Beer with Jesus?

When I’m not doing my pastor thing, I like to hang out with stockman and specifically those who are enthusiastic about Boer goats.  You meet all kinds of folks. Some young, some old. Some just getting by and other have money to burn. Some from the South and some from north of the Mason-Dixie line.  From all walks of life. In June last year, my middle daughter and I managed to find the time to go to Duncan, OK for the national show of the American Boer Goat Association.  

I confess, I really felt out of our league as there was some pretty impressive goats being exhibited but I was also impressed that each morning of this multi-day show began with a prayer. This prayer included the petitions that all things within the day would be for the glory of God. Man, I wish we had the guts to do such a thing here in the North.   And to be totally frank, on one of the days an exhibitor, who was displeased how the judges had placed his goat, came out of the show ring, pushed back his hat (the same one he took off for reverent prayer) and kicked the dirt invoking the name of Jesus.  Now, I should put the best construction on everything, however, I don’t think he was praying.  He could have been but….I doubt it.  A reminder, that we who believe are simultaneously saint and sinner.  Redeemed in the blood of Jesus and yet in this life in bondage to sin.

One of the genres of music favored by goat ranchers is of course country music. Since this song came to the radio, I’ve had goat folks and churchman alike who have asked me what I think of  Thomas Rhett’s song titled “Beer with Jesus”. For some, the idea of Jesus in a “honky tonk” enjoying a tall one is beyond their idea of who Jesus is and what Jesus would do.

But a closer examination of the song reveals something all believers in Christ Jesus yearn for:

If I could have a beer with Jesus
Heaven knows I'd sip it nice and slow
I'd try to pick a place that ain't too crowded
Or gladly go wherever he wants to go
You can bet I'd order up a couple tall ones
Tell the waitress put 'em on my tab
I'd be sure to let him do the talkin'
Careful when I got the chance to ask
How'd you turn the other cheek
To save a sorry soul like me
Do you hear the prayers I send
What happens when life ends
And when you think you're comin' back again
I'd tell everyone, but no one would believe it
If I could have a beer with Jesus

I'd put my whole paycheck in that jukebox
Fill it up with nothing but the good stuff
Sit somewhere we couldn't see a clock
Ask him how'd you turn the other cheek
To save a sorry soul like me
Have you been there from the start
How'd you change a sinner's heart
And is heaven really just beyond the stars
I'd tell everyone, but no one would believe it
If I could have a beer with Jesus

He can probably only stay, for just a couple rounds
But I hope and pray he's stayin' till we shut the whole place down
Ask him how'd you turn the other cheek
To save a sorry soul like me
What's on the other side?
Is mom and daddy alright?
And if it ain't no trouble tell them I said hi
I'd tell everyone but no one would believe it
If I could have a beer with Jesus

[ From: http://www.elyrics.net ]

Now, country music songwriters and singers are not theologians, they write and sing about the things of life often very plainly, which for those who don’t appreciate this type of music call it twangy or too depressing.  But would not we all enjoy the opportunity to sit down with Jesus and talk about what is on our heart whether it be over coffee, tea, a glass of wine or yes, even a beer.  Note, when we sit with someone we care about and enjoy a beverage (regardless of kind) it generally is a special time where we permit ourselves to be open and honest and cherish the company of the one across the table. 

In Rhett’s song, the line that usually causes my eyes to get misty is “Ask him how'd you turn the other cheek to save a sorry soul like me”.  Shoot! It gets me every time and maybe that is why I like the song.   Perhaps, this has been a question that every generation of believers have asked in so many ways.  In fact in three places the Old Testament ask the question:

“What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?”~ Job 7:17-18 

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” ~ Psalm 4:3-4

“O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him?” ~ Psalm 144:3

But for me, it is there on the Cross of Calvary that Jesus’s words strike this sinner’s heart as recorded in the 23^rd chapter of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke:

³² Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. ³³ When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.  ³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

³⁶ The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷ and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

³⁸ There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the Jews.

³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Like the thief on the cross, we don’t deserve the love of God as expressed through His precious Son, Jesus.  We deserve what is just for our many crimes against God, namely eternal death and separation from God.  But God looks upon us in love, “turns the other check” and hears the cries of our contrite hearts as we confess our many sins and He saves a sorry soul like you and like me.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit! 

May God bless you in this new year of 2013!