Prayer Warriors

Posted on August 1, 2023 by Bob Bjerkaas

As some of you know, a couple of years ago I began a reading program to revisit the classics of Western literature – and it has been fun.  And sometimes convicting as well.  This weekend I purchased a very fine edition of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales (thank you Dad and Mom Williams for the birthday gift!).  And in reading Anderson’s tale, The Snow Queen, I found myself a bit convicted.

The story concerns two young children, Kay (a little boy) and Gerda (a little girl).  One snowy winter day, Kay, in his foolish rebellion has gone out to play with the older boys who would tie their sleds to passing wagons and get pulled about the town.  Well, Kay fastens his sled to a fine white carriage that just so happens to belong to the Snow Queen – who proceeds to drag him out of town into a blizzard.  Kay frantically tries to free his sled from the carriage, but he cannot.  “He was very much frightened; he would have repeated “Our Father,” but he could remember nothing but the multiplication table.”[1]

The balance of the story tells the tale of how his faithful playmate, Gerda, searches for and ultimately rescues him.  At the crucial moment of her arrival at the dreaded Snow Queen’s palace, Gerda is assailed by living snowflakes that took on horrible aspects and threatened to end our little heroine’s adventure.  What does Gerda do?  She prays:

“Little Gerda began to repeat “Our Father.”  Meanwhile, the cold was so intense that she could see her own breath, which, as it escaped her mouth, ascended into the air like vapor; the cold grew intense, the vapor more dense, and at length took the form of little bright angels which, as they touched the earth, became larger and more distinct.  They wore helmets on their heads, and carried shields and spears in their hands; their number increased so rapidly that, by the time Gerda had finished her prayer, a whole legion stood around her.  They thrust with their spears against the horrible snow-flakes, which fell into thousands of pieces, and little Gerda walked on unhurt and undaunted.”[2]

Just a children’s story?  I was reminded of Psalm 91 – a Psalm that invites us to cry out to the Lord during times of trouble.  In Psalm 91 we are told that the Lord will deliver us from the fowler’s snare, from pestilence, from the terror of the night and the arrow that flies by day…  He is able to protect us, “for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”  The Lord speaks in the concluding verses of this Psalm, “When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” (Psalm 91:15).

And is this not what our little literary champion did?  She prayed to the Lord, “Lead me not into temptation and delver me from evil…”  And when Gerda prayed the Lord’s Prayer, the Lord sent his legion of angels to deliver her .  Gerda called to Him, and He rescued her.

Fables, fairy tales, and folk tales were never intended to teach history – rather, they were intended to illuminate the unseen world so that kids of all ages could consider ultimate truths concerning morality, existence, and yes, even God and his angels.  This old fiction from Anderson’s pen illuminates for me those moments of crisis when all I can think of is the multiplication table.  And it proposes via its true protagonist, Gerda, to never forget my sharpest and most useful tool – prayer.  To be sure, Gerda also knew her multiplication table.   Read the story for yourself – she was a very clever girl.  But prayer is and must be the first and last resort of the child of God.  And sometimes God uses children’s authors from centuries past to remind us of that fact.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

[1] Hans Christian Anderson, The Little Mermaid and other Fairy Tales (NY: Sterling Publishing Company, 2016), p. 62.

[2] Ibid., pp. 96-97.

N.B. The image is in the public domain. It is a watercolor, pen and ink on paper rendering of Gerda painted by Arthur Rackham for a 1936 edition of Anderson’s “The Snow Queen.” The tile of the work is, “Gerda is terrified by the Queen’s advance guard, but she said ‘Our Father.'”

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Interruptions

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Bob Bjerkaas

The longer I have studied the gospels, the more intrigued I have become by the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  A fair bit of conviction accompanies that intrigue as well.

As the summer months begin in earnest, and our vacation plans and summer projects get inked into our calendars, I want to challenge us to pay attention to one feature of Jesus’ ministry that may have escaped our attention: Jesus was interruptible.

