Author: Tim Ehrhardt

I'm just a common ordinary pastor, chaplain, father, grandfather, and dog owner who loves the smell of a genuine leather Bible and the aroma of its message. I'm on a quest to track down the best Bibles, how to best read and use them, and to discover the encouragement inside.

Genesis 9:8-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

            The older I get the less I remember.  I often tell the older members of my church when they have a “senior moment” that they have a lot more to remember from a lifetime of experiences and memories than everyone else does.  I am in the position now of having to remember so much that if I do not write it down it likely will not happen.  I am sure that on some level you can relate because we all have the common human experience of being forgetful.

             We do not think of God having a problem with remembering.  But even he put reminders in front of himself in order to remember.  The story of Noah is familiar enough to most people so that we remember it.  The world was evil.  God decided to destroy the creatures of the earth because all were so sinful.  He sent a flood, but spared Noah and his family.  Afterwards, God made a covenant between himself and all the earth:  he would never again send a calamitous flood.  Here is what God said about that covenant:  “I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.”
             Maybe memory and remembering has less to do with actual forgetfulness and more with priority, commitment, and keeping something continually in front of us.  God did not set a rainbow in the sky because he believed he might have a senior moment someday; he put a sign in the sky because having symbols that point to things are important, even for God.  We put pictures of our kids on our desks not because we will forget what they look like, but to keep them in front of us throughout the day because we love them.  We keep tokens from travels or vacations in prominent places at home not because we will ever forget the experience, but because something significant happened or was decided in that time that was important to us.
             The things and the symbols we place all around us have significance.  God wants us to remember him, his Word, his saving actions, and, most of all, his Son which is why we have tangible symbols of bread and cup in order to remember the redemptive events of Jesus.  Christ is to be continually in front of us, our priority and our love as we live from day to day.
             Gracious God, you have made covenants with your people in order to remember them and be committed to them.  I desire to remember you in everything I do and say, especially the Lord Jesus who loved me and gave himself for me so that my priorities will be straight and your mercy will be shown.  Amen.

2 Chronicles 29:1-19

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
             Hezekiah was a faithful king, coming from a long line of faithless ones.  After becoming king, his first act of business was to thoroughly cleanse the temple.  Since the kings before him did not treat the temple as sacred, they defiled it by introducing practices of other gods and by sheer neglect of the holy implements.  Hezekiah assembled an impressive team of men to set about the task of getting the temple to the place where it could again be used as it ought.  The team of Levites meticulously took their time and worked diligently to consecrate the house of the LORD, and tossed everything unholy into the brook Kidron.
             Perhaps there is no better passage of Scripture than this to embody what the season of Lent is really all about.  We are to do the holy work of carefully consecrating our hearts so that our lives are prepared and ready for the new life of Easter.  It is hard and courageous work.  Just as Hezekiah had the bravery to uphold the temple’s true purpose through cleansing it, so we are to have the courage to enter the shadowy places of our hearts and bring out the sin within.  It is not a pretty process, but a necessary one.
             One of the greatest needs that believers have today is the courage to be vulnerable, to expose and bring into the light our besetting sins so that they can be tossed into the brook and be carried away.  Instead of spending inordinate amounts of energy and time trying to hide our true selves, it is much better to let the example of Hezekiah clear a path forward by confronting the darkness within.
             Holy God, my life is a temple of your Holy Spirit.  I invite you to come in and do the sort of cleansing work that needs to be done so that my words and actions are thoroughly consecrated to you.  Help me to have the courage to go to the places within that scare me.  In the name of Jesus I pray.  Amen.

On the Need to Recognize God’s Presence

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
The Old Testament prophetic tradition minced nothing and cut to the heart of a matter.  For example, the prophet Amos sarcastically lamented over people who went through the motions of worship without a pure heart:  “Bring your tithes every three years.  Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings – boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do” (Amos 4:4-5).  The prophet Hosea responded to impure and disingenuous worship:  “When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.”  Hosea lays out what God really wants:  “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 5:6, 6:6). 
 
