John 3:22-36; Rhythm Guitar

John knew what his purpose was and he played his role well. When his disciples were jealous for him, John could still point them to Jesus. He didn't have to but he did. He could have been irritated, started his own following or just walked away. Despite the shift in the limelight, he stayed true to his call.

I think there is a lot we can learn from John. So many of us go through life without any sense of purpose. We eventually land on work or family or something else. But John understood his call early and he stayed faithful to it.

John also is a great example of not letting his ego keep him from pointing people to Jesus. He could rejoice in the success of others and even be content with becoming less.

Surely it was not easy to be John. Today so many of us are tying to be number one that very few are content with letting Jesus become number one. An old country song said, "Nobody wants to play rhythm guitar behind Jesus; it seems like everybody wants to be the lead singer in the band." I respect John for letting go of the spotlight and hope that when I'm gone I'll remind people more of John than the old song. Yet I know that a reputation is built little by little over a lifetime. So, with that in mind, hopefully by the end of today someone will be able to compare me more with John than the song.

Acts 8; The Socercer

All of us come to scripture with some form of cultural glasses on. As a kid I grew up in a full-blown modernist world and this greatly influenced our interpretation of scripture. Since witchcraft and sorcery did not exist in a modern world, then Simon was renamed. Of course, he was not literally renamed since that would have been tampering with scripture; yet, he was taught not as Simon the sorcerer but as Simon the con-artist. We are not sure how he did it, but he could trick people just like David Copperfield. This produced a little confusion for me since the modernist explanation of a miracle is not the breaking of natural law but rather such a complete understanding of natural law that one can manipulate and control outcomes. So, if that was a miracle and that was also pretty much the definition of being a con artist, Simon always gave me problems.

It wasn't until much later in life that I had to deal with the occult. While in Venezuela, I learned that there was much more going on at times than simple tricks. If the good side of the spiritual realm exists with miracles, prayer and God, then surely the evil side of the spiritual realm exists with its power, dedication and Satan.

In the text, Simon apparently laid aside his evil ways of sorcery but his heart lagged behind in changing. The ego boost he received from being called the Great Power of God was intoxicating. When he saw the apostles performing miracles for the good-guys, he wanted in on the action. Peter saw through the situation and called him out. Peter spoke to his heart where pride was as big an evil as sorcery.

The last line of the movie "Devil's Advocate" is spoken by Satan and is, "Pride. Definitely my favorite sin." We are so quick to condemn sorcery but are fine to let pride slide. We would never overlook a witch in our fellowship, but we turn a blind eye to egocentrism. We could not fathom a cordial relationship with the leader of a cult, but we could actively pursue a relationship with prideful stars and leaders. We contemptuously condemn Simon for his former ways of life in sorcery but would we have called him out on pride? In our fellowship we hold tightly to the idea of restoring New Testament Christianity. Perhaps we need to do a better job of restoring the heart of it as well . . . and calling out each other on issue of the heart . . . which are just as diabolically dangerous as sorcery ever was.