May 8, 2012

Soul Break continues this week running teaching broadcasts in Exodus. Currently the radio series is working through Exodus 9-10, explaining three of the ten plagues God sent on Egypt in order to cause Pharaoh to end the enslavery of the Hebrew people. 

And you'll let God have the chance to ask you some hard questions, too! Ready to join us?

We'll meet you at KDAR, 98.3, "The Christian Station," at 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Exodus Series on Soul Break

Pastor James L. Johnson

March 15, 2012

Thanks for clicking on this Soul Break column.

We're glad you're listening. This month we're examining Exodus 4 to 7 on Soul Break, exploring the life of Moses and God's plan to rescue the captives in Egypt. You need some freedom in Jesus? Come and join us on "Soul Break," Monday to Friday, at 12:30 and 10:30 p.m.

"Your Next Journey" covers God's rescue of his people from slavery in Egypt to "the land flowing with milk and honey." The 12-month series discusses the history of Moses, God's chosen vessel to deliver Israel, and how God's people responded to His discipline for the next 40 years. As you may have guessed, we're making applications to our current generation -- and to you and me, as well. God calls all of His people to make "the next journey" in life. If you respond to the challenge with obedience, you will prosper. But if you chafe and rebel, you can expect trouble and hardship, as God discplines you to go where He wants you to go.

A few premeses will help guide you through the year-long study.

1. God wrote Exodus. We believe the Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

2. Moses penned Exodus. He used the "Prince of Egypt" to write the history of the deliverance. We believe that Moses also wrote all five books of the Torah, from Genesis to Deuteronomy.

3. We believe it to be actually history. If you are wondering if the book is an allegory or mythological tale, Soul Break will present our conservative view. It's historical and real and will change your life if you apply it.

4. We hold to a date of writing of 1400 B.C. Some theological scholars think the book was written far later, some Biblical conservatives say it was 1200 BC, based on archeological evidence of a city called Rameses. But we hold with those who favor an earlier date, in line with the writer of I Kings, who claimed that King Solomon reigned 480 years after Moses led Israel out of Egypt.

5. We smile when someone says the book was penned by authors characterized by the initials JEPD. The very notion makes us wink. Evidence seems suspicious and contradictory -- but everyone is entitled to their own wrong opinion!

6. We believe that God actually parted the Red Sea. It was no marsh the people crossed, and no exaggerated wind storm that happened by chance. We believe that God can part the waters, and that the people of Israel really crossed it.

7. We contend that between 2 to 4 million people moved into the land of Israel. The Bible record states that the Israeli army had 600,000 men, plus women and children. According to our reckoning, that would be similar to the entire population of the San Fernando Valley of Southern California.

Seems implausible to you?

That's okay. We believe in a God of implausibility.

Come and join us for the study! You can hear "Soul Break" Monday to Friday from 12:30 to 12:45 p.m., and rebroadcast from 10:30 to 10:45 p.m. To catch us on-line, go to www.kdar.com, or listen to us at 98.3 FM, "The Christian Station."

“No,” she sang, “you better think – think about what you’re trying to do to me.” Yeah, she said, think – you better think – “let your mind go, let yourself be free.” I decided when I heard the song that I would never trifle with Aretha Franklin. The Motown star was no one with which to mess. The Queen of Soul, born in Memphis, raised in Detroit, wanted respect, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” she sang and crooned that she wanted to “Get It Right.”

Tough to get it right, though.

A gifted singer, the winner of 18 Grammy Awards and the No. 1 singer on Rolling Stone’s recent Greatest Singers of All Time list (2008), the singer-songwriter and pianist experienced life the hard way. The 68-year-old artist suffered and rebounded through three marriages and a family torn by adultery and mistrust. Her father, the Rev. CL Franklin, a gifted singer and preacher, was a friend of Dr. Martin Luther King and a civil rights leader. But marriage was hard. He ended at one ministry term with indignity – having a baby out of wedlock with a 13-year-old parishioner named Mildred. He moved to Buffalo, New York, then to New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit where he lived until his death at age 69, when he was shot at close range at midnight during an alleged robbery attempt of his house. Aretha herself had her first baby, Clarence, by age 14, the second one, named Edward, at 15. She has never named the father.

Still, Ms. Franklin had a gift that few could ignore.

She could sing. She pored herself into the music in a way that could make any ordained Lutheran preacher like me only marvel. Her throaty voice traveled to the mountain tops and hiked down into the valleys – she soon became a national phenomenon. Starting her professional career at age 18, she recorded the most million-selling singles of any female artist in the world – 14 of them in all, including “Call Me,” “Spanish Harlem,” “Chain of Fools” and “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You.”

