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MISSION POSSIBLE

11/28/2016

As Thanksgiving gives way to the Christmas season, Southern Baptists all across America are beginning their annual International Missions emphasis. This consists of a designated Week of Prayer for field missionaries and for unreached peoples, a time of Missions Studies to learn more about the needs and opportunities, and an offering to support Missions endeavors around the world.

Of course, one of the most important objectives of any annual Missions Emphasis is to help Christians here in America to understand the need for reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For this reason, I wanted to share a story today that helps to underscore that very need. It was first published in a 1993 edition of Christianity Today magazine.

Alila stood on the beach holding her tiny infant son close to her heart. Tears welled in her eyes as she began slowly walking toward the river's edge. She stepped into the water, silently making her way out until she was waist deep, the water gently lapping at the sleeping baby's feet. She stood there for a long time holding the child tightly as she stared out across the river. Then all of a sudden in one quick movement she threw the six month old baby to his watery death.

Native missionary M.V. Varghese often witnesses among the crowds who gather at the Ganges. It was he who came upon Alila that day kneeling in the sand crying uncontrollably and beating her breast. With compassion he knelt down next to her and asked her what was wrong. Through he sobs she told him, "The problems in my home are too many and my sins are heavy on my heart, so I offered the best I have to the goddess Ganges, my first born son."

Brother Varghese's heart ached for the desperate woman. As she wept he gently began to tell her about the love of Jesus and that through Him her sins could be forgiven. She looked at him strangely. "I have never heard that before," she replied through her tears. "Why couldn't you have come thirty minutes earlier? If you did, my child would not have had to die."

Each year millions of people come to the holy Indian city of Hardwar to bathe in the River Ganges. These multitudes come believing this Hindu ritual will wash their sins away. For many people like Alila, missionaries are arriving too late, simply because there aren't enough of these faithful brothers and sisters on the mission field.

The indigenous missionary referred to here, M. Varghese, is a good friend of mine. I have been to this very spot in India with him. I have seen firsthand his work among these very people. And I am utterly convicted by his passion over reaching his fellow Indians for Jesus Christ.

I came away from all of this more determined than ever to help this man in his missionary endeavors. And I hope others will do much the same. While most of us cannot pull up stakes and go to the far reaches of the planet to become full time missionaries, we can certainly take steps to become more informed, and then find ways to support those who have heard and heeded the call to missionary service.

I leave you with two passages of scripture.

The first admonition is from Jesus Himself in the 9th chapter of Matthew’s New Testament Gospel, verses 36-38:

36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

The second comes from the Apostle Paul in the 10th chapter of his New Testament letter to the Romans, verses 13-15:

13 …for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

STORY SOURCE: This true story first appeared in Christianity Today magazine back in 1993. It has since been widely disseminated across the internet. See, for example: https://bible.org/series/24-ways-improve..?page=1573.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com.

BENEFIT PACKAGE

11/24/2016

Today is Thanksgiving Day, 2016. It all started with a proclamation by our very first U. S. President:

Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions…”; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go. Washington

I draw your attention again to that first sentence: “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits…” Webster defines “benefit” as:
1:   archaic : an act of kindness : benefaction.
2a: something that promotes well-being : advantage.
2b: useful aid : help.
3a: financial help in time of sickness, old age, or unemployment. 3b: a payment or service provided for under an annuity, pension plan, or
  insurance policy.
3c: a service (as health insurance) or right (as to take vacation time) provided
by an employer in addition to wages or salary.
4: an entertainment or social event to raise funds for a person or cause.

In the modern world, we usually associate benefits with the item 3c: “a service (as health insurance) or right (as to take vacation time) provided by an employer in addition to wages or salary”. But the ancient world thought a little differently.

In the 103rd Psalm (verses 1-5), we read:

1Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits - 3who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Here the word translated “benefits” is the Hebrew word “gə·mū·lāw”, which best translates as “repayment, recompense”, or “that which is given in payback”. It comes from the root word “gaw-mal‘”, meaning “to ripen”.

The agrarian/pastoral setting in which this word originated had to do with someone planting a crop and then nurturing it until it came to fruition.   The payback was the ripened fruit or seed, which provided the benefit.

Accordingly, we are here shown the true grace of God. For the Bible affirms that if we received what payback we deserved, we would be in trouble indeed.

The Apostle Paul admonished the Galatians to remember this. In chapter 6, verses 7-8, he writes:

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

Earlier, Paul had asserted to the Romans (chapter 3, verses 10 and 23) that “There is no one righteous, not even one…” and again “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

The Apostle James goes further (chapter 1, verses 14-15), reminding us of the consequence of sinfulness:

“Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

Thus, Paul states in (Romans 6:15-23):

15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There, in verse 22, is that word “benefit” again. This time, it is a New Testament Greek term, “karpon”, which mirrors the Old Testament Hebrew term in that it translates as “fruit”.