Interruptions tend to be annoying.  We are busy people.  We have carefully laid out our itineraries for the day.  Our time is precious.  And then, when something unexpected and unsought comes along and disturbs our schedule, we are rarely at our best.  In fact, sometimes we are at our worst.  We begrudge the person or event that has imposed itself upon us and is distracting us from our day’s mission or the task at hand.  The interruption is perhaps pushing our to-do list later into the evening and robbing us of our precious downtime.

Recently, a woman was sharing with me that one of her favorite Bible stories was the account of Jesus healing the paralytic (Luke 5:17f).  Like many accounts of Jesus’ ministry, it recounts an interruption!  Verse seventeen reads, “On one of those days, as he was teaching…”  Did you catch that?  Jesus was busy doing something – in fact it was something important: teaching.  The text goes on to state that the Pharisees and teachers of the law had come from every village in Galilee to hear him.  During his teaching, he is interrupted by the roof overhead being removed one tile at a time – and a paralytic man – fastened to his mat, is unceremoniously lowered through the hole in the roof to lay at the feet of Jesus.

There are many other accounts of Jesus being interrupted.  He is reclining at a pharisee’s table when a woman of ill-repute crashes the dinner party and anoints his feet (Luke 7:36f).  He is sleeping in a boat – no doubt catching what rest he can, and his disciples awaken him to rescue them (Luke 8:32f).  He is on his way to Jairus’ house to heal that synagogue ruler’s daughter, when a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touches the hem of his garment (Luke 8:40f).   Twice people are rebuked for interrupting him and either wasting his time or delaying his schedule.  The disciples themselves want children to be kept away from him as they believed that the children were a “hindrance” to Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus rebuked his disciples and made time for the children (Matthew 19:13-15).  After ministering in Jericho, a blind man named Bartimaeus is rebuked for calling out to Jesus – Jesus clearly has places to be.  Jesus stops what he is doing and heals the blind man (Mark 10:46f).

This is just a small sample.  Jesus was interrupted constantly.  And it is out of his gracious and accommodating responses to those interruptions that we have some of the most powerful and beautiful examples of our Savior’s ministry.

What about us?  As we make plans and set priorities, we often consider it a mark of discipline and focus to turn interruptions aside.  Even in ministry, there is a professional tendency to actively insulate ourselves from the possibility of having an unscheduled meeting of any kind.  How very unlike Jesus.

We are too often inflexible and impatient with interruptions that we believe are wasting our time, or are less important than what we had planned on doing.  Jesus stopped everything for blind people, unclean folks, and small children.

Jesus turned interruptions into ministry opportunities.  Do we?

So, this summer hold your plans loosely!  Maybe that flat tire that interrupts your trip is an opportunity to meet a tow truck driver who needs a smile and a prayer.  Maybe that neighbor who comes to you with an urgent need is actually your best opportunity to minister to him – despite the fact that you have Dodgers tickets.  Whatever you do, be interruptible as you imitate Christ!

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

N.B. The image is the artwork of Frank King, cropped from his March 8, 1921 Gasoline Alley comic entitled, ” Walt! Stop! There’s a flat tire back here!” Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, control number 2009615985. There are no known restrictions on publication.

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Penny-Pinching and Caring for the Needy: How to Practice ‘Gleaning’ Today

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Bob Bjerkaas

I have several good friends who have built their careers on helping either large businesses or private individuals maximize their profits.  “Every penny matters!” is the mantra this industry embraces – and embrace it they do.  If a couple of dollars can be saved switching toilet paper brands, say goodbye to Charmin.  And isn’t it right to be “penny-wise?” 

So, what do we as Christians make of the Old Testament command regarding gleaning?

‘Gleaning’ may be most precisely defined as the act of gathering up grain that has been left in the field after harvest.  In the modern era of farming, combines literally leave nothing behind, so the word seems strange to us.  Prior to the advent of our modern farming implements, grain was harvested by hand with a sickle, then gathered into sheafs which were in turn gathered and carried to a threshing floor where the grain itself would be separated from the stalk.  This was an imperfect process.  Invariably, some grain would escape the harvesters’ first pass and be left standing in the field.  Naturally, the responsible, wise farmer would then return to the field and make a second pass to gather what he missed the first time around, right?