But it was “Think” that got my attention. Remember that one, first in 1968, and then in Blue’s Brothers, in 1980, when I first learned of her unusual gift.

She sang:

People walkin' around everyday
Playin' games and takin' scores
Tryin' to make other people lose their minds
Well be careful you don't lose yours!

“Oh, you better think,” sang Ms. Franklin, “think about what you’re trying to do to me.” And as she sang, and as she defended her dignity, and as she insisted on respect, she cried out “freedom!” – remember?

Oh freedom (freedom)
freedom (freedom)
Oh freedom
Yeah freedom (yeah)

Can’t see that she’s ever gotten the respect or the freedom for which her heart yearns, as much as I respect her and love her voice.

But still those words just made me smile back in my college days. I already knew the freedom of which she sang. Jesus gave it to me when he took over my heart and made me his disciple. I’ve been enjoying unconditional love, ultimate respect, and true freedom, every since, from God. For that reason, I suppose, I understood Aretha’s cry for freedom. It doesn’t come from a man, or a teacher, or a job, or from money, it only comes from Jesus Himself, who can liberate you from sin, judgment, hell and sorrow.

Jesus can give you everything you need.

Recently, another gifted musical artist, Mary Blithe, wrote in a tribute to the gifts and enduring legacy of Ms. Franklin, “Aretha has everything – the power, the technique… She has total confident; she does not waver at all… This is no game to her.”

There’s a lot of truth in that.

But on the other hand, life has definitely played its games with Franklin. Early pregnancies, broken marriages, difficulties with maintaining a healthy weight, her son’s Edward’s tragic beating in a brutal attack by three people at a gas station in Detroit, and now a recent health scare followed by surgery – it’s been hard. Though Franklin won’t say her recent illness was cancer, she is relieved: “The doctor said,” reports Franklin, “that the surgery you just had is going to add 15-20 more years to your life.” She has lost weight, she is down to a “rockin’ 16-18,” she recently told a writer. A movie about her life is in the works, reportedly Fantasia or Jennifer Hudson are sought for the role, and she is singing again.

She wants freedom.

Just like most of us…

Don’t we all want that kind of freedom? The liberty to be whom God made you to be. The open doors to live and love and sing your song, gain respect, and be loved by someone the way that you have never been loved. Unconditional, enduring, unselfish love: that’s what we want deep down.

And that is what true respect is about.

Only Jesus Christ can give it.

Jesus is the infinite God-man who will never fail you. He never cheats. He grants freedom, says John 8:32 (“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free”). When he explained that to his disciples in John 8, Jesus reiterated, in verse 36, “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

But usually, like Aretha, we settle for temporary freedom. Looking for a man who would love her the way that she loved them, she moved in and out of relationships. People with a great gift have a great draw, and people with selfish intentions will take advantage. Have you felt that pain? Ignored, rejected and abandoned by a man who said he would always love you? I know men like that. I am friends with many such men. But the only one who consistently loves – and makes such men for women like you – is Jesus Christ.   

I remember how that worked for me. When I was a non-believer, I pursued all the things that Aretha Franklin pursued – respect, acknowledgement of value, affirmation, true friendship. But the inconsistent love and selfishness of others frequently got in the way, and only a Savior who suffered and died for me showed me respect by dying on a cross. He endured great disrespect so that he could die for our sins.

I was reading about it yesterday, walking through Matthew 26. When Jesus was captured by the guards in the Olive Grove, he was brought to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, who interrogated him. He grilled the Lord and brought false witnesses to testify that he was a terrorist. And when accused falsely, Jesus didn’t say, “Yeah, you better think, think about you’re trying to do to me.” He didn’t say, “I ain’t no psychiatrist or no doctor with degrees.” He just stood there, silently, taking the shame. When asked if he was the Messiah, he answered, “You have said it.” When his opponents heard it, they shouted in horror, “Blasphemy!” and “Guilty!” and “He deserves to die!”

Read the account in Matthew 26:64-68, after Jesus admitted He was the Messiah.”

Jesus replied, "You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's right hand* and coming on the clouds of heaven."* 65 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, "Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy.66 What is your verdict?" "Guilty!" they shouted. "He deserves to die!" 67 Then they began to spit in Jesus' face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him,68 jeering, "Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?"

No defensive retorts, no bitter rebukes, no insulting answers. He didn’t say, “You better think about what you’re trying to do to me.”

Jesus took it all, to die for you and me.

You better think about that.