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This month on Soul Break

Pastor James L. Johnson

January 5, 2012

Thanks for clicking on this Soul Break column.

We're glad you're listening. This month we're completing a 12-month series on the Gospel of Matthew. We complete Matthew 26 through 28 during the next few weeks, and then prepare for the next series.

During 2012 on Soul Break, we'll examine the Book of Exodus, in a series called, "Your Next Journey." The study covers God's rescue of his people from slavery in Egypt to "the land flowing with milk and honey," in what was then called Canaan but is now called Israel. The 11-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."

Aretha's Cry for Freedom
Soul Break Column
By James L. Johnson
January 1, 2011

Camarillo, Calif. -- Remember when Aretha Franklin sang about thinking? Oh, you better think, she said -- think about what you're trying to do to me.

You had to love it.
Don’t mess with me, Aretha sang. “I ain’t no psychiatrist,” she scolded,  “I ain’t no doctor with degrees.” But it doesn’t take “too much high IQ to see what you’re doing to me.”

“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.

.

Until then,
Pastor Jim in Southern California, breathing walnut hardwood dust.


Moving Beyond the Superficial Friendships
By James L. Johnson
June 5, 2011

Do you ever get that glazed over look from friends?

You know what I'm talking about.

There you are, sitting with someone you enjoy at Starbucks, and you've been listening to them for paragraphs and minutes, ad infinitum -- and you are nodding and smiling. The time drones on, but you're listening intently. You actually care. You talk about the weather. You talk about their car. You listen to them rave about their kids, their job, their hassles and their house. Maybe their last great lunch stop. Their coming vacation to Paris.

Then it's your turn. You start talking about your life, your world, something impossible not to explain with feeling, perhaps something God is doing in your life, or something at church, maybe they ask you how your weekend went and you start explaining what happened. You stop and relay something truly significant, something the Lord was saying to you, or a great God-got-my-attention moment, a key discovery, or something you really learned, and bingo, the minute you mention Jesus or church or your heart – it’s boom – lights out. They glazed over look.

They say, “That’s great," and then, "Well, I gotta run!"

They don’t want to know.

Got any friends like that? Happens to me all the time.


But some friends are just superficial acquaintances...

One of those guys in my life is a friend I’ll call Angelo at the bank.

Angelo is schooled in that customer service casual friendship model that usually works for me. He knows a lot about me. My wife’s name. My bottom line. He can name almost all my kids, knows my job, understands my background. He asks me, every single time, “What did you do this weekend?” and I just tell him. After awhile you grow to expect that he really wants to know, but he’s actually just waiting for the computer to bring up my account information. When I tell him what’s going on at church or in my family, because it sounds better than saying, “Nothing special” or “busy, busy, busy,” I actually try to connect. And I say something that I experienced at church, or talk about the Christmas caroling, or the country get-together, or the do the Minnesota thing, and actually tell him that Linda’s been gone for 10 days to take care of her mother after breast cancer surgery, but they just don’t want to know.

I have all sorts of those kinds of friends in Southern California.


Long-time Lite: Superficial connections from the past...

I have some long-time friends like that, too.

Neighbors, sports parents, old high school friends, people who send me extreme Christmas cards every year which are mainly reports on the exploits of their children or the astounding places they went on vacation. I ask them about their life and they talk, but when I talk about Jesus, or what matters to me, something really intriguing that’s happening in my world, or at church, or about something I’m learning, and their brain just gets lost in the fog.

Isn’t that just what it’s like in life?

I mean, here God is the major influence in my life, and He’s actually trying to engage my friends, to capture their attention. He’s using their kids, their health, their finances and their pains to bring into touch with Jesus Christ, but they don’t want to know. God wants nothing more than to bring joy, peace patience, forgiveness, eternal life, and a connection to their maker, He’s trying to meet up with them, but they could care less. They don’t want to hear it.

Some are hungry, some are completely disengaged. I spend so much time with the superficial friends to hear their stories, but they don’t have time for mine. They want me to be there for them, but they are extremely uncomfortable with the things that really matter to me.

What do you do in situations like that? How do you deal with it?

That's what we're talking about this week on Soul Break this week. The difference between superficial friends and spirtually uplifting friends. Those friends who want to use you are not really friends. And if you are going to become a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, you are going to need friends who can look into your soul and see the real you. You don't need the so-called intimates who only offer the "glazed over" look.

