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There’s
a reason you can’t name the person who recently won the largest Mega
Millions jackpot in US history: she doesn’t want you to.
A South Carolina woman won $1.5 billion last October.
However, she did not claim her winnings until March 4. She spent that
time researching professionals to help her preserve her anonymity and
manage her new fortune. She has decided to keep her identity private for
her personal safety.
While
she is not revealing her name, we do know what she is doing with her
winnings. She donated to the Alabama Red Cross to aid tornado relief;
the Ronald McDonald House of Charities of Columbia, South Carolina; In
The Middle, a charity that helps women with breast cancer; the City of
Simpsonville Art Center; and the One SC Fund for Hurricane Florence
relief.
She
has not released the amount of her gifts. The only reason she made
public the charities she is supporting is to raise awareness for their
work. She said recently through her lawyer, “I do realize that such good
fortune carries a tremendous social responsibility, and it gives me a
unique opportunity to assist, support and contribute to charities and
causes that are close to my heart.”
“All of us are here just to be alongside you”
After a gunman killed eleven worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue last October, Muslim communities around the world held vigils to show their support and raised more than $1.4 million for the survivors.
Now,
Jewish communities are reciprocating as Muslims grieve following the
deadliest shooting in New Zealand’s history. Fifty Muslims were left
dead at two mosques in Christchurch last Friday. In response, Jewish
leaders are raising donations for the New Zealand Attack Emergency
Relief Fund.
At
the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center’s prayer service last
Friday, the head of Jewish Community relations for Boston said, “All of
us are here just to be alongside you, because you’ve stood alongside
us.”
Why did Jesus start his church in the most sinful place imaginable?
Yesterday,
it was my privilege to stand with our tour group at Caesarea Philippi.
The site is beautiful beyond description: natural springs flow through
the area and constitute one of the four headwaters of the Jordan River
as it flows south into the Sea of Galilee. People have been coming to
this site for millennia to camp, drink the water, and enjoy the
spectacular scenery.
But Jesus and his disciples came here for a different reason.
For
all its natural beauty, Caesarea Philippi was one of the most ungodly
places on earth. Fourteen temples to the worship of Baal were scattered
across the area. Travelers brought idols they placed in niches carved in
the rock, praying to these false gods for protection on their journeys
(we can still see the niches today).
A
temple for the worship of Caesar Augustus stood here, as did a temple
for Zeus. The area was especially known for the worship of the Greek god
Pan, with rituals that involved sexual immorality too horrific for me
to describe here.
One
other note: a spring originally came up through a giant cave where Pan
was thought to have been born (a massive earthquake in 1837 filled in
the floor of the cave, forcing the water out at the foot of the natural
terrace). This spring was so cavernous that the ancient world could not
measure its depths. So, they identified the cave as the “gates of the
underworld” or the “gates of Hades.” By Jesus’ day, it was known as the
“gates of hell.”
It
was to this hedonistic, pagan, tragically immoral place that our Lord
brought his apostles so he could make this proclamation: “On this rock I
will build my church.” Then, pointing to the cave with its depthless
spring and gleaming idolatrous temples, he announced, “and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Another translation is, “and the gates of hell shall not withstand its assault.”
The only way to be the church
Jesus
established his church, not at Jerusalem’s temple or Capernaum’s
synagogue, but at Caesarea Philippi, the most sinful, hedonistic site in
their part of the world. He did so with the commission to attack the
gates of hell, wherever they are.
We
are a church to the degree that we do so. If we do not assault the
gates of hell, we may be a religion, a denomination, or an institution,
but we are not the church. We are the church when we attack hell
wherever we find it.
If
a lottery winner can make headlines for her generosity in sharing her
luck, and Muslim and Jewish leaders can deservedly win applause for
supporting each other in tragedy, why can’t followers of Jesus love the
world to our Lord?
Why can’t we show his grace in our compassion so powerfully and personally that others know we are Christians by our love (John 13:35)?
The key is to see lost people the way Jesus sees them.
Who are the “Druze” in your life?
As I was speaking to our group yesterday, a large group of Druze teenagers paraded by us. The Druze are a small sect,
comprising 2 percent of Israel’s population. Incorporating parts of
Islam, Hinduism, and Greek philosophy, they are in no sense Christians.
As
the Druze teenagers made their way into the park, they were creating so
much noise that I had to stop speaking until they passed. We felt
annoyed at the disruption.
Afterward,
however, my wife made an excellent point: those teenagers represent the
very people Jesus established his church to reach. They are what he
meant by attacking the gates of hell.
Treating
them not as a disruption but as an opportunity for the gospel would be
the way to be the church. God was illustrating this thought even as I
was preaching it.
Here’s the question: Who are the “Druze” in your life today?
NOTE: If someone asked you why Easter is so important, how would you respond?
Journey to the Resurrection,
a new fifteen-day devotional guide by Dr. Jim Denison, equips you to
take any opportunity you have to share Holy Week’s eternal significance
with your family and friends this Easter.
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