Praise God therefore that we have received, not what we deserved in payback from God, which would be death; but rather we have received the payback of life, which we do not deserve, but which comes from the grace and beneficence of Almighty God!

And as a result of the abundant grace of God, we enjoy a whole host of benefits. Many of these are delineated by the Psalmist (in 103:1-5 above): our sins are forgiven, our diseases are healed, our lives are redeemed from the pit, our heads are crowned with God’s love and compassion, our desires are satisfied with good things, and our youth is renewed!

There is little doubt that Congress and President Washington had such things in mind when they admonished us to set aside time for thanksgiving. May we heed that call! May we take time to acknowledge what James has told us (in chapter 1, verse 17) in the New Testament and remember that: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights...”

In short, may we celebrate honest and sincere “Thanksgiving” this day!

SOURCES:
Proclamation: http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources
/washingtons-thanksgiving-proclamation.
Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benefit.
Scripture: http://biblehub.com.

A WORD FITLY SPOKEN

11/20/2016

I love the following story, related by many, about a well-known author of a by-gone era:

He lived from 1865 to 1936. He was English, yet born in Bombay, India. He wrote poetry and authored books such as Captains Courageous and The Jungle Book, and numerous short stories such as How the Leopard Got His Spots, How the Camel Got His Hump, and The Man Who Would Be King. His name was Rudyard Kipling.

Kipling‘s writings not only made him famous but also brought him a fortune. A newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, “Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over one hundred dollars a word.”

The reporter reached into his pocket and pulled out a one hundred-dollar bill and gave it to Kipling and said, “Here‘s a one hundred dollar bill, Mr. Kipling. Now you give me one of your hundred dollar words.” Rudyard Kipling looked at the money, put it in his pocket and said, “Thanks!”

A number of people, commenting on this treasured story, have observed that “thanks” is much more than a hundred dollar word. Indeed, it might be said to be a million dollar word. And even that value is not enough to begin expressing the true significance of this one little word when it is fitly spoken.

In chapter 17, verses 11-17, the New Testament Gospel of Luke records an obscure little episode in the life of Jesus Christ:

11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him - and he was a Samaritan.

17Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

The point of this story is self-evident. Ten were blessed; but only one showed gratitude. And that one word of gratitude, so fitly spoken, must have held special value in the ear of Jesus, especially when compared with the voluminous silence of the other nine!

This week, as we prepare for the annual Thanksgiving holiday, I remind you of the importance of a simple word of thanks. A small word of appreciation might mean far more to other people than we realize. And if such a small word is meaningful to other people, how much more will it be esteemed by God!

STORY SOURCE: This story is available widely both in print on the internet. My immediate source is a message titled “Give Thanks to God” by "Rocky" Henriques at http://www.timothyreport.com/Sermons/Give_Thanks_to_Him.pdf

“Rocky”, aka Dr. S. M. Henriques, is a gifted Baptist Pastor who has authored several books, all available on Amazon.com, including "12 Surprises of Heaven," and "The Stupefying Grace of God."

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/niv/luke/17.htm.

INSIDE OF OLD SMOKEY

11/17/2016

Old Smokey! Those of us living in East Tennessee, Northern Alabama, and Northern Georgia now have a new appreciation for these words. For the past couple of weeks, the Smokey Mountains have lived up to their name as a thick layer of SMOG has descended upon us.

Of course, SMOG, as Los Angelinos know all to well, is short for a combination of smoke and fog. And for now, at least, East Tennessee has had something in common with Southern California.

It has all been a result of the proverbial perfect storm. Fall weather, normally dry to begin with, has been exasperated by a very long drought. This, in turn, has produced any number of forest fires, especially in the national forests which abound in our region.

When combined with cooling temperatures, which brings on fog this time of year, we have found ourselves facing a period of around two weeks of an abundance of fog and smoke together. The result has been an air quality rating in the “Red Alert” range.

In truth, it has been so bad that the local weather advisories have strongly encouraged everyone to stay indoors – especially those with cardio-pulmonary disorders. Even those of us who have been blessed with relatively good health have suffered from irritating and itching eyes, if not scratchy throats.

Indeed, one day this past week, it was so bad that, looking across the mile-wide valley from where I work to where I live, a view that is normally crystal clear, it was literally impossible to see beyond a quarter of that distance.

And then, all of a sudden, the weather changed!

While we have had no rain to speak of, the wind nonetheless began to stir. In what amounts to a minor miracle, westerlies from Nashville and beyond have now brought amazing relief. The fires may still be burning in the parks; but the winds are at least carrying the smoke over the mountains into North Carolina and beyond.

As you might imagine, the results have been palpable! And this leads me to my point...

A generation ago, Johnny Nash had a number one hit single in which he sang the following lyrics:

“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone;
I can see all obstacles in my way;
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind;
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright),
Sun-Shiny day.”