People pay dearly for friends like that. We need them. Real friends. Who listen. Who care about you and they care about your God.

Jesus had superficial friends, too...

Let’s talk about the dynamics that Jesus faced.  That's what we're talking about at 12:30 and 10:30 each night.


During Soul Break this month, we're exploring how Jesus made the distinctions between real friends and false followers. He continually broke them down into groups -- the casual observer, the friendship abuser, the hypocrite and the intimate, the compassionate friend and the judgmental user. I think if you look at the passage below, you’ll find four ways people respond to Jesus as a friend.

a. They shut him out.
b. They bring him close.
c. They admire him from a distance.
d. Or they come to meet him, face-to-face and follow him.

Study the passage below and listen to Soul Break the next few days -- see if you can cultivate the discretion between the people that really want to know Christ and the people who only want the Lord if He does what they want. If you think about it closely, you'll find the same truths can apply to your friendships, too.

I'm going to advise you respond to them accordingly.

1. Veer away from those friends who shut Jesus out. If they're not interested in Christ, they likely will be people who take advantage of you.

2. Invest in people who bring him close. If they are open to the Lord in their hearts, they will be open to you, too. They will be givers and unselfish friends.

3. Have a heart for the seekers. Some people want to admire Jesus from a distance. I understand them. I was once one of them, too. See the cautious ones and learn to reach out to them. Hold a hand out to them. They likely need a glimpse of a genuine believer.

4. GIve your time and attention to the ones who want to meet Christ, face to face. They will become your long-time friends and faithful support network family. You need people like that.

Take time to study these verses and see how Jesus dealt with such friends:

Matthew 8:28-9:13 -- "When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes,* two men who were possessed by demons met him. They lived in a cemetery and were so violent that no one could go through that area. 29 They began screaming at him, "Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God's appointed time?" 30 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the distance.31 So the demons begged, "If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs." 32 "All right, go!" Jesus commanded them. So the demons came out of the men and entered the pigs, and the whole herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water. 33 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men.34 Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus, but they begged him to go away and leave them alone."

9:1-13 adds these words: "1 Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town.2 Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven." 3 But some of the teachers of religious law said to themselves, "That's blasphemy! Does he think he's God?" 4 Jesus knew* what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts?5 Is it easier to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or 'Stand up and walk'?6 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man* has the authority on earth to forgive sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!" 7 And the man jumped up and went home!8 Fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen. And they praised God for sending a man with such great authority.* 9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. "Follow me and be my disciple," Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. 10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?*" 12 When Jesus heard this, he said, "Healthy people don't need a doctor—sick people do."13 Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.'* For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."

Listen to Soul Break these days as we talk about what it means to have real friends -- and how to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

He not only brings you forgiveness. He also gives you true friendship as well.

Pastor Jim, May 12, 2011


Mick Jagger's complaint and Liam Neeson's lesson
By James L. Johnson
March 24, 2011

I think that Satan covered it all with Jesus.

Take a walk through Matthew 4 and you find the three big temptations. Easy to identify. Hard to remember. But you know them as instinctively as you know how to warm up by a roaring fire on a wet and cold night in the middle of March. All you have to do is cuddle up and relax.

Look at the following three with me, then consider what Liam Neeson dealt with in Montreal two years ago - then I think you can figure out how life's biggest temptations usually work.

The three appear in consecutive order in Matthew 4:3-10. They are Mick Jagger's complaint, Liam Neeson's lesson, and your biggest challenge.

Let's take them one at a time.

Mick Jagger's complaint: You can't get no satisfaction.

Remember that song from 1965? Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones lead singer wrote it. The lyrics went like this: I can't get no satisfaction. I can't get no satisfaction. Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try. And what Mick Jagger complained about back in the 1960s, and forever thereafter, we continue to wrestle with now - we can't satisfy our hunger. We can't get no, oh no, no, no.


That's what Satan was baiting Jesus to do. The Lord had been fasting for 40 days, and now he was hungering, dying of hunger - and everything in him was saying, "Get it now." Feed yourself. You deserve it. Take it. Change these stones into bread. Look at verses three through four. "During that time the devil* came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread."