Wrong!  In Leviticus 19:9-10 we read a command from God which should startle us:

“When you reap the harvest of your field you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.  And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard.  You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.”

Imagine that.  God insisted that his people be very careful NOT to harvest 100% of their crop.  In fact, he prescribed inefficiency!  There are three commands in this passge: (1) Do not harvest your field right up its edges.  Deliberately leave an unharvested margin; (2) If you miss something in your harvest, do not go back and get it; and, (3) do not pick up whatever falls to the ground via natural process (the fallen grapes).

Imagine a financial advisor giving that counsel to a couple saving up for their first house or to an HMO trying to maximize shareholders’ profits!

The reason God gives for this is quite simple: “I am the LORD your God.”  We recognize the fact (and act as if) He is and will continue to care for us.  We do not need to grasp at every single penny of profit we can squeeze out of every single investment we make.  And we reflect God’s concern for the poor and the displaced sojourner.  Because God our heavenly Father cares about such.

And notice where the responsibility for this radical work ethic lays: this command of God concerns your reaping, your field, your harvest, your vineyard…  This command of God concerns your personal, intentional commitment to allow others to share in the fruit of your labor.  Literally.

There are two mistakes we may make at this point.  The first is to assume that the gleanings are a handout to folks who are idle.  This is not in keeping with the divine command.  Rather, the poor and the sojourner are essentially invited to themselves gather the harvest of the margins, the gleanings, and the drops after you have done your harvesting.  Biblical ethics holds sacred the connection between work and wealth/food.  The second is to assume that this command should be corporately implemented – it is for big companies and millionaires to perform.  Nothing could be further from the intent of this command.  It is a command to you and your performance of your work.

But how can you do this today?  What does it look like?

Here are a couple of ideas you can consider.

  • If you have gotten a good return on your car, and don’t need to trade it in for its replacement, give it to someone who needs transportation, or donate it to a charity that will do so.
  • When negotiating prices and considering quotes (either as a consumer or as a provider), be sure to keep Philippians 2:1-4 in mind: “look not only to your own interest but also to the interests of others.”  It may be that many of us boast about deals we have haggled here and now that we will be ashamed of in the hereafter.
  • If you are able to pay someone to help you with a job that you could do yourself, in the spirit of the field owner essentially sharing the harvesting job with the poor and sojourner, share your labor with someone in need and offer them a fair pay for mowing your lawn or repairing your vehicle – you don’t need to harvest to the very edges of your field.

No pun intended, but these are a few ‘gleanings’ from thoughts I have had over the years as I have wrestled with applying this text myself.  None of these possible applications are intended to be anything but suggestions!  But I would encourage each of you to prayerfully consider ways that you can pursue God’s prescribed work ethic – that requires leaving something for others.  I would love to hear your ideas in the comments!

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

P.S. Financial advising is a wonderful and godly calling! And it is wise to count pennies – but foolish to grasp at them.

N.B. The image is Vincent Van Gogh’s chalk drawing entitled “Peasant Woman Gleaning.” This image is made available online by the Kroller-Muller Museum.

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An Inconvenient Season?

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Bob Bjerkaas
Master I 0 V (active ca. 1542–45) Adoration of the Shepherds, ca. 1543 French, Etching; sheet: 13 5/8 x 15 13/16 in. (34.6 x 40.2 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1996 (1996.8) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/341907

Like you, I associate many things with the Advent Season.  Theologically, I associate Advent with the doctrine of the incarnation – the Son of God being, as the hymn puts it, “garbed in flesh.”  Doctrines like the Trinity, the Covenant of Grace, and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy come to mind as well.  Culturally, I think of such things as buying presents and family and friends, Christmas cards, family visits, getting out the ladder and decorating the house…

But there is another word that we should at least associate with the original advent of Christ: inconvenience.  Lost in the pastoral serenity of our porcelain crèche scenes, the actual events surrounding Christ’s birth must have been anything but convenient!