            The New Testament book of Hebrews continues this practice of going after the heart of an issue.  The author plainly tells us that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.  Quoting Psalm 40:  “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.  Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, O God’” (Hebrews 10:4-7).  Jesus is the superior presence above all else.
 
            Our trouble in the church is the age old predicament of caring more about the presence of other things rather than the presence of God.  When Jesus entered the temple courts and went after the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice, he was not speaking to pagan kings or Gentile sinners; he was speaking to people who professed the name of God and worshiped him (John 2:13-22).  But they did not seek the presence of God with all their hearts as their primary allegiance, and it ticked off Jesus.
 
            We must all desire the presence of God more than anything else in the whole world.  We must love Jesus more than we love anything or anyone else.  We must desire the presence of God in the church building more than the building itself.  We must desire the presence of God in the ministries of the church more than just having the programs themselves.  We must desire pastors who have the presence of God with them at all times more than we desire pastors who are present everywhere.  We must desire the presence of God in our families more than we desire the presence of kids, or order in the house, or that everything lives up to our standards.
 
            Jesus wants our hearts where they belong:  desiring the presence of God more than anything; and, loving him more than anyone.  Many of the Jews of Jesus’ time lost their true sense of purpose as God’s people.  They neither perceived nor focused on God’s presence, but cared more about the presence of animals and sacrifices, making money, and keeping their social positions secure. 
 
            If we are not pursuing nor looking for God’s presence, we are likely not to find it when it stares us in the face.  Last year the Washington Post orchestrated an interesting experiment.  They had arguably the best violinist in the world, Joshua Bell, play in the train station as a regular looking street musician complete with open violin case to catch monetary offerings.  Not only did Bell play some of the most difficult pieces of music for the violin, he played them on a Stradivarius worth $3.5 million dollars.  His earnings for a few hours of work:  exactly $32.17, less than the $100 for one ticket at a Boston concert hall he played just three weeks before.  No one noticed the extreme talent right in front of their faces, much like those who only saw Jesus as a regular guy instead of the incarnate Son of God.
 

 

            James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  God is present, whether we recognize him or not.  He longs for you to pursue him more than you pursue money, other relationships, or other things.  The path to church renewal and revitalization is not through clever ideas or more tech savvy services; it is through Jesus.  You know, the guy always present, hanging around on the street corner.

Exodus 19:16-25

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The Bible is filled with mountains.  Whether it is Christ’s transfiguration on a mountain; or, the giving of the law on a mountain; the physically majestic serves as a tangible symbol of the divine majesty.  Conversely, valleys in Scripture are symbolic of difficulty and suffering.  Our God is a God of both mountain and valley.  That is, the God of the Bible is both transcendent and immanent; he rules with power and might high above us on his holy mountain; yet, he also comes near to us in the valley of the shadow of death.
 
            Leading up to the giving of the Ten Words or Commandments in Exodus 20, Exodus 19 portrays an awesome scene of God in all of his transcendent holiness and power.  In fact, the experience was so otherworldly that the people were afraid to even come near the mountain.  The people needed limits placed on themselves because of God’s holy presence.  Just like coming too near the immense power of the sun will destroy us, so getting near God can ruin us if we do not respect his holiness.
 
            Understanding God’s power and transcendence brings the reality of his immanence into greater appreciation.  God went to extreme lengths to communicate to his people.  And it all culminated in the ultimate expression of God’s communication through the incarnation of Christ, the sending of the Son.  In Jesus, the transcendence and immanence of God meet perfectly to bridge the chasm between humanity and the divine.  Because of Jesus the awesome sounds of thunder and trumpet do not lead to fear, but announce grace to those who approach God by faith.
            Awesome God, by your majestic grace you drew me to yourself through the person of Jesus.  Help me so to know and appreciate your law so that the character of Christ will radiate in my words and my actions, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.