I love these words because they remind me that, in nature, darkness eventually gives way to light; pollution eventually gives way to cleansing; and confusion eventually gives way to clarity.

Now, what is true in the natural world can also be true in the spiritual world!

Indeed, as I stood this afternoon peering across the above mentioned valley, with a clear view resulting from the bright illumination of the newly unimpaired sun, I reflected upon a spiritual truth.

You see, in God’s scheme, because of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, spiritual darkness can eventually give way to light; spiritual pollution can eventually give way to cleansing; and spiritual confusion can eventually give way to clarity.

I know this because of the testimony of the one who was born blind in the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 9, verses 13-41). It was he who said, “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

I also know this because of my own testimony; for, like the hymn writer of old, I can boldly declare as follows:

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see."

Is your life full of darkness? Is your life full of pollution? Is your life full of confusion? Then look to the One Who alone brings light, the One Who alone brings cleansing, the One Who alone brings clarity!

If you do, your perspective on the world will change dramatically. As will your perspective on eternity!

LYRICS SOURCE: http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/johnny_nash/i_can_see_clea
rly_now.html.

HYMN SOURCE: http://www.constitution.org/col/amazing_grace.htm.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/niv/john/9.htm.

MILESTONES

11/14/2016

Two significant events have unfolded in my life within the last two weeks. First of all, I celebrated my 55th birthday. That’s right... I officially became a senior adult. And trust me, I wasted no time whatsoever in asking for and receiving my senior adult discount!

(In truth, I joked with the cashier at the register by saying, “I would appreciate any discounts you might have going.” And before I could even elaborate, she replied, “Okay, I can give you the Senior Adult discount!” I did my best to hide my dismay at how obvious my age must now be!)

The second significant event that has unfolded in my life is the birth of my first grandchild. William David Whisman, Jr., a.k.a. little “Will”, officially made his debut on November 9, 2016. And while I had done my best to prepare for this special day, I now know that nothing in the world could have prepared me for the joy that was to be mine as I held him in my arms.

It has been said that it is the right and privilege of every grandparent to spoil his or her grandchild rotten. Perhaps this is so. For my part, I certainly intend to do a little spoiling of my new grandson!

And yet, I would hope that the right and privilege of a grandparent is much more than this. I would hope that it is also to help parents instill values within a grandchild.

In her book on the Ten Commandments given to God's people at Mt. Sinai, Dr. Laura Schlesinger relates the following anecdote:

I once read about a rabbi sitting next to an atheist on an airplane. Every few minutes, one of the rabbi’s children or grandchildren would inquire about his needs for food, drink, or comfort. The atheist commented, “The respect your children and grandchildren show you is wonderful. Mine don’t show me that respect.”

The rabbi responded, “Think about it. To my children and grandchildren, I am one step closer in a chain of tradition to the time when God spoke to the whole Jewish people on Mount Sinai. To your children and grandchildren, you are one step closer to being an ape.”

There are many things I hope to be able to do for my grandson, Will. But chief among them is to help him appreciate just exactly who he is: a human being created in the image of Almighty God and redeemed from his fallen state of sinfulness by the redemptive work of God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ, on an old rugged cross.

If I manage to do that, I will have succeeded in my single greatest God-given role as a grandparent. I pray that I will be successful – for my sake, yes, but far more so for the sake of little Will.

SOURCE: Laura Schlessinger, The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God’s Laws in Everyday Life (New York: Harper Collins, 1998), p. 133

NOW HEAR THIS!

11/11/2016

Years ago, I came across the following piece. The moment I read it, it spoke to me in a powerful way. It has continued to do so for several years now. Perhaps it will to you as well.

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg--or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking.

What is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She--or he--is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another--or didn’t come back at all.

He is the Quantico drill instructor that has never seen combat--but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.

He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor die unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket--palsied now and aggravatingly slow--who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, "Thank you." That’s all most people need, and in most cases, it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot: "THANK YOU."

As a result, I have tried for years to say these two little words to every veteran I knowingly encounter for the first time.

This Veteran's Day weekend, as you drive around, as you go in and out of stores, restaurants, stadiums, churches, and yes, even your own homes, please take a moment to stop and say thank you to each and every veteran you encounter.

I promise you that it will be a blessing to both them and to you.

SOURCE: This little piece is available widely on the internet. My original source was years ago from the email service titled www.MikeysFunnies.com.

NAILING IT!

11/8/2016

First occurring over nine hundred years, the little poem "For Want of a Nail" has been handed down in numerous variations over the last millennium. I share it with you here today as a reminder that reminding that what may initially seem to be insignificant acts or omissions can wind up having grave and unforeseen consequences.

For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

According to Wikipedia.com:

This proverb has come down in many variations over the centuries… It describes a situation in which a failure to anticipate or correct some initially small dysfunction leads by successively more critical stages to an egregious outcome.