A man and his nine-month pregnant betrothed have just finished a long road trip.  They are unable to find decent accommodations.  They are in a stable.  The town of Bethlehem is packed with people who have been forcibly reminded of their subjugation – they are required to comply with a census mandated by the Roman government.  They have left homes, fields, and businesses in order to report to their hometowns in compliance with Quirinius’ decree.  Who can say what the mood is?

And then we come to our beloved ‘silent night, holy night.’  Most assuredly it was holy.  But silent?  It is amazing to me that in every creche scene all of the animals have their mouths shut!  Having been in the room when four babies were born, I recall quite a bit of noise and commotion!  And a multitude of the heavenly host declaring God’s glory and his people’s blessedness!

And then the shepherds.  All brand-new, first-time parents love it when a group of strange men, arguably of ill-repute, push their way into the delivery room to get a peek at the new baby!  After the trials of travel and then childbirth, I wonder if Mary and Joseph were relieved when the shepherds left.  But then the shepherds descended upon Bethlehem!  “O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie…” until a group of shepherds start sharing with everyone what the angels had told them – in the middle of the night!  And then, that bit of inconvenience accomplished, they return to the new family.

From the human perspective, the birth of the Messiah appears to have been a bit of a scratch job.  We would have wanted it planned a bit more carefully: hotel reservations made in advance, perhaps a spa day for Mary, visiting hours for well-wishers, a tastefully worded text message informing us of any relevant news that we could access in the morning…

I have often wondered how many of those census-stressed residents of Bethlehem heard the shepherd’s news as an instance of Proverbs 27:14 – “Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.”

There is a lesson here for God’s people – and for those who would know him.  The arrival of Christ in a life is and must be a terribly inconvenient thing.  If the Bible has it right when it describes our fallen human nature, it must be the case that the apple carts of our values and priorities will be overturned the minute he makes an appearance.  The changes his arrival brings are too often radical and sometimes uncomfortable.  And walking with Christ for many years, we will continue to have such visitations in which new convictions and greater discernment require new changes and greater devotion.

Embrace the inconvenience of living on God’s time!  And as you hustle and bustle your way through the commercialized aspects of our cultural festivities, let all of the little inconveniences and frustrations point you to this greater truth – by the grace of God, Christ has entered your life in order to change you and grow you; and growth and change are rarely convenient.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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Do You Have Good Eyes?

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Bob Bjerkaas

In the English-speaking world, we often speak of having either “good eyes” or “bad eyes.”  A person who has made it into their fifties without needing glasses might say, “I was blessed with good eyes.”  Someone like me, on the other hand, might note my rare eye disease (retinitis pigmentosa) and my consequent extreme tunnel vision and say, “I have bad eyes.”  Obviously, one set of eyes is preferable to the other – thus they are ‘good’ or ‘bad.’

In the Hebrew language of your Old Testament, there are also ‘good eyes’ and ‘bad eyes.’  Unfortunately, this fact tends to get lost in translation.  In the book of Proverbs, for instance, we have three references to either ‘good’ or ‘bad eyes.’  Here they are:

Proverbs 22:9: Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Proverbs 23:6-7: Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.  ‘East and drink!’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

Proverbs 28:22 A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him.”

No pun intended, but its kind of hard to see the eye references, isn’t it!  The first one is easy: the “bountiful eye” in our first proverb is most easily translated ‘good eye;’ in the Hebrew it is ‘ayin tov.  But in the last two proverbs it is less clear.  That is because the Hebrew words ‘ayin ra’ (bad eye, or evil eye) are translated as ‘stingy man.’  Why in the world is that the translation!

It is interesting to note that in some English translations of the Bible, Proverbs 22:9 does not read ‘bountiful’ or ‘good’ eye;’  instead we read about a ‘generous man.’  The translation I read as a teenager (NIV) reads: “A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.”

Why is it that the man with the good eye is ‘generous’ and the man with the bad eye is ‘stingy?’  This is the very type of question that the Hebrew proverbs require us to contemplate!  And reflecting on this question should lead us to think differently about such things as generosity and stinginess – and good vision.

In our culture, to say that one has good eyes is generally a reference to how well one sees – can we read highway signs before it is too late to catch our exit?  Can we distinguish individual leaves on the tree in our backyard?  Can we read without glasses?  These are the types of things that good eyes can do.

