God loves to lift up.
One day in the desert, the people of Israel had fallen into the dark pit of despair. They were grumbling about wandering in the desert where there was no five star meal to be found. Their gratitude to God for being set free from the strongest military nation on the planet sounded a lot like a murmur of complaint.
As they grumbled, walking back and forth in their pit of despair, serpents were sent to bite them and shut them up. Apparently, even God cannot stand the sound of a complainer.
Do you regularly have to watch for serpents at your ankles?
And, as the grumblers were bitten, one by one, they cried out to the Lord for mercy.
So, to draw them out of their pit of despair, a serpent of bronze was raised up on a pole, and all who saw the serpent of bronze were healed. Just as the serpent of bronze was raised up, so too were the people raised up, out of their darkness of grumbling, and brought into the light of salvation.
God loves to lift up.
In the same way, Jesus took his place on a cross-shaped pole, and was lifted up so that all might see the salvation of the world. All who have fallen into darkness can look to the cross and see the light of salvation.
God loves to lift up.
That same Jesus, who had been pushed down to perish in the darkness…who had been buried in the darkness of the tomb…was lifted up on the third day. Jesus was lifted up from the depths of death and walked once again in the light of new life.
Jesus could not be kept down. Jesus could not easily be thrown away like he was the newsprint from yesterday’s paper being buried by a bulldozer in the landfill. No, Jesus was raised from the dead! He broke from the rock that sealed the tomb. He was lifted up.
God loves to lift up.
Soon, that same Jesus, was exalted; lifted up from the earth to be one with his Father in heaven. He was lifted up to a place of honor. He was lifted up to a place where all could see the salvation of the Lord. He was lifted up so that the world might look upon him and be saved.
The Lord loves to save. The Lord loves to shine light into the dark places. The Lord loves to find us in those dark places and lift us up.
The Lord loves to lift up!
“I’m so glad Jesus lifted me.
I'm so glad Jesus lifted me.
I'm so glad Jesus lifted me,
singing glory, hallelujah!
Jesus lifted me."
The Lord does not push us down. The Lord does not revel in pushing God’s own people into dark corners of life.
Oh, that does not mean we do not know what those dark places look like. We find ourselves in those dark places, yes we do. That is true.
We do find ourselves in dark places.
We get pushed down by those
who would step on us to get ahead in life.
We get pushed down by those
who refuse to sow seeds of love but instead sow seeds of strife.
We get pushed down by the heavy,
heavy weight of loss and grief.
We get pushed down by the worries
that will not go to sleep.
We get pushed down by substances
that threaten to take over and control our souls.
We get pushed down by a world
that seems to have lost control.
We get pushed down out each time it seems
that we have just lifted our heads into the light of day.
We get pushed down, left alone in the dark,
pushed down by the powerful who then just walk away.
We get pushed down into the depths of darkness
where we get knocked around and spill our cup.
But it is not God who pushes us down. No, no, no,
because our God is a God who loves to lifts up.
“Satan had me bound, Jesus lifted me.
Satan had me bound, Jesus lifted me.
Satan had me bound, Jesus lifted me,
singing glory, hallelujah!
Jesus lifted me."
When I imagine the arms of the Lord, I imagine that the Lord has big bulging biceps. Like a weight lifter, who does those bicep curls every day, I imagine that the Lord has well defined biceps from lifting others up.
I also imagine that if you look at the other side of the Lord’s arm, if you look at the triceps, you will see that they are ill-defined. Not because the Lord is not strong…not at all, the Lord is almighty and all-powerful…but because the Lord rarely pushes down.
"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world…” the gospel writer of John declares.
God has ill defined triceps because God rarely pushes down. God rarely decides that destruction is the way build up the something good. God rarely condemns the world.
The gospel writer of John continues that the Son was not sent to push down the world, but was sent "in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned…”
The Lord does not push us down.
The Lord does not go to the heavenly gym to work on the triceps. Instead, the Lord lifts us up from the depths with his strong, well-defined biceps.
Why are they so well defined? Because, the Lord lifts up, again, and again, and again, and again. The Lord exercises and keeps healthy by lifting us up with multiple repetitions.
That is how you get strong (by doing multiple repetitions) am I right?
I do admit that a lot of God’s strength training has come on behalf of me. I do admit that sometimes, a night of darkness can be rather fun. For some reason, slipping into the darkness is enticing and comes quite easy.
But, that bicep of the Lord is bulging with love. That bicep does not forget us when we fall into the darkness. And, that bicep cannot push down, because its only job is to lift up. Its only job is to lift us once again out of the darkness. Its only job is to live the motto of the heavenly gym:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
God loves to lift up.
"When I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me.
When I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me.
When I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me,
singing glory, hallelujah!
Jesus lifted me."
That motto of love for the world is inscribed on the back wall of that heavenly gym.
That motto of love for the world is on the hand stamp that gets printed on all of us who enter.
That motto of love for the world is in the very air that is pumped through the ducts and vents of the air circulation system of that heavenly gym. It enters into the lungs and enters into the souls of all of us who come to work out.
That motto of love for the world stays with us as we leave.
That motto of love for the world is still on our breath as we go to school, walk to the store, labor at work, and rest at home.
It is a motto of love for the world that remind us to lay off the triceps and to flex again and again those mighty biceps. It is the motto of all of us who lift up rather than push down. It is the motto of all of us who look into the darkness and have compassion rather than schadenfreude.
Those who lift up do not revel in the downfall of others. Those who lift up do not revel in the struggle of those who have fallen, who scramble unsuccessfully to get up from the darkness.
We are not people of darkness. We are a people of the light. We are children of the light, and we make a habit of working out those mighty biceps.
After-all, those who have made a heavenly habit of “lifting up,” peer into the darkness using the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, what they see with those loving eyes of Christ are people who struggle in the darkness.
Like our savior, we are a people who “love the world.”
We are a people who “love the world.”
Say it with me: "We are a people who love the world."
And, like the one who reached out a hand to us as we sunk into the dark waters of sin and death, we too grasp the hand of the one who suffers and we lift up.
God loves to lift up, and therefore, so do we.
We do not do it because it is the right thing to do. Even though it is.
We do not do it because it makes us look good.
We do not do it because it is what our Mamma told us to do, even though she surely did.
We do it because our Lord is a Lord who showers us with love, and therefore, we have a lot of love to give.
We lift up because our God loves to lift us up.
“I’m so glad Jesus lifted me.
I'm so glad Jesus lifted me.
I'm so glad Jesus lifted me,
singing glory, hallelujah!
Jesus lifted me."
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