Same with you? Don't wait. Don't deprive yourself. Satisfy that hunger. Make that call, respond in anger. Savor that drink. Indulge in that drug. Give into that physical relationship. You deserve it. Don't say no. So you try and you try and you try and you try, and still - isn't it true - you can't get no satisfaction. Jesus, feeling the hunger, said, no, He wouldn't. So says verse 4: "But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say,
'People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'*"

Satan will tempt you with that one, too. Pout and whine and complain and get bitter. Life hasn't been good enough for you? God should have given you more than that. You have it tough. So you blame God instead of bless God. You can't get no satisfaction, though you try and you try and you try. My friend, it's time to let it go. Let God satisfy you. Every word will bring you peace.

Which brings me to the second temptation.

Liam Neeson's lesson: you want to conquer death.

Last month in Esquire, the Irish actor who starred in Schindler's List and now recently in Unknown, told writer Tom Chiarella that he can never forget the moment he walked into a Montreal Hospital two years ago. His wife, then actress Natasha Richardson, was suffering from a sudden brain hemorrhage after a minor fall on a beginner ski slope in Canada.

Neeson, who was working in Toronto, arrived just in time to see her die. "I walked into the emergency room," he said - "it's like 70, 80 people, broken arms, black eyes, and for the first time in years, nobody recognizes me. Not the nurses. The patients. No one. I've come all this way, and they won't let me see her." A nurse finally showed him the way to his wife's room. "So I get there," Neeson said, "just in time. And all these yng doctors, who look all of 18 years of age, they tell me the worst." He pauses. "The worst." He can't get it out of his head. He still is in shock. "That's the weird thing about grief. You can't prepare for it. It hits you in the middle of the night. I'm out walking. I'm feeling quite intent. And it's like suddenly, boom, I's like y've done that in your chest," he says, twisting his hands, as though tearing his insides apart. "It's just extraordinary."


Deep inside, the temptation is to imagine: death can't beat us. We are invincible. We can overcome it. Money, fame, prestige, or true grit - we think we can beat life's lowest common denominator. But we can't.

So Satan comes to Jesus. Look at Matthew 4: "Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, 'He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.'*"

The devil uses God's word against him, quoting Psalm 92:11-12, baiting him and begging him to recklessly prove that He is bigger than death. Just like us. In a car, with a cigarette, with careless health, with indulgent habits, we scoff and life and tell God: "I can life forever.' America's Baby Boomers wrestle with this one daily. We think we can say no to death when we want. We don't even think of it. We tempt it and egg it on. We imagine that we will never grow old. Dying is for other people. Old people. Them. We're into life - and believe we can beat the grave without God.

The sin? It's tempting God. We demand that God give us life on our terms. No need to repent and ask for the privilege. It is our destiny. But Jesus says no. Look at verse 7.

"Jesus responded," he says, quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. "The Scriptures also say, 'You must not test the LORD your God.'"

Don't bait God. That's the second great temptation. God owes you nothing.

Which brings me to the third.

Your biggest temptation in life.

When you are at he end of life, facing the most difficult challenges and callings, Satan will come and tell you to quit. He will say, "Take the easy way out." No pain or suffering. No need to pay that price.

Don't face the giants. Just take the easy way out. That's what the devil did to Jesus. Satan gave the Lord a glimpse of the world, and said, "No need to die on a cross." I'll give it to you my way. That will work. Having failed to bait him with appetite and prestige, insisting on conquering death on your own terms without God, Satan will tell you - come to me - I can find another way to glory. I'll give you an alternative route.

Look at verses 8 and 9. "Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.9 "I will give it all to you," he said, "if you will kneel down and worship me."

Don't worry about the cross, Satan said.

"All I need is just one favor," Satan says. "Kneel down" just once, he says, "and worship me." It's Satan's way.

Right away you wince or smile. That sneaky compromise. You don't need the cross. You don't need a Savior. You can find another route. An experience. A friend. A mystical answer. An intelligent alternative. The blood and guts approach of Christ on a crucifix is unnecessary. God is wrong.

But Jesus says, "No." There is no other way.

Look at verse 10: "Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say, 'You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.'" You need to know that one. There is on other route. Jesus is your chance. Your only chance. And Satan will tempt you to think that God is just a more difficult option. You can find your nirvana, your salvation, your answer, some other way.

But Jesus says, "No." Get out of here, Satan.

The only way to satisfaction is Jesus. Learn the lesson. Listen to Liam Neeson. One day you, too, will walk into the hospital room. You will fade away, or your wife and husband will. And at that time, the question will be: "What did you do with Jesus"

It's life's most important question of all.