In the ancient world of your Old Testament, having good eyes or bad eyes is not a verdict concerning one’s physical vision; it is instead a moral and spiritual matter.  Consider the man of Proverbs 23:6-7.  That man with a ‘bad eye’ is inwardly calculating – wishing you were not eating his food even though it appears he has offered it (note that you are exhorted not to eat it!).  In Proverbs 28:22 the stingy man – the man with a ‘bad eye,’ is focused on his personal wealth.  The man with the ‘good eye’ in Proverbs 22:9, in contrast, is actively sharing rather than begrudgingly offering.

What a difference.  The man with a good eye saw someone who was hungry, they saw that they had enough food, and they saw an opportunity to share.  The man with the bad eye, in the same circumstance, instead sees someone who is hungry, sees that he has a limited supply of resources from which to meet his own needs, and appears to merely go through the socially expected motions of offering food.  The good eye is indeed ‘bountiful:’ it sees how much it has, it sees the needs around it, and gladly shares with others.  The bad eye is indeed evil – it squints at the world around it and constantly calculates the personal cost of helping others; its begrudged hospitality is a charade.

How are your eyes? What do you see when you look out at the world around you?  Do you see how much God has blessed you with?  How great the needs are all around you?  And how you can be a blessing with the gifts and graces God has entrusted to your care?  Let’s pray for good eyes!

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

N.B. The image is cropped from Vincent Van Gogh’s 1887 oil on canvas Self Portrait with a Straw Hat, graciously made digitally available by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 67.187.70a.

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Authenticity or Self-Control?

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Bob Bjerkaas

I don’t know about you, but I have heard the word ‘authenticity’ an awful lot lately.  And, to be frank, the more I have heard it, the more I have become uncomfortable with the way it is being used.  Let me explain.

A man is upset with his wife, so he calls her horrible things in the front of her friends and makes her cry.  He is called on it privately and says, “I was being authentic.”

A pastor is angry about a decision that he believed to be unjust – so at a meeting of pastors he uses foul language and describes how he wants to punch a fellow pastor.  He is praised for his authenticity.

What do we mean by authenticity when we use it in this manner?  It seems to be the case that we believe it is a great thing for people to communicate, as perfectly and completely as they can, precisely what they are thinking and feeling at a given moment.  Therefore, whatever I say or do is to be considered admirable and even brave if it genuinely reflects my current inner state.  In our post-modern, existentially driven culture this makes perfect sense.

But consider for a moment this ancient Hebrew proverb found in the Old Testament: “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.”  (Proverbs 29:11).

The spirit of the wise man is quietly (within himself) restrained.  The woman who would pursue heavenly wisdom will not allow herself to loudly declaim everything she thinks or feels.

What about the New Testament?  Does it offer us any specific guidance about how we should process and express the thoughts and feelings we genuinely experience?  I believe so, and the word we encounter in the New Testament time and again is our word ‘self-control.’

A good way to think about self-control very happily coincides with what the Greek word in your New Testament literally suggests.  The word we translate ‘self-control’ has as its root the idea of having a ‘grip,’ or ‘taking hold’ of something.[1]  In the case of self-control, it means having a grip on oneself – of taking oneself in hand.  Consider the idea in our ancient Hebrew proverb above: we hold ourselves back – we do not give full vent to what we are thinking or feeling.

And now consider what the Bible explicitly teaches concerning this restraining of our genuine, ‘authentic’ reactions.  In Galatians 5:23 we read that, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  In 2 Peter 1:5-6 we are urged to “make every effort to supplement [our] faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control… for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Conversely, it is the wicked man who is to be avoided that lacks self-control in 2 Timothy 3:3.

Dear Christian, in an age when the world around us celebrates authenticity – even in some of its extreme expressions, practice self-control.  Restrain yourself.  Cherish and pursue self-control.  In your Christian walk recognize thoughts and feelings that you need to cast away and put off the moment they suggest themselves to you.  In your inner dialogue, be the wise Israelite who quietly holds himself back.  If you have deep and violent passions, be sure to work through them with a counselor, pastor, or wise friend.  Only value self-control as the mark of godliness that it is.