Such chains of causality are perceived only in hindsight. No one ever lamented, upon seeing his unshod horse, that the kingdom would eventually fall because of it.

As a citizen of the United States of America, I would remind each and every one of my fellow citizens that we have been blessed to be a part of this great nation. We live in a country that guarantees each of us those certain inalienable rights that the writers of the Unanimous Declaration of Independence spoke so eloquently of back in 1776, among them “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

These rights are delineated, not only within the Constitution itself, but especially in the “Bill of Rights”, the first ten of the twenty-seven Constitutional amendments.

As Christians, we are to follow Jesus Christ’s admonition in Mark 12:17 and “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” As we do, we remember that Jesus also said (in Luke 12:48): “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.”

For these reasons, we recognize that we are required to render unto Caesar (that is, the state) certain legal obligations. That is to say, we must obey the law, we must pay our taxes, we must register for the draft and serve if called upon, etc… But Christian citizenship means much more than just meeting legal our obligations. It means meeting our moral obligations as well.

For this reason, I urge each and every one to go out and vote today. True, if you do not vote, you will not be hauled off to jail as would be the case if you failed to obey the law. But you would, in effect, be guilty of failing to live up to you responsibility.

As free citizens in a democracy, you and I have the responsibility to participate in the electoral process, determining who will govern and thereby helping to shape the future of our country.

If you have not yet done so, please go out and vote this day. Please do so based on your personal convictions. And know that in so doing, you will have done your part, be it ever so small, to help save this kingdom of which we have been blessed to be a part.

And when you press that button that says “CAST YOUR VOTE”, you will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that, whatever the outcome, when it comes to fulfilling one of your most basic responsibilities as a Christian citizen, you will have personally “Nailed t!”

SOURCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_of_a_Nail.
BIBLE VERSES: http://biblehub.com/.

APPROPRIATE DRESS

11/3/2016

We have had an unusually dry and warm fall here in East Tennessee this year. For this reason, many people, including me, have continued to wear summer attire even into November. For now, at least, short sleeve shirts, not long sleeve shirts, have remained the rule for the day.

Among my many shirts are two very nice polos I received from a friend a few years ago. One is red and the other is orange. They each bear the logo of the Knoxville Open golf tournament, a relatively prestigious annual stop on the PGA Tour. An avid golfer, he had attended the event and was thoughtful enough to give the two shirts to me, his pastor, as a gift.

In any event, I wore the red one of these shirts this week. And as always seems to be the case when I do, it sparked a number of conversations throughout the day. I have noticed that each of these conversations tends to follow a similar pattern. Invariably, they unfold something like this:

“Oh, wow, the Knoxville Open?” “Yes.” “Did you play in that?!” “No.” “Did you attend it?” “No.” “Then how did you get that shirt?” “Well, the truth is… it was given to me. You see, when it comes to golf, I would not even qualify as a caddy for such a significant golf match. I only have this shirt due to the generosity of a friend. Were it not for his generosity, I would not be wearing it right now.”

I share this because, to me, it is a beautiful illustration of what Jesus Christ has done for us. The Bible says that we have been clothed in His righteousness. The Prophet Isaiah (chapter 64, verse 6) declares that our own righteousness is as filthy rags before almighty God. As such, we stand condemned in in His presence.

But God, in His grace, has chosen to clothe us in His righteousness. For this reason, Isaiah declares (chapter 61, verse 10): “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.”

The Divine cleansing Isaiah here celebrates is earlier described by him (in chapter 6, verses 1-8):

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

2Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9He said, “Go and tell…”

I trust you get the point. For my part, I have little or no golf skills. And thus, I have no real hope of ever participating in a prestigious PGS Tour event. In fact, I do not even have much hope for ever attending one. Let’s face it, on my own, I simply cannot make this happen. It is only by the generosity of another that I might ever have any such opportunity.

Similarly, like Isaiah, I have no standing before God. But, having been clothed in the righteousness of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, I no longer have to worry about my standing. Being wrapped in His righteousness is what allows me to enter into the holy presence of an Almighty God! For it is the righteousness of God’s One and Only Son, and by that righteousness alone, that my filthy rags have been replaced with a spotless garment of salvation!

The Apostle Paul (in his Second New Testament Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 16-21) puts it this way:

16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:a The old has gone, the new is here!

18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sinb for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Wow! Amen and amen!

I leave you with these powerful lyrics to Edward Motes’ famed 1834 hymn. Pay particular attention to the final verse.

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil. [Refrain]

His oath, his covenant, his blood
support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay. [Refrain]

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found,
dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne. [Refrain]

SOURCES:
SCRIPTURES from http://biblehub.com/.
LYRICS from http://www.hymnary.org/text/my_hope_is_built_on_nothing_less.