A Safe Place

 (Spiritually refresh yourself)

Luke 22:14-20

  

¹¹ “Eat it with your shoes on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. And you must eat it in a hurry. It is the time the Lord will pass over. ¹² For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night. And I will kill all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. I will punish all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ But the blood will mark for you the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you. And no trouble will come upon you to destroy you when I punish the land of Egypt.                     Ex 12:11-13 NLV

Can you imagine what that first Passover must have felt like? The Israelites were eating quickly as they listened to the wailing of their neighbors. Their emotions must have been all over the place; from fear to guilt to relief and back to fear again. The lamb’s blood on their doorpost is all that separated them from life and freedom, and the painful loss of their first born. The blood made their home a “safe place”.

¹⁵ He said to them, “I have wanted very much to eat this special supper with you to remember how the Jews left Egypt. I have wanted to eat this with you before I suffer.             Lk 22:15 NLV

As Jesus served his disciples the Passover meal, he knew what was going to happen to him that night; He knew that all hell was about to break loose. But for his followers - his life blood, his body would provide the same protection that the Israelites experienced in Egypt. He was the sacrificial Passover lamb. This was indeed a safe place.

Of course, the body and blood of Jesus provided much more than a safe place. He changed things forever. With his death, and ultimately his resurrection, he made it possible for all our sins to be forgiven; he made it possible for us to know God personally; he made it possible for us to go to the ultimate safe place of Heaven.

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I would come downstairs on a cold winter morning and crawl behind the couch and lay there for several minutes. I was snuggled between the couch and the heat vents in the wall. It felt very secure. It was a safe place for me to start my day.

Each one of us needs to find, or create our own safe place. A safe place where we can be refreshed; where we can draw strength to “fight the good fight”; where we can “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles; where we can begin to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith”; where we can “approach the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”.

Nobody said it any better than David.

God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. ² So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, ³ and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action.            Psalm 46:1-3 NLV

Like the little boy hiding behind the couch, getting ready for the day; let us create our own safe place with the LORD throughout our day.

Are You A Servant-Leader?

Recently Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of the Popeyes, wrote a book on servant-leadership. Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results While Serving Others is a case study of the turn-around of the restaurant chain. Cheryl gives credit to her team, which instilled a culture of focusing on franchise owners, and serving them.

 

Cheryl gives her definition of a servant-leader and even defines their characteristics and values. Their overarching mission is to demonstrates great humility, while having the will to do the “right things”.

 

Today’s reading is John 13:1-17. It is Maundy Thursday and Jesus is about to celebrate the Passover Feast with his disciples. This is an important event, and his disciples had just bathed. Arriving at the feast wearing sandals, their feet and ankles were dusty.  Customarily, a servant would wash the guests’ feet before the meal.

 

Jesus, no ordinary servant, washed his disciples’ feet!

 

This great story is meaningful at many different levels. Jesus came to wash our sin-soiled souls, not our bodies. Jesus washed our sins away on our baptism. The disciples’ pre-feast bath is analogous to baptism.

 

As baptized saints, we still walk in a sinful world. We need spiritual refreshment – the Lord’s Supper, introduced during the Passover Feast. The foot washing is analogous to Holy Communion.

 

Jesus was the leader of the disciples, and continues in that role today for the entire church. Demonstrating humility, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. He served them.

 

Jesus served his church by dying on the cross, the greatest humiliation known in the Roman Empire. Jesus could have used his authority to save himself and to remove our sin in some other manner, but this was not his Father’s Will. Rather, Jesus humbled himself and served us by suffering death.  Jesus, the world’s greatest servant-leader, did the "right thing”.

 

What should our response be? To be a servant-leader, of course.

 

There will be times when we need to put our own wills aside and focus on the needs of others. We need to carry out Jesus’ Will, not our own. We need to serve others so that we can do the “right thing” and spread the Good News of Eternal Life.

 

Are you a servant-leader?

 

Ezra: A personal commitment to serve

Ezra 6:22 (NIV)
For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel. 

The Passover Feast was celebrated commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egypt. Moses had been God's emissary, praying to God and working for God in an effort to change the heart of Pharaoh. Years later, Ezra was observing Passover and praising God for changing the mind and heart of King Artaxerxes so they could continue rebuilding the Temple.

We would do well to follow suit.  When all seems lost, when our world around us causes us to pause and wonder when God will send His Son back to us, we need to pray. Nothing happens until we pray. There are many ways to pray for God's help. Have you ever considered that God would change the attitude of a person or group of people? God is infinitely powerful; his insight and wisdom transcend the laws of human nature.

Ezra was committed to do the right thing and God used this man to unite a nation. We all need a purpose, a goal that brings us together and makes the work we must do a joy. What fun it is when we come together for a common cause and change our world for the better. It can be one little thing or it can be a huge undertaking we never thought we could do. But that's just it, we can't do it without help. God is that help and prayer is the vehicle to get God's attention.

Ezra achieved great things and made a significant impact because he had the right starting place for his actions and his life: God's Word. He studied it seriously and applied it faithfully. He taught others what he learned. He is, therefore, a great model for anyone who wants to live for God. --Life Application Study Bible.

Ezra 6:19-22