And consider what an influence such an emphasis on self-control might have in a world governed by ‘authentic’ passions.  In Acts 24:25, when the Apostle Paul was being interviewed by the Roman governor Felix, we read that, “as [Paul] reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, go away for the present…”

In an era of explosive passions and feelings-driven discourse, self-control is as important as it is revolutionary.  Who knows how God might use us if, like Paul, we make it an essential part of our ministry and message?  

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

[1] The words commonly used for self-control in the New Testament are enkrateia and akretes; kratew means ‘to take’ or ‘to hold.’

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A Mother’s Prayer

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Bob Bjerkaas

How are your kids doing?  As my kids are all transitioning into adulthood (ages 23,21,19, and 17), mine are all doing great!  For now… 

I have found parenting to be the most rewarding, difficult, joyful, and heartbreaking calling imaginable.  The highs can be mountain tops and the lows can be abysmal.

One of the privileges I have as a pastor is the opportunity to pray with so many people for their kids.  Whether the kids are approaching their due date or are collecting social security, their dads and moms are praying for them and asking the Lord to bless them in the midst of this life’s difficulties.

Like so many other spiritual disciplines, praying for our kids requires perseverance – and more of it the older our kids get.  And, sadly, I know some parents who have given up on their kids.  They have written them off.  For all intents and purposes, they have essentially divorced them.  Please never do this.  Be the persistent widow we find in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:1-8).  “Cry day and night” on behalf of the kids God has entrusted to your care.

I am often reminded of a story that J. Wilbur Chapman[1] told over a century ago when he was writing to pastors and urging them to consider the necessity of prayer:

“I knew of a woman in a city of New Jersey who had six sons.  The boys were all born in a humble home in Scotland.  Five of them were earnest Christians. The sixth was a profligate, and had almost broken his mother’s heart.  One day one of her neighbors came in to see her and sympathize with her in her sorrow.  ‘Mrs. M….,” she said, ‘why worry about John?  Let him go.  You have five boys in the Kingdom.’  One of these boys, who was my friend, said his Scotch mother sprang to her feet, took hold of the back of the chair upon which she had been sitting, and, with tears streaming down her cheeks, said, ‘Let him go!  I will never let him go.  I gave him to God before he was born.  I carried him into the kirk the first day I could walk; I put him upon the altar and took my hands off, and he is God’s boy, and God will have him if He turns the world over to get him.’  My friend said his mother lived long enough to see John a Christian; to see him a judge of one of the highest courts in America, and an elder in the Church.  Let us have faith in prayer…”[2]

Do not let go of your kids.  Hold them up before the Lord in prayer for as long as God gives you life on this earth.  Friends will let your kids go.  Employers will let them go.  In this world your kids will have a thousand people turn their backs on them.  Be sure that your kids never see your back.  Pursue godliness by imitating the father in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15).  Face your child’s direction.  And like the widow of Luke 18, never stop praying.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

N.B. The image is cropped from a woodcut designed by Sir John Everett Millais: The Unjust Judge and the Importunate Widow (1864). The engraving was done by the Dalziel Brothers. This public domain image is made accessible by the Metropolitan Museum of Art online, accession number: 21.68.4(18).

[1] Chapman was a presbyterian preacher and evangelist best known today for writing the hymns “One Day He’s Coming,” and “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners!”

[2] J. Wilbur Chapman, The Problem of the Work (New York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1911), pp. 41-42.

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Work Like a Dog!

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Bob Bjerkaas
54.117.23

I coached my first lacrosse team way back in 1991.  Since then, I have seen lots of wins and losses.  And I have also seen trends – some of which are encouraging and some of which trouble me.  One troubling trend involves kids wanting to opt out of the post-season playoffs since they don’t believe they will win the title.  Even among seniors, who in some cases have spent eight or more years of their young lives learning their sport, they would rather end their high school careers than continue their season into games they feel they have little chance of winning.

