last week I confessed my love for the Carols of our faith … and the Holiday Classics. There is, however, one song that always bothers me. It was cowritten by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn and sung by my favorite Christmas crooner, Bing Crosby. It has a melody that imbeds easily in your neural synapsis and runs ad nauseam until supplanted by another song of equal or greater irritation. But that’s not what bothers me. I object strongly to the words of “Santa Clause is Coming to Town.” The song is a brazen Christmas power-grab.

 

He sees you when you’re sleepin’
He knows when you’re a wake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake

 

The song takes attributes only belonging to God (Omniscience and Omnipresence) and attributes them to a fictitious fat man. There is only One who sees you when you’re sleeping. What a comfort to hear the words of the Psalmist … He who watches over you will not slumber (Psalm 121:3). There is only One who has the global awareness of your waking and walking through this life. What a comfort to hear Jesus say … Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 10:29-31).

 

The other aspect of this song that bothers me is the blatant motivation to goodness based on earning Santa’s favor. This is the polar opposite of the Gospel. God saw mankind’s inability to be good and met the requirements of his own righteousness at his own expense.

 

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!    Romans 5:8-10