I am not the only coach to have noticed this.  I have discussed it with several other coaches here in SoCal who have the same problem.  It is increasingly difficult to motivate kids to want to compete when they realize they probably won’t win it all.  This is sad.  But worse, this trend is not limited to high school lacrosse players. 

A small church sometimes doesn’t want to bother investing in a children’s ministry because it cannot compete with the programs at the mega church down the street.  A couple believes that their marriage will never be great, so they don’t bother trying to make it good.  Someone has a chronic health concern and since they will never run a marathon, they completely let themselves go.  I could you give you a hundred instances of this “if I can’t be the best, its not worth trying at all” attitude.

And what an attitude it is.  It is a soul destroying, character defiling, heart breaking condition that demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the things that truly matter on this side of heaven.

I coach with the wisdom of God’s word in my back pocket and on my lips – my athletes regularly hear “ancient Israelite proverbs.”  One that I have used to counter this preference for quitting instead of competing comes from Ecclesiastes 9:4:

“Where there is life there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.”

This proverb comes in a very sobering context – death comes to all of us sooner or later.  But rather than leading us to some stoic resignation, this proverb calls us to the audacity of hope and to the privilege of striving!

Notice the comparative juxtaposition of the live dog and dead lion – one is better than the other.  Ordinarily, the lion is better than the dog.  The lion in the ancient Israelite mind was noble and dangerous; the dog was unclean and ignoble.  But it would be preferably to be a living dog who has hope than to be done with it all as a lion.  Fascinating.

Whoever you are, and however barely you are hanging on to your marriage, your career, your family, your church… never quit!  Hope and live – proactively strive!  Even if you have to win a play-in game to compete against the top seed in a tough bracket, tie on those cleats and take the field.  You are alive and hope invites effort.

You and I are simply called to daily do our best, working and competing as if for the Lord himself (Colossians 3:23).  There is joy and purpose enough in that.  We can leave the awarding of trophies and titles to Him.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

N.B. The image is a cast bronze figurine from the 8th=9th century B.C. Neo-Assyria. This image is in the public domain and is made accessible by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 54.117.23.

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A Christian Response to California’s “Infanticide Bill”

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Bob Bjerkaas

This morning I reentered the real world.  After church this past Sunday, my beautiful wife Kerrie and I headed out of town for three days of celebration and rest – we had our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary on Tuesday!  And like all sane people who want to celebrate and rest, we did not watch the news.

This morning was my first day back in my office, and as we were driving down the 101, our classic rock station played Pat Benatar’s somber classic, “Hell is for Children.”  A song about child abuse.  Too dark.  I changed the channel.  Sitting down at my desk with a freshly brewed cup of Folgers, I fired up my computer and discovered that California Bill AB 2223 had passed in the California legislature by a vote of 44 – 20.  The aptly named “Infanticide Bill” was now ready for the Governor’s signature.  Too dark.  But this channel can’t be changed.

For those of you who do not stay current with the laws of my state, AB 2223 removes all penalties for unlicensed abortions up to the very moment of birth.  It can also be used to prevent county coroners from using evidence of infanticide (the killing of a born baby) to hold either the mother or the accomplice responsible for the baby’s death. We are talking about a bill that offers absolutely no protection for the life of a 100% viable human being.

What should we do in the face of such horrible laws?

We can protest.  The California Family Council is scheduling a March for Life event.

But whether or not we march, there is something else that we should do.  All across America, since the beginning of the abortion era, there have been organizations that have existed for the sole purpose of giving new moms of unborn children every support they need – financial, educational, medical…. You name it, and there are men and women working at these small and unheralded organizations in every state and city of America.  They get no publicity.  The media shows them no love.  They are out of step with the culture of postmodern secularism.  But they serve, they love, and they bless – patiently and sacrificially.  They receive no federal funding.  They do not make so much money that they can donate millions to political candidates.  They are often staffed by people who have had abortions themselves and desperately wish that they could rewind that chapter of their life.  They are men and women of grace, dignity, and deep compassion.  And you and I can help them.

Every church I have pastored has supported the local organization that meets the needs and protects the lives of both Mom and Baby.  Currently, we support Ohana Health – a truly remarkable organization.  Find the ministry near you.  Volunteer your time.  Make charitable donations.  Pray for the staff workers.

As those who know and serve God, we are called upon to “hate what is evil.”  (Psalm 97:10).  If the dismemberment of a child the day before its birth is not evil, nothing is.  But we are also called to do good.  Find a way to save a life – and sacrificially support those who are on the front lines, both in legislating righteous laws and, more importantly, those who are blessing the young parents whose lives are so desperately complicated that they are contemplating the unthinkable.

And above all, let’s speak grace to those who have been deeply marked by abortion.  As a pastor I can tell you that it does leave a mark.  But the love of Christ and the cleansing grace of forgiveness offers peace to all who draw near to him – even to you dear reader.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

N.B. The image above is Baby [verso], drawn in the late 1650s by Baldassare Franceschini (Florence, 1611-1689). The image is in the public domain and is made available by the National Art Gallery, accession number 1980.4.1.1.b.

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The Thief on the Cross

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Bob Bjerkaas
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This year’s Good Friday message focused on an anonymous but well-known participant in the crucifixion of Christ: the “thief on the cross.” After the service, I received a lot of comments from those who attended – “I had never noticed that before,” was the general theme. The popular consensus seems to be that while one robber mocked Jesus, our thief refused to do so and rebuked his fellow criminal. This is not entirely true. Since many of us were unable to attend the Good Friday service and it was not recorded, I thought I might share a two minute version of the message with those of you who read this blog!


One of the points that is explicitly made by each of the four gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Christ is that Jesus went to the cross with two other men:


“Two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.” Matthew 27:38
“And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.” Mark 15:27
“Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.” Luke 23:32
“There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.” John 19:18


We don’t know much about these men except that they were robbers, or criminals. Word studies in the original Greek of the gospel texts suggest that perhaps they were akin to modern day terrorists. In any event, they were, by the standards of the Roman Empire, guilty of capital offense. And they apparently were – this was no miscarriage of justice or case of mistaken identity. In Luke’s account our thief on the cross says to his fellow: “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds: but this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:41). It seems quite possible that the two robbers knew one another – the thief who feared God boldly asserts not only his own guilt, but that of the other man as well!

So we know that these men are truly guilty of capital crimes. And we know that perhaps they were acquainted with one another. But there is one other fact that a deep dive into the gospel narratives will reveal to us: they both reviled Christ.


What! Even our repentant thief who feared God? Absolutely.


Consider what Matthew 27:38-44 says: “Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’ So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.” (emphasis added).


So what happened between Matthew 27:44 and Luke 23:41? What is it that caused the “thief on the cross” to go from reviling and deriding Christ to defending and believing him? In Matthew’s text he is complicit in mocking Christ’s claim to be the messianic king. In Luke’s text he implored him, saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42).


I wonder what happened. There is no indication that Jesus conversed with either of these men. The only words that we can be sure the criminals heard Jesus say are recorded in Luke 23:34: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” It seems to be the case that our celebrated thief on the cross went from reviling to repentant in a quiet instant. Perhaps the manner in which Christ replied to curses with a blessing? Perhaps the meekness with which Jesus suffered such torment and indignity? Perhaps a remembrance of all that he had heard about Jesus over the past three years? We will never know.


But the thief on the cross gives me great hope as a pastor. A soul’s attitude towards Christ can be radically transformed in an instant. The thief on the cross reminds me that I should never stop hoping and praying for such spiritual transformations – where there is life there is hope. It also reminds me to suffer well. We all have crosses to bear. And we are all surrounded by dying robbers who see and hear the message that we live.


Your Pastor,
Bob Bjerkaas

N.B. The image above is a portion of a larger work “The Crucifixion” painted by Pietro Lorenzetti in the 1340s. It is notable that Lorenzetti distinguishes the “good” thief from the bad thief by the addition of a halo on the thief on Christ’s right hand and the darker, shaded aspect that defines the thief on Christ’s left. It should also be noted that the blood of Christ and the gaze of Christ are directed towards the thief who acknowledged him. This art is graciously made available for uses such as this by the Metropolitan Museum of